Northwestern gets green light to build lakefront athletic facility - $220M+ cost

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per the Tribune:

Northwestern is ready — finally — to build the multipurpose lakefront facility that football coach Pat Fitzgerald says will be a "game-changer" for his program.

Donations have poured in despite the Wildcats' 5-7 record last season. Sources said construction of the two-building complex will begin by early 2015 and should take about two years to complete.

The school will announce Friday, the Tribune has learned, that it is launching a new fundraising campaign and that Mark and Kimbra Walter have donated $40 million to be used for athletics and law school scholarships. Mark Walter, a graduate of NU's law school, is the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

NU officials have been tight-lipped since unveiling plans for the project in September 2012. The price tag for the facility on the shore of Lake Michigan is likely to exceed the original estimate of $220 million.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...rn-football-spt-0314-20140314,0,5530198.story

Go Gophers!!
 


A good reminder that we don't need a new facility to be able to boast about our amazing commitment to Football, we need a new facility just to appear competitive.
 

Florida State's new football facilities:


Go Gophers!!
 





Northwestern has a lot of successful, wealthy alumni who are clearly stepping up to make this happen. So does the University of Minnesota. There is no excuse to not be able to raise enough money to build a great multi-sport practice facility for Gopher sports. None.
 

STrib blog: Northwestern's new football facility will push Gophers even further behind

The Gophers just fell another step behind in college football's arms race. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Northwestern has received the green light to build "the multipurpose lakefront facility that football coach Pat Fitzgerald says will be a 'game-changer' for his program."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/250340771.html

Go Gophers!!
 



BleedGopher said:
STrib blog: Northwestern's new football facility will push Gophers even further behind

The Gophers just fell another step behind in college football's arms race. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Northwestern has received the green light to build "the multipurpose lakefront facility that football coach Pat Fitzgerald says will be a 'game-changer' for his program."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/250340771.html

Go Gophers!!
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The football facility will be nice but it doesn't change Ryan Field. I was there last fall. That is one embarrassing Division 1 Stadium. It is falling apart. What a dump.

Go Gophers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

maroonfive said:
The football facility will be nice but it doesn't change Ryan Field. I was there last fall. That is one embarrassing Division 1 Stadium. It is falling apart. What a dump.

Go Gophers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Yeah, but they spend more time in the football facility than they do the stadium.
 

zman said:
Yeah, but they spend more time in the football facility than they do the stadium.
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I'll take a nice stadium over a nice practice facility any day though. I would rather be in our position than theirs as it pertains to facilities. I would imagine recruits feel the same way?
 

maroonfive said:
The football facility will be nice but it doesn't change Ryan Field. I was there last fall. That is one embarrassing Division 1 Stadium. It is falling apart. What a dump.

Go Gophers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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True. I agree....that is a nice looking facility....but they need to do something about Ryan Field. All the training they put in is for the game.....which is played on what looks like a D2 field. Upgrade that thing.
 



minibeaver said:
I'll take a nice stadium over a nice practice facility any day though. I would rather be in our position than theirs as it pertains to facilities. I would imagine recruits feel the same way?
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Don't know. I think I would rather spend 5-6 days a week somewhere nice than 6 hours 7 days a year.

Best analogy I can come up with is that I would rather have a nice office than a nice auditorium to present in 7 times a year.
 


minibeaver said:
I'll take a nice stadium over a nice practice facility any day though. I would rather be in our position than theirs as it pertains to facilities. I would imagine recruits feel the same way?
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Dinardo disagrees
 

maroonfive said:
The football facility will be nice but it doesn't change Ryan Field. I was there last fall. That is one embarrassing Division 1 Stadium. It is falling apart. What a dump. Go Gophers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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It will make all the difference in the world. We are still selling hope it becomes a reality when they are actually doing it. 358 days vs 7 isn't really a question for anyone .

I'd rather have a new training/practice facility and play at memorial than only having TCF. Notice the metrodome doesn't count.
 

maroonfive said:
The football facility will be nice but it doesn't change Ryan Field. I was there last fall. That is one embarrassing Division 1 Stadium. It is falling apart. What a dump. Go Gophers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

While it's nothin great, I still enjoying watching games there. Cheap ticket help the cause.
 


zman said:
Don't know. I think I would rather spend 5-6 days a week somewhere nice than 6 hours 7 days a year.

Best analogy I can come up with is that I would rather have a nice office than a nice auditorium to present in 7 times a year.
Click to expand...

I hear ya there, and I can't argue the logic of it. I would imagine the coaches would really enjoy the new practice facility also. I guess if I put myself in the players shoes I would care more about the stadium. It's not like our current facility is a dump, and in all likelihood still much nicer than their highschool facilities they are coming from.

All that said, this is where college football is headed and if we don't keep up the perception issue will start to become a problem
 

AO54 said:
A good reminder that we don't need a new facility to be able to boast about our amazing commitment to Football, we need a new facility just to appear competitive.
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AO54, you nailed it. That is the scary thing. We are so far behind the facility "arms race" that we're struggling just to appear competitive, and there's no guarantee we can even achieve that. And, it feels that even if we do, that once we build whatever we're going to build, that we'll be on the low-end up of the spectrum even then at best, or still behind at worst. It's hard to see a way in which we'll be in the upper half of the conference from a facilities standpoint any time in the near or mid-term future.

Go Gophers!!
 

When is Teague going to give us an honest update about the facilities fundraising? Every month that goes by without any update or report of a major gift, I become less and less impressed with Teague.
 

MadtownGopher said:
When is Teague going to give us an honest update about the facilities fundraising? Every month that goes by without any update or report of a major gift, I become less and less impressed with Teague.
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Boy, I'm sure Teague is devastated. Just maybe he's really not planning on much of a contribution from peons like us and is maybe following proven fund raising strategies? Or maybe you're already compiling a list of prospective replacements for Teague since unbounded speculation is your forte?
"NU officials have been tight-lipped since unveiling plans for the project in September 2012."
 

zman said:
Yeah, but they spend more time in the football facility than they do the stadium.
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That may be true but a major college stadium should not have dirt floors and port a potties inside the stadium.
 


maroonfive said:
That may be true but a major college stadium should not have dirt floors and port a potties inside the stadium.
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What dirt floors? They also have plenty of actual bathrooms inside their stadium. There may have been a port a pottie that you used but that is not the primary way of using the restroom at Ryan Field. Not every stadium is as nice as TCF. In fact most big time college stadiums need just as much of a renovation as Ryan Field. The difference is the other ones are 80,000 or over 100,000 while Ryan Field is 47,000 so the other things stand out more.
 

It took Northwestern 18 months to go from unveiling of a plan to announcing a fundraising campaign with unsubstantiated reports of initiating construction 2 1/2 years after the plan unveiling. It's been 8 months since Teague announce the U of M plan. While it's a drag that we haven't heard anything about the progress of fundraising here, our timeline is hardly behind that of NW.
 

Oregon Gopher said:
It took Northwestern 18 months to go from unveiling of a plan to announcing a fundraising campaign with unsubstantiated reports of initiating construction 2 1/2 years after the plan unveiling. It's been 8 months since Teague announce the U of M plan. While it's a drag that we haven't heard anything about the progress of fundraising here, our timeline is hardly behind that of NW.
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Shhh. Are you trying to temper GH posters favorite past time............complaining?
 

I made my first trip to Ryan Field for the game last fall. It is an embarrassment to the Big Ten. There are absolutely dirt floors and port a potties inside the stadium. The actual plumbed bathrooms aren't much better. There is no doubt that there are many nicer high school football stadiums in the country. I never saw it, but I don't doubt that Memorial Stadium was in better shape than Ryan Field is now...and I mean in 1993, after it sat empty for 12 years.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I made my first trip to Ryan Field for the game last fall. It is an embarrassment to the Big Ten. There are absolutely dirt floors and port a potties inside the stadium. The actual plumbed bathrooms aren't much better. There is no doubt that there are many nicer high school football stadiums in the country. I never saw it, but I don't doubt that Memorial Stadium was in better shape than Ryan Field is now...and I mean in 1993, after it sat empty for 12 years.
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I have heard the same thing from some of my friends who have been to Ryn Field before as well. I have not had the pleasure to go yet, but maybe sometime soon I will be able to see their stadium.
 

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