Do You Believe?

emmitt01 · February 20, 2008

It seems that new stadium is the biggest issue being discussed on this board in the past few years. We have all heard the talk of "new stadium in 2010" or "it's closer to reality than it has ever been." My question is, do you honestly believe any of it? I picked the year 2011 because that's an extra year past the 2010 date many of us have heard...and a full 3 1/2 years from now if we're talking opening day of 2011.

Edited February 20, 2008 by emmitt01

houstonmeangreen · February 20, 2008

It seems that new stadium is the biggest issue being discussed on this board in the past few years. We have all heard the talk of "new stadium in 2010" or "it's closer to reality than it has ever been." My question is, do you honestly believe any of it? I picked the year 2011 because that's an extra year past the 2010 date many of us have heard...and a full 3 1/2 years from now if we're talking opening day of 2011.

Most of the money is already lined up.

GreenAlums · February 20, 2008

Most of the money is already lined up.

I'd love to be optomistic about the money being lined up but more than anything, I hope you know a lot more about the money than I do!!

GreenMachine · February 20, 2008

Most of the money is already lined up.

This isn't true based on what RV has recently publicly stated. We don't even have 10% in hand.

GreenAlums · February 20, 2008

This isn't true based on what RV has recently publicly stated. We don't even have 10% in hand.

We MAY have 10%, which is a great start but that's max from my knowledge.

Edited February 20, 2008 by GreenExes

Stan R · February 20, 2008

Not gonna happen. Enjoy the waterless urinals and your binoculars. They'll be around for a while.

KRAM1 · February 20, 2008

You just have to believe! Come on folks...here we go with the glass half-full vs half-empty thing again. I choose to believe the positive here...YES, we will have the NEW stadium by 2011. I will imagine that we will see some real "movement" later this year...announcements regarding design work sooner than later. I have no "official" knowledge what so ever...but, I'll bet more than 10% of the $$$$ is lined up...yes, we will have a corporate sponsor unless some big private donor shows up on a "whaite horse" with buckets of cash...can you spell Boone Pickens????

Come on....B-E-L-I-E-V-E!!!!! It is so much more enjoyable than being upset and frustrated all the time. Hey, UNT is moving forward after years of "nothing"...like the guy or not...take a look back over the last few years and see what RV has said he was going to attempt to do regarding athletic facilities and what has, in fact, come to pass....if you have been around UNT as long as I have...since 1965...then you KNOW the progress that has been made in the last few years facility-wise under RV. I give him lots of credit for saying it and then DOING IT! I recall some early mmetings when RV first came to UNT and when the talk came up about facilities....the first things he mentioned he "had" to do, had nothing to do with a new stadium...as best as I recall. Have you seen the athletic facilities...alll of them...lately?

Folks....it will happen and it will happen sooner than later...I just believe that to be true...you too can choose to believe it or...you can continue to gripe about it. All that gripping and negativity sure has gotten the stadium built sooner! Maybe my optimism hasn't gotten it built any faster either, but I sure feel alot better about it all!

O.K. ... bring out the "boo birds"... I hear you warming up out there already! :lol:

ADLER · February 20, 2008

The lack of a stadium is just a symptom of a bigger problem. Fix that problem and the facilities issues will easily be fixed.

KingDL1 · February 20, 2008

You just have to believe! Come on folks...here we go with the glass half-full vs half-empty thing again. I choose to believe the positive here...YES, we will have the NEW stadium by 2011. I will imagine that we will see some real "movement" later this year...announcements regarding design work sooner than later. I have no "official" knowledge what so ever...but, I'll bet more than 10% of the $$$$ is lined up...yes, we will have a corporate sponsor unless some big private donor shows up on a "whaite horse" with buckets of cash...can you spell Boone Pickens????
Come on....B-E-L-I-E-V-E!!!!! It is so much more enjoyable than being upset and frustrated all the time. Hey, UNT is moving forward after years of "nothing"...like the guy or not...take a look back over the last few years and see what RV has said he was going to attempt to do regarding athletic facilities and what has, in fact, come to pass....if you have been around UNT as long as I have...since 1965...then you KNOW the progress that has been made in the last few years facility-wise under RV. I give him lots of credit for saying it and then DOING IT! I recall some early mmetings when RV first came to UNT and when the talk came up about facilities....the first things he mentioned he "had" to do, had nothing to do with a new stadium...as best as I recall. Have you seen the athletic facilities...alll of them...lately?
Folks....it will happen and it will happen sooner than later...I just believe that to be true...you too can choose to believe it or...you can continue to gripe about it. All that gripping and negativity sure has gotten the stadium built sooner! Maybe my optimism hasn't gotten it built any faster either, but I sure feel alot better about it all!
O.K. ... bring out the "boo birds"... I hear you warming up out there already!

It has been my experience if you believe, good things happen.

I know when I stopped believing in Santa Claus, he stopped bringing me gifts.

trud1966 · February 20, 2008

R E L A X - It's going to happen. You dont have to have 55-60 mil IN HAND to start a development project. Large development projects can get financed like anything else. The project (part of all of it) could be bonded out. Aside from those theories, I really believe UNT wouldnt enter into a $300,000 archictectural contract with HKS without some hint of a strategic plan. UNT wont just let a roll of $300,000 construction drawings lay around on a desk somewhere waiting for money to come in. And DONT hit me with "they're just using the architectural drawings as marketing tools for raise funds". If UNT wanted to do that, they could take their computer model rendering that was done previously and redo it, or develop a new one, or build a fund raising web site or a million other scenarios, ALL for probably 1/10th the cost. You DONT do full construction documents and specifications to raise money. You do them for finance officials to evaluate the project. You do them to get competive bids from General Contractors. For General Contractors to bid a project of this size, it will take them several weeks, hundreds of man hours, at a cost of thousands of dollars just for the CHANCE to win the project. An owner (UNT) knows this and would never waste competing General Contractors time if the project wasnt really moving forward.

Edited February 20, 2008 by trud1966

Mean Green 93-98 · February 20, 2008

R E L A X - It's going to happen. You dont have to have 55-60 mil IN HAND to start a development project. Large development projects can get financed like anything else. The project (part of all of it) could be bonded out. Aside from those theories, I really believe UNT wouldnt enter into a $300,000 archictectural contract with HKS without some hint of a strategic plan. UNT wont just let a roll of $300,000 construction drawings lay around on a desk somewhere waiting for money to come in. And DONT hit me with "they're just using the architectural drawings as marketing tools for raise funds". If UNT wanted to do that, they could take their computer model rendering that was done previously and redo it, or develop a new one, or build a fund raising web site or a million other scenarios, ALL for probably 1/10th the cost. You DONT do full construction documents and specifications to raise money.

Well, I think we'd all better put that in our pipes and smoke it.

And savor the flavor.

SilverEagle · February 20, 2008

The lack of a stadium is just a symptom of a bigger problem. Fix that problem and the facilities issues will easily be fixed.

Everyone's broke?

Seriously, you need to be less cryptic. Because the possiblities (depending on who you are talking to) are unlimited.

yyz28 · February 20, 2008

Too many things point to YES for me not to have a great deal of hope.

Everyone just simmer down, good things are afoot.

PlummMeanGreen · February 20, 2008

Everyone's broke?
QUOTE(ADLER @ Feb 20 2008, 03:33 PM) The lack of a stadium is just a symptom of a bigger problem. Fix that problem and the facilities issues will easily be fixed.
Seriously, you need to be less cryptic. Because the possiblities (depending on who you are talking to) are unlimited.

Yeah, ADLER, leave all that cryptic stuff for me, right? Plumminici Code, etc, etc, etc, and all the rest, uh, you mean you already forgot? ? ? ? ?

I said it the first hour I heard we weren't going to patchwork quilt the old Services Bldg & try to turn it into a believable Athletic Center (instead of the masterpiece we have today); also, when I happily learned we would not patchwork quilt Fouts Field (some more) and when I heard we were moving much or all our Varsity Athletics Programs to the multi-acre Mean Green Village and what I said to many of you back then still holds true today IMO as far as this new stadium ever going to happen:

One Donor (or a series of donors thereof, a la SMU & their 4 Big Donors ='s One New Football Stadium @ The Mean Green Village.

Unless our BOR's grow some strategic family jewels and start acting like UT's or TAMU's who have Regents who say "THIS IS WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO & "What the hell do you mean, uh, student vote for something this important for UNT's future?"..........

.............anyway, until such leadership at UNT happens, there will be no new stadium, simple as that. I believe there will be a new stadium in spite of our past bloopers & blunders, I really do.

BUT STILL...........it may amaze many, but UNT is still going to have to go the way of many other NCAA D1-A schools who had Big Donors a la SMU who had 4 Big Donors which made a new stadium possible for them or the kind of monies we don't need at UNT to do what we need to have done which T. Boone Pickens monies did for a dramatic renovation of Oklahoma State's old stadium making it become almost unrecognizable from its original look from its Big 8 days.

Now some of you (in the obvious know) say UNT having a Big Donor is a "no go", that is, its just not going to happen and that it is a virtual impossibility. (Please do let the rest of us in on how you know these kind of things, OK)? :rolleyes: YET........... w/o a Big Donor, sorry folks, but those I've known in the Mean Green Club the last 30 plus years x's 100 still ain't going to get one endzone built for any new stadium in Denton (unless one of them just happens to win the Publishing Clearinghouse Sweepstakes a la the late former Denton Mayor Bob Castleberry did and then such a future possible winnner decides to get quite genrous with UNT).

I know American Airlines didn't have to spend all that money where the Dallas Mavericks play their basketball yet instead could have put a billboard off Stemmons Fwy which would have been much simpler (and much more inexpensive for the AA officials BUT.............

IF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS CANNOT FIND A BIG DONOR IN WHAT COULD ARGUABLY BE THE BEST COLLEGIATE FOOTBALL STADIUM LOCATION IN THE ENTIRE USA FOR A PRIME ADVERTISING SPOT FOR ANY FORTUNE 500 COMPANY......

....THEN WE REALLY AIN'T MUCH GOOD AT WHAT WE'RE DOING UP IN MEAN GREEN COUNTRY. ONE HAS TO WONDER IF ALL UNT POWERS THAT BE OR ON THE SAME PAGE WITH THIS NEW STADIUM IDEA FOR OUR MAIN CAMPUS. MANY NEW STADIUMS HAVE BEEN BUILT OR ALMOST REBUILT AT MANY NCAA D1-A OUTPOSTS, SO ITS NOT THAT WE ARE PIONEERING A NEW IDEA WITH ALL THIS NEW STADIUM BUSINESS IN DENTON. UNFORTUNATELY, UNT HAS SLUMBERED FOR DECADES AS MANY OF US HAVE WATCHED ABOUT 10 SCHOOLS WE WERE AT ONE TIME AT THE SAME NCAA DIVISION ONE LEVEL PASS US BY THE LAST QUARTER OF A CENTURY.

IF WE CONTINUE IN OUR SLEEP MODE (WHICH CAN HARDLY BE BLAMED COMPLETELY ON PRESENT UNT LEADERSHIP SINCE THEY INHERITED MUCH OF WHAT THEY ARE HAVING TO DEAL WITH); YET IF WE CONTINUE OUR SLEEP, THERE WILL BE MANY OTHER FOOTBALL SCHOOLS WHO WILL PASS US BY AND SOME OF THEIR NAMES MIGHT JUST SURPRISE YOU (AS MANY OF THE NAMES THAT PASSED US BY BACK IN THE DAY SURPRISED MANY OF US OLDER ALUMS). JUST MY .02 ON THE SUBJECT, THAT'S ALL. :ph34r:

Edited February 21, 2008 by PlummMeanGreen

ADLER · February 21, 2008

Seriously, you need to be less cryptic. Because the possiblities (depending on who you are talking to) are unlimited.

Silver, it's pretty well spelled out in the VIP forum. (and for you non-VIP's, think bunny and the pillow)

UNTFan23 · February 21, 2008

The Magic 8 Ball says we will, so that's good enough for me.

emmitt01 · February 21, 2008

The Magic 8 Ball says we will, so that's good enough for me.

Uh...maybe your 8-ball has more optimism than mine.

http://m8ball.nicksoft.info/index.php?answer=222754

And isn't it telling, or at least a decent gauge of the faith our fanbase has in this project, that the votes in this poll are pretty much 50/50?

Edited February 21, 2008 by emmitt01

UNTFan23 · February 21, 2008

Uh...maybe your 8-ball has more optimism than mine.
http://m8ball.nicksoft.info/index.php?answer=222754
And isn't it telling, or at least a decent gauge of the faith our fanbase has in this project, that the votes in this poll are pretty much 50/50?

OT: For the final Men's Basketball game, I am planning on "pimping" myself out for the game, what about you Emmitt?

emmitt01 · February 21, 2008

OT: For the final Men's Basketball game, I am planning on "pimping" myself out for the game, what about you Emmitt?

I'm in.

GreenAlums · February 21, 2008

You just have to believe! Come on folks...here we go with the glass half-full vs half-empty thing again. I choose to believe the positive here...YES, we will have the NEW stadium by 2011. I will imagine that we will see some real "movement" later this year...announcements regarding design work sooner than later. I have no "official" knowledge what so ever...but, I'll bet more than 10% of the $$$$ is lined up...yes, we will have a corporate sponsor unless some big private donor shows up on a "whaite horse" with buckets of cash...can you spell Boone Pickens????
Come on....B-E-L-I-E-V-E!!!!! It is so much more enjoyable than being upset and frustrated all the time. Hey, UNT is moving forward after years of "nothing"...like the guy or not...take a look back over the last few years and see what RV has said he was going to attempt to do regarding athletic facilities and what has, in fact, come to pass....if you have been around UNT as long as I have...since 1965...then you KNOW the progress that has been made in the last few years facility-wise under RV. I give him lots of credit for saying it and then DOING IT! I recall some early mmetings when RV first came to UNT and when the talk came up about facilities....the first things he mentioned he "had" to do, had nothing to do with a new stadium...as best as I recall. Have you seen the athletic facilities...alll of them...lately?
Folks....it will happen and it will happen sooner than later...I just believe that to be true...you too can choose to believe it or...you can continue to gripe about it. All that gripping and negativity sure has gotten the stadium built sooner! Maybe my optimism hasn't gotten it built any faster either, but I sure feel alot better about it all!
O.K. ... bring out the "boo birds"... I hear you warming up out there already!

KRAM, you are a class act! Thanks for the optimism and keep that torch high! We will at least see the framework and structure of a stadium by 2011. RV has got to get some sleep!! I'm so excited about it I'm about to start a "name the stadium" contest. OK mahbe not, but it's gonna happen!!

Edited February 21, 2008 by GreenExes

UNTFan23 · February 21, 2008

KRAM, you are a class act! Thanks for the optimism and keep that torch high! We will at least see the framework and structure of a stadium by 20011. RV has got to get some sleep!! I'm so excited about it I'm about to start a "name the stadium" contest. OK mahbe not, but it's gonna happen!!

I hope I've long turned to dust by this time.

GreenAlums · February 21, 2008

Yeah, ADLER, leave all that cryptic stuff for me, right? Plumminici Code, etc, etc, etc, and all the rest, uh, you mean you already forgot? ? ? ? ?
I said it the first hour I heard we weren't going to patchwork quilt the old Services Bldg & try to turn it into a believable Athletic Center (instead of the masterpiece we have today); also, when I happily learned we would not patchwork quilt Fouts Field (some more) and when I heard we were moving much or all our Varsity Athletics Programs to the multi-acre Mean Green Village and what I said to many of you back then still holds true today IMO as far as this new stadium ever going to happen:
One Donor (or a series of donors thereof, a la SMU & their 4 Big Donors ='s One New Football Stadium @ The Mean Green Village.
Unless our BOR's grow some strategic family jewels and start acting like UT's or TAMU's who have Regents who say "THIS IS WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO & "What the hell do you mean, uh, student vote for something this important for UNT's future?"..........
.............anyway, until such leadership at UNT happens, there will be no new stadium, simple as that. I believe there will be a new stadium in spite of our past bloopers & blunders, I really do.
BUT STILL...........it may amaze many, but UNT is still going to have to go the way of many other NCAA D1-A schools who had Big Donors a la SMU who had 4 Big Donors which made a new stadium possible for them or the kind of monies we don't need at UNT to do what we need to have done which T. Boone Pickens monies did for a dramatic renovation of Oklahoma State's old stadium making it become almost unrecognizable from its original look from its Big 8 days.
Now some of you (in the obvious know) say UNT having a Big Donor is a "no go", that is, its just not going to happen and that it is a virtual impossibility. (Please do let the rest of us in on how you know these kind of things, OK)? YET........... w/o a Big Donor, sorry folks, but those I've known in the Mean Green Club the last 30 plus years x's 100 still ain't going to get one endzone built for any new stadium in Denton (unless one of them just happens to win the Publishing Clearinghouse Sweepstakes a la the late former Denton Mayor Bob Castleberry did and then such a future possible winnner decides to get quite genrous with UNT).
I know American Airlines didn't have to spend all that money where the Dallas Mavericks play their basketball yet instead could have put a billboard off Stemmons Fwy which would have been much simpler (and much more inexpensive for the AA officials BUT.............
IF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS CANNOT FIND A BIG DONOR IN WHAT COULD ARGUABLY BE THE BEST COLLEGIATE FOOTBALL STADIUM LOCATION IN THE ENTIRE USA FOR A PRIME ADVERTISING SPOT FOR ANY FORTUNE 500 COMPANY......
....THEN WE REALLY AIN'T MUCH GOOD AT WHAT WE'RE DOING UP IN MEAN GREEN COUNTRY. ONE HAS TO WONDER IF ALL UNT POWERS THAT BE OR ON THE SAME PAGE WITH THIS NEW STADIUM IDEA FOR OUR MAIN CAMPUS. MANY NEW STADIUMS HAVE BEEN BUILT OR ALMOST REBUILT AT MANY NCAA D1-A OUTPOSTS, SO ITS NOT THAT WE ARE PIONEERING A NEW IDEA WITH ALL THIS NEW STADIUM BUSINESS IN DENTON. UNFORTUNATELY, UNT HAS SLUMBERED FOR DECADES AS MANY OF US HAVE WATCHED ABOUT 10 SCHOOLS WE WERE AT ONE TIME AT THE SAME NCAA DIVISION ONE LEVEL PASS US BY THE LAST QUARTER OF A CENTURY.
IF WE CONTINUE IN OUR SLEEP MODE (WHICH CAN HARDLY BE BLAMED COMPLETELY ON PRESENT UNT LEADERSHIP SINCE THEY INHERITED MUCH OF WHAT THEY ARE HAVING TO DEAL WITH); YET IF WE CONTINUE OUR SLEEP, THERE WILL BE MANY OTHER FOOTBALL SCHOOLS WHO WILL PASS US BY AND SOME OF THEIR NAMES MIGHT JUST SURPRISE YOU (AS MANY OF THE NAMES THAT PASSED US BY BACK IN THE DAY SURPRISED MANY OF US OLDER ALUMS). JUST MY .02 ON THE SUBJECT, THAT'S ALL.