FAU Trustees endorse open-air stadium

[MeanGreen61]

FAU trustees endorse open-air football stadium

»

» Venue could be expanded for more seats, dome

»

» By Sarah Talalay | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

» Posted November 8, 2006

»

» Florida Atlantic University's Board of Trustees took a conservative

» approach Tuesday to building an on-campus football stadium, endorsing an

» open-air venue that could one day have a roof.

»

» Despite the urging of football coach Howard Schnellenberger and Athletic

» Director Craig Angelos, who preferred a more expensive and elaborate

» proposal for a 40,000-seat domed stadium, the board directed university

» staff to pursue the "phased project" option at a meeting on FAU's Fort

» Lauderdale campus.

»

» The smaller version of the stadium, projected to cost $98.7 million, would

» be constructed so more seats and a dome could be added later.

»

» The team hopes a football stadium can open for the Owls' 2010 season.

»

» The university is working with KUD International, a team of private

» companies that designs, builds and manages sports venues, to develop a

» private-public partnership that includes the stadium, dormitories and

» retail stores on the Boca Raton campus.

»

» The idea is the housing and businesses could generate most of the dollars

» needed to finance construction of the football stadium and possibly a

» basketball arena. The university and KUD plan to spend the next six months

» hashing out the details and full scope of the project, including the

» stadium's seating capacity.

I guess they know what they're doing but having been there recently for a game it doesn't make since to me. I think they announded while we were there that future games would be played in Miami at the Orange Bowl. Where they play now is antiquated but their fan base doesn't come anywhere near filling it. They have two campuses and are a large University but with the competition they have from major Universities it's hard to see them filling any stadium. I don't see the "if you build it they'll come" working in Ft. Lauderdale/Boca Raton.

[marc_moffitt]

I think they might be in a very similar circumstance that we are.

Their alumni and fan base may be saying the same thing that we are saying... that we need to build a new stadium and suddenly we will have fans in the seats and a winning program..

[MeanGreenBuzz]

I think they might be in a very similar circumstance that we are.

Their alumni and fan base may be saying the same thing that we are saying... that we need to build a new stadium and suddenly we will have fans in the seats and a winning program..

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I wouldn't necessarily say that but it sure as hell helps recruiting instead of hindering it. Alot of D4 and D5 schools in Texas play in better stadiums than Fouts...

[PlummMeanGreen]

I think they might be in a very similar circumstance that we are.

Their alumni and fan base may be saying the same thing that we are saying... that we need to build a new stadium and suddenly we will have fans in the seats and a winning program..

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Aren't many of us going to squirm a bit if both FAU and FIU beat us in all this new stadium business? It seems that Troy U already (somewhat) has.

YET...................even DFW area mega-churches memberships know to build their new sanctuaries, worship centers, or whatever they now call them much larger than what their present memberships are.

Hopefully, UNT will soon act like its actually a part of the "almost 6 million citizen populated" DFW Metroplex and look at all those others who expect to grow (even other than just those mega-churches) and learn by their example on how we should probably project to build the capacity of our new football stadium.

Folks, we ain't always going to run certain aspects of our school as if it were a JUCO, but preferably we start acting like we (actually) are the 4'th largest university in the almighty sovereign state of Texas (projected to be 3'rd largest in the future) and only behind you all know which 2 other schools and then our starting to hire those who would really be a contributing part of a school our size.

Still looking at our UNT System's very anemic $45 million endowment (for the size of our school and the number of years our school has been in existence), it seems our new upper echelon leaders need to first begin by hiring such talent who would be our school's general fundraisers.

Edited November 22, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

[UNT_playmaker]

everyone but us

[Huff]

North Texas is currently starting to look at a fund raising program that would include $60 million for a new football stadium. It makes me wonder what Florida Atlantic will have in their stadium that North Texas will not have. They are looking at spending almost $30 million more than North Texas.

[untbowler]

North Texas is currently starting to look at a fund raising program that would include $60 million for a new football stadium.  It makes me wonder what Florida Atlantic will have in their stadium that North Texas will not have.    They are looking at spending almost $30 million more than North Texas.

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construction costs in South Florida are outrageous it just comes with the territory, plus they are looking to set it up so they can dome it later.