Beaver Stadium Proposal:
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Is the University of Cal the result of when Sandy ran their AD?
That is discussed in the newsletter. The answer is Yes.... and this link is, I think, informative:
Memorial Stadium Renovation Cost Puts Cal Athletics Budget In Jeopardy - CBS San Francisco (cbsnews.com)
That said, my primary concerns are 1) PSU, and 2) Board-level oversight.
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Yes. But in fairness, about $320mm of the debt incurred was to "earthquake proof" Memorial Stadium which sits smack on top of the Heyward Fault. Where Ms. Excellence fu@ked up was in adding a $135mm sports training facility and spending $6mm-$8mm on a financing plan that many knew wouldn't fly.
As it is, the cost of the retrofit is coming out of Cal's general fund (and, of course, TPTB say no tuition dollars), with the athletic department footing the bill for the training facility. The project originally put Cal in hock for 100 years (about 90 remain) and only interest on the debt is being paid until 2032 or 34 I believe.
The BoT is voting on the proposal on Tuesday, I believe. No details have been released to the public. Do all BoT members have the necessary documents for review? If not, when are they getting them?
My (several) requests for even basic information have been refused by Board Leadership (after having been promised earlier - multiple times).
I can't speak with any certainty wrt how many have asked for such information, but my suspicions would be very few.
Helluva' way for those folks to fulfill their fiduciary obligations. Hope that your requests were in writing and that you keep copies.
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We’ll never spend the money that needs to be spent with that attitude. Now do your fiduciary duty and git ‘er done.
schuyler: We will now vote on the proposed $X renovation to Beaver Stadium.
Barry: What are the details of the renovation? What are we voting on? And how much is “X”?
schuyler: Yes, that’s correct. Now, let’s put it to a vote.
…30 seconds later…
schuyler: And the proposal passes unanimously. Next on the agenda is...
Don't worry guys, Brandon will put this one on his next list of accomplishments.
He should. The stadium is kind of a dump at this point. But don’t worry guys, we’ll have another Barry and Lubrano no vote when it comes to the stadium.
Which reminds me, did Lubrano ever meet his financial obligation for the baseball stadium?
Almost 10 years later and here we are.
Wider Seats on Tap at Beaver Stadium - Football Stadium Digest
As Penn State plans renovations to Beaver Stadium, university officials are offering more details about what the project may entail.
footballstadiumdigest.com
several on the board voted against Lasch Building upgrades that recruits rave about. Reality is if PSU does not upgrade its facilities, we will not get top recruits. Saying that when I to the game at Ohio State game last fall, I was surprised how yucky, outdated their stadium was.
And it was upgraded not that long ago. But it's also a historic building, in a flood plain, which limits what you can do with it.
Possibly $300 million of potential stadium "seed money" went to:Almost 10 years later and here we are.
Wider Seats on Tap at Beaver Stadium - Football Stadium Digest
As Penn State plans renovations to Beaver Stadium, university officials are offering more details about what the project may entail.
the "victims", attorney costs for the three administers, Big 10 bowl money withheld, I believe the NCAA required State Penn to donate the $60 million Sandusky penalty to a charitable cause, insurers covered little of the payments to the "victims" because the "victims" were never vetted, verifying their complaints of abuse, I believe the school was also fined millions for Title 9 violations or similar horse$hit beat down, etc.
BY MARK SCOLFORO
Updated 12:39 PM EDT, January 7, 2017
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Penn State’s costs related to the Jerry Sandusky scandal are approaching a quarter-billion dollars and growing, five years after the former assistant football coach’s arrest on child molestation charges.
The scandal’s overall cost to the school has reached at least $237 million, including a recent $12 million verdict in the whistleblower and defamation case brought by former assistant coach Mike McQueary, whose testimony helped convict Sandusky in 2012.
The university has settled with 33 people over allegations they were sexually abused by Sandusky, and has made total payments to them of $93 million.
The total also covers the $48 million “fine” levied by the NCAA that is funding anti-child-abuse efforts in Pennsylvania, $27 million in lawyer fees to defend lawsuits, nearly $14 million that includes the legal defense of three former administrators facing criminal charges for their handling of Sandusky complaints and $5.3 million for crisis communications and other consultants.
The school’s latest financial statement said insurers have covered $30 million in costs, while other insurance claims remain pending. Penn State says donations, student tuition, and taxpayer funds aren’t being used to pay uninsured costs, including legal expenses. Instead, the school is relying on interest revenue from university loans.
The school also was hit in November with a $2.4 million fine from a federal investigation, started immediately after Sandusky was arrested, that concluded the university repeatedly violated campus crime reporting requirements.
PSU needs to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to get top recruits who will enter the portal after two years, creating the need for more top recruits who will enter the portal after two years…After a few rounds of this recruiting binge and purge, PSU will be ripe for another round of facilities upgrades. The only possible saving grace is that ”college” football will die off.
In 1597 Sir Francis Bacon said "Knowledge is Power". Were he prescient, he would have added "except when dealing with the Penn State Board of Trustees in the 21st century. Then, knowledge will be frustration as the Board will do as they wish and there will not be a damn thing anyone can do about it."
Yep.
Everyone wants PSU to "compete with the big boys", like OSU and Michigan (including me).
Michigan did a renovation very similar to this proposal 10 years ago.
They, of course, didn't have as a high a price tag as the current PSU proposal (it was about $250 million back then - maybe $350 million or so in today's money)
They paid for 90% of it through solicited donations - and the other 10% of it with reserves built up in the athletic department fund (because they don't burn up every dollar they bring in every year).
You can look it up.
And similar stories for all the other "big boys".
You CAN NOT compete with the "big boys" if you take on $40-50 million per year in generational debt - bleeding your ICA coffers dry every year, in order to have the same things the other "big boys" get for $0 debt. You will be - at BEST - trying to fight with one hand tied behind your back for a generation (or more). That is easier to understand than how to spell C-A-T.
Hell, we need to take on debt to pay for things that the other "big boys" easily write out a check for - from their ICA account balances (things like - take your pick - a $10 million practice bubble, or renovating a locker room)
But I am sure someone will be selling that this needs to be done to "make the football program more competitive".
Nothing could be more completely removed from the truth. And what those folks are actually doing, when they claim to be "supporting football", is driving another nail in its coffin (or at least hobbling its long-term future).... not to mention, in this case, exposing the University to HUGE fiscal risk.
Everyone wants PSU to "compete with the big boys", like OSU and Michigan (including me).
Michigan did a renovation very similar to this proposal 10 years ago.
They, of course, didn't have as a high a price tag as the current PSU proposal (it was about $250 million back then - maybe $350 million or so in today's money)
They paid for 90% of it through solicited donations - and the other 10% of it with reserves built up in the athletic department fund (because they don't burn up every dollar they bring in every year).
You can look it up.
And similar stories for all the other "big boys".
You CAN NOT compete with the "big boys" if you take on $40-50 million per year in generational debt - bleeding your ICA coffers dry every year, in order to have the same things the other "big boys" get for $0 debt. You will be - at BEST - trying to fight with one hand tied behind your back for a generation (or more). That is easier to understand than how to spell C-A-T.
Hell, we need to take on debt to pay for things that the other "big boys" easily write out a check for - from their ICA account balances (things like - take your pick - a $10 million practice bubble, or renovating a locker room)
But I am sure someone will be selling that this needs to be done to "make the football program more competitive".
Nothing could be more completely removed from the truth. And what those folks are actually doing, when they claim to be "supporting football", is driving another nail in its coffin (or at least hobbling its long-term future).... not to mention, in this case, exposing the University to HUGE fiscal risk.
Still hasn't helped Franklin beat OSU and Michigan.
No doubt the usual suspects will profit handsomely from these renovations
You have to spend money to spend money. What don’t you people understand? I still say we might as well spend $2 billion and put things right. James is owed the support for his results.
There's two issues here. Post Covid, construction materials have skyrocketed. Michigan didn't kick the can down the road with stadium renovations like had been done at PSU for way too many years. Now, it's double the cost post pandemic.
The other issue is PSU alumni don't donate at a rate anywhere near what would make a dent in renovations. It was ingrained in us not to donate over the years. "We" didn't want to get caught up in the "arms race" of college football. We were a clean cut football program that did it our way and screw everyone else.
And that's why we're here. Also, I call BS on the bring the statue back and we'll donate crowd. It won't happen. That's the last thing Joe would have worried about anyhow.
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There is a reason PSU is only renovating half the stadium: it can't afford to do the rest. If PSU borrowed $2bn, it would crater the bond rating, which has reverberations across the entire University.
Even if PSU had the money, why would you spend $700 million on a sport which may not survive in anything like its current form?
Might as well build a buggy whip factory.
Might as well build a buggy whip factory.
Do it. Enough with the ”Death by a thousand paper cuts“ approach. End it in one fell swoop. Neeli’s legacy.
We need to stop acting like Penn State is going to become a perennial top 3-5 football program.
It isn’t going to happen. We are already way behind in NIL, only going to get worse.
F n idiotic to spend so much on a shiny renovated Beaver Stadium. And I say that as some that thinks the physical stadium is an old POS.
Probably worth noting:
I think everyone (or most everyone) would agree that Beaver Stadium can use a significant amount of polish.... to the tune of roughly $100 million-ish in upgrades/maintenance/general-fixing-things-up.
I would be - and am - in favor of that. More than "in favor" actually, I think those things should be addressed post-haste.
Now, the reason we are in that current state?
For years many things within the purview of ICA essentially went to seed. Including maintenance and upkeep of the facility critical to allowing for the revenue generator of the ICA to operate.
This happened because ICA became imbued with the culture of spending atrocious amounts of money on things that were of zero benefit - until the cupboards and cookie jars were empty - while overlooking the basics, including maintaining the facilities.
And, while it was going on, the folks responsible for oversight were either complicit or asleep at the wheel.
Anyway, that is where we are. We can't change that.
But even in the extraordinarily unlikely event that this proposal is somehow averted, it will remain imperative that leadership and oversight of ICA take a sudden and drastic turn for the better. The sooner we stop making unwise decisions, the better.
I think everyone (or most everyone) would agree that Beaver Stadium can use a significant amount of polish.... to the tune of roughly $100 million-ish in upgrades/maintenance/general-fixing-things-up.
I would be - and am - in favor of that. More than "in favor" actually, I think those things should be addressed post-haste.
Now, the reason we are in that current state?
For years many things within the purview of ICA essentially went to seed. Including maintenance and upkeep of the facility critical to allowing for the revenue generator of the ICA to operate.
This happened because ICA became imbued with the culture of spending atrocious amounts of money on things that were of zero benefit - until the cupboards and cookie jars were empty - while overlooking the basics, including maintaining the facilities.
And, while it was going on, the folks responsible for oversight were either complicit or asleep at the wheel.
Anyway, that is where we are. We can't change that.
But even in the extraordinarily unlikely event that this proposal is somehow averted, it will remain imperative that leadership and oversight of ICA take a sudden and drastic turn for the better. The sooner we stop making unwise decisions, the better.
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“Regarding the Beaver Stadium renovation, the board has had robust discussions on this topic and will continue them in public next week,” university spokesman Wyatt DuBois said.
Who knew that Matt Schuyler's right hand had a seat on the Board?
This ^^^ 1000x. There’s a lot of people looking at this through blinders and not wanting to admit what you bring up. PSU has been playing catch up since 2011, in large part due to the sticking to status quo pre 2011. It’s more expensive to play catch up than to keep up.
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