OT: Illinois Success Facilitated by a Wonderful Football Fieldhouse

[rutgersal]

Schiano has everything he needs to compete from a a facilities stand point.

Lacrosse has everything to compete, not football

 

[rutgersal]

The key nj.com article is behind a paywall, but it appears that as of 2021 a field house would cost $150 million. Given inflation, my guess is that it would cost $200 million now. At least half would have to come from private sources. Schiano in his contract agreed to raise a lot of that.. Maybe the field house will become a greater priority now than the program will no longer have to ask donors to write a separate check to pay players. But is it the best way to spend $200 million? Maybe -- but maybe not.

Likely. IMO, As long as we raised the $75M, we could at least begin construction. This would amount to 1,000 alumni donating $15K for 5 years, for a total of $75K.

 

[rutgersal]

You're a silly goose. You're citing one player, despite a broader multi-player and multi-year trend, to try and defend a point. You lost the argument you've been fighting for. Hahahahaha

That one player had 197 yards receiving and made the game winning play in our game. He was the biggest difference between Rutgers and Illinois, and he is all I have to cite. We could not stop him, and do not have a similar caliber talent on the roster.

 

[Caliknight]

Lacrosse has everything to compete, not football

Hahaha we don’t even have our own stadium. Guess who does? Every B1G team except us now that Maryland is building one.

Stop talking about things you don’t know anything about.

 

[retired711]

Likely. IMO, As long as we raised the $75M, we could at least begin construction. This would amount to 1,000 alumni donating $15K for 5 years, for a total of $75K.

Do schools really start to build facilities when they've raised only half the needed funds? Is it realistic for 1000 alumni to donate $75,000 over five years -- does that happen at other schools, or do a few angels put up much of the money? I don't know the answers -- perhaps you do. Note finally that construction costs escalate radically each year.

One key question is this: is the project sufficiently important to Coach Schiano that he's willing to put a lot of time and effort into raising a lot of money for it? Only he knows the answer to that.

 

[rutgersal]

Do schools really start to build facilities when they've raised only half the needed funds? Is it realistic for 1000 alumni to donate $75,000 over five years -- does that happen at other schools, or do a few angels put up much of the money? I don't know the answers -- perhaps you do. Note finally that construction costs escalate radically each year.

One key question is this: is the project sufficiently important to Coach Schiano that he's willing to put a lot of time and effort into raising a lot of money for it? Only he knows the answer to that.

Typically, it’s a few big donors that write big checks. Lew Wexner for Ohio State, Stephen Ross for Michigan.

We don’t have that caliber of donor, but we do have a number of donors who have already given generously, so reluctant to rely on them further.

What we do have is a large alumni base, which will have to be leveraged.

Schiano has said that NIL is priority #1 for now. But once revenue sharing is implemented, he might be able to spend more time on fundraising for the Fieldhouse, as he agreed to do in his first contract, and I assume his extension carries similar stipulations. He is on record saying that he can carry on without the Fieldhouse for now, but that it would be a definite need in five years. (It’s a need now, but just not as important as NIL)

 

[retired711]

Typically, it’s a few big donors that write big checks. Lew Wexner for Ohio State, Stephen Ross for Michigan.

We don’t have that caliber of donor, but we do have a number of donors who have already given generously, so reluctant to rely on them further.

What we do have is a large alumni base, which will have to be leveraged.

Schiano has said that NIL is priority #1 for now. But once revenue sharing is implemented, he might be able to spend more time on fundraising for the Fieldhouse, as he agreed to do in his first contract, and I assume his extension carries similar stipulations. He is on record saying that he can carry on without the Fieldhouse for now, but that it would be a definite need in five years. (It’s a need now, but just not as important as NIL)

Thanks for your response. I wonder if there are really 1000 alumni out there who would contribute $75,000 each, or 2000 who would contribute $37,500 each.

Ohio State and Michigan have donors like the ones you mention because their programs have a history of winning. Games like last Saturday don't do much to motivate fence-sitters to become significant donors. I am not as down on Schiano's strategy as many others are, but it's never a good look to give up a touchdown on an intermediate route over the middle in the closing seconds.