Now That The Athletic Fee Finally Passed

[ParksAndRecRick]

Our new Minor League Stadium in Grand Prairie cost $21 million. I believe 7 to 9 million would bring a GRAND baseball facility to UNT.

Rick Herold

[Daddy Dumpsalot]

I'd guess it depends on whether we want to play in one of the local parks for a few years.

The good news:

1. We have approximately $.75 million in donations dedicated to baseball.

2. The money available would cover start up costs.

3. There will be some additional funds available in 2011 from the athletics fee.

4. We have fairly strong support for a team.

5. We own the land where the ballpark will be located.

6. There is plenty of talent available.

7. Softball was able to play elsewhere locally and later successfully build their own stadium.

8. The Athletics Director is in favor of adding baseball as soon as possible.

The bad news:

1. We do not have, nor do we have the money to build, a new stadium.

2. One or two additional women's sports would need to added to comply with Title IX.

Don't forget prob the best reason is that we can move into another conference.

[emmitt01]

More locally TCU has a very nice facility.

[GreenAlums]

I'd love to see a Varsity equestrian team at UNT. We are in the middle of horse heaven with all the potential support needed to be very competitive......not that I'm rying to keep up with SMU. Its a pretty cool spectator sport too.

Edited October 20, 2008 by GreenAlums

[NT80]

Baum Stadium at Arkansas is one of the best college baseball stadiums I've seen. They just completed construction of additional suites (yes for college baseball).

click article photo to enlarge....

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...l%3Den%26sa%3DG

Edited October 20, 2008 by NT80

[TheTastyGreek]

Totally serious, I'd love to see a gymnastics team here.

From the 6 years I spent in Atlanta and the trips I made to visit friends in Athens after moving away, I know how much a quality team can really break through. Anyone unfamiliar with the Gym Dogs (UGA's women's gymnastics team) should look them up. They're an institution, and they're a revenue generating team.

Every four years, you get a huge spike in interest. And with all the world class gyms in Texas, we ought to be able to recruit some quality gymnasts who are looking to stay close to home.

I don't know much about how many schools compete nationally, and I don't know what expenses are like to found and maintain a gymnastics squad. But if it's feasible, this would be a very, very interesting (and fun) new team to support.

[NT80]

It's been previously discussed, but if you don't add a woman's sport, you can easily determine that there is really only one other way to balance the numbers out.

Humm....baseball I believe has a max of like 13.5 ships? I'm guessing we would be looking at building a revenue men's sport at the expense of trimming a non-revenue men's sport? Perhaps men's golf, cross country, or indoor track? Not that those are on any list, just guessing of course.

[Rudy]

Totally serious, I'd love to see a gymnastics team here.

From the 6 years I spent in Atlanta and the trips I made to visit friends in Athens after moving away, I know how much a quality team can really break through. Anyone unfamiliar with the Gym Dogs (UGA's women's gymnastics team) should look them up. They're an institution, and they're a revenue generating team.

Every four years, you get a huge spike in interest. And with all the world class gyms in Texas, we ought to be able to recruit some quality gymnasts who are looking to stay close to home.

Yeah, the last two olympic champion womens gymnasts Carly Patterson (Allen) and Nastia Liukin (Parker) both train in Plano. And guess which one just enrolled at SMUt as a freshman...

Said gym in Plano is probably sending more gymnasts to future olympics.

Bring in a women's gymnastic team ASAP and maybe you can recruit Liukin to UNT as she will be able to train for the next olympics while she competes for NT and brings us more recognition. ONe of her best friends is Shawn Johnson, will be 18 in a couple of years. Just think how bad ass our gymnastics team would be if Liukin could talk Shawn into coming to NT

Seriously though, this area is a hotbed for that sport and Id love to beat SMU in starting a team. You could probably get Bela or Marla Kyroli or Valerie Liukin to coach.

[ADLER]

Our new Minor League Stadium in Grand Prairie cost $21 million. I believe 7 to 9 million would bring a GRAND baseball facility to UNT.

Rick Herold

Rick,

Several years ago there was a proposed baseball stadium that would have been paid for by the minor league Denton Outlaws but built in he North Texas athletic village on UNT property. That option is gone since the Denton Outlaws have ceased operations.

Are there potentially other franchises from other minor leagues that may be interested in a similar deal? The Grand Prairie facility was built with taxpayer support, is this something that the City of Denton should also be considering financially supporting? Denton needs some entertainment venues, and surely there are reports on how much tax revenue is received by a city hosting events.

[KRAM1]

You folks are "something else"....the ink hasn't even dried on the vote tally for the stadium vote and you are already going after BASEBALL and a stadium for that! Good Grief...if you wanted to start talking about a decent sport for the men to add....drum roll please....anyone not know what's coming next?????

MEN'S SOCCER!!!!!!!

Field is already available!

COME ON...you knew this would show up sooner or later. If not, where have you been?

[greenminer]

Bring in a women's gymnastic team ASAP and maybe you can recruit Liukin to UNT as she will be able to train for the next olympics while she competes for NT and brings us more recognition. ONe of her best friends is Shawn Johnson, will be 18 in a couple of years. Just think how bad ass our gymnastics team would be if Liukin could talk Shawn into coming to NT

Wasn't there an athlete that played for Colorado a few years back that got denied eligibility because he participated (ski?) in the Olympics?

It might have been the sponsorship. Just throwing that out there.

[UNTLifer]

Totally serious, I'd love to see a gymnastics team here.

From the 6 years I spent in Atlanta and the trips I made to visit friends in Athens after moving away, I know how much a quality team can really break through. Anyone unfamiliar with the Gym Dogs (UGA's women's gymnastics team) should look them up. They're an institution, and they're a revenue generating team.

Every four years, you get a huge spike in interest. And with all the world class gyms in Texas, we ought to be able to recruit some quality gymnasts who are looking to stay close to home.

I don't know much about how many schools compete nationally, and I don't know what expenses are like to found and maintain a gymnastics squad. But if it's feasible, this would be a very, very interesting (and fun) new team to support.

TWU has historically fielded a very good gymnastics program, so I would think North Texas could do the same.

Back to the question that started this thread. RV has stated that his first priority is getting the football stadium built and then baseball would be addressed. Let's get the stadium taken care of first and then worry about other sports.

[Quoner]

Wasn't there an athlete that played for Colorado a few years back that got denied eligibility because he participated (ski?) in the Olympics?

It might have been the sponsorship. Just throwing that out there.

It was Jeremy Bloom. I meant to find an article on the situation, but his wikipedia article is extremely interesting and I got sleepy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bloom

[Green Dozer]

Baseball is coming.

A new baseball complex, a competitive DIV 1 program in football, and a new football stadium? Pleasssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! You are really dreaming.

[Green Mean]

A new baseball complex, a competitive DIV 1 program in football, and a new football stadium? Pleasssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! You are really dreaming.

It will take a few years but all of this will happen.

[OldTimer]

Any ideas????

It will come when NT has the athletic funds (above stadium bond payments) to spend about $350,000 for a baseball program annually, plus a stadium to play in, and when NT has the funds to support offsetting title nine support and ships annually. ( every year minus the stadium cost)

Where did I come up with $350,00 ? I was VP Finance and Administration at El Paso Community College when they started a baseball program...that is what it took and that didn't include a lot of other expenses related to the program.

[UNT Mean Green]

How much would a baseball stadium cost? I would not think it would be more than about 5-10 million dollars. I am sure we can atleast raise money to start the baseball stadium project.

A good baseball facility on par with Baylor and TCU's facilities costs 7-10 million (I'm not certain if that includes land costs or not).

A ridiculous baseball facility like the new LSU stadium and the new South Carolina stadium costs as much as most AA or AAA Minor League ballparks in the range of 20-30 million.

There is no question that UNT needs baseball, and that baseball can easily be the top sport at North Texas in a short amount of time. Give the right coach necessary funding and it can happen quickly. Look at college baseball in general. There are a lot of successful programs that aren't major athletic schools. Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, Rice, UC Irvine to name a few. Those are all schools that aren't athletic powerhouses (i.e. Texas, LSU, etc) however they are very successful in baseball and are in recruiting hotbeds. Look at the latest college baseball recruiting class rankings. TCU landed a higher ranked class than Texas did (for the second time in 4 years). In 2004, TCU moved into their new stadium, got a new coach who hired the right recruiting guy, and they have been a very successful baseball program since that day. I guess my point is put the correct people in charge with adequate funding and a baseball program can be successful on a national scale in a short amount of time.

[UNT Mean Green]

I have been told that the funding for a baseball program already exists. However, the stadium must be built first! I promise I am not making this up....

For the record, the pictures Flyer posted of a baseball stadium are real they are posted on the AD website under future facilities.

FYI, to clarify that. The pictures of that stadium are real, but they fall into the same category as those pictures that SPARKS drew up of that proposed football stadium. Don't put much (if any) stock into them. When baseball gets here, the stadium won't look like that.

[UNT Mean Green]

7 million could get you this stadium (the other 4 million spent on the facility went into the other fields), which by the way hosted an NCAA Regional on ESPN this past spring for Coastal Carolina:

This would be a wonderful facility.

[pogWo4life]

Hockey!!!!!

[Green Dozer]

It will take a few years but all of this will happen.

Several years if we include baseball, which would be pretty cool. I just want the football program built first. We have used to much 'baling wire" over the years to hold things together in football, and even with that, it still breaks down. Now, its time to get serious, and if something like baseball needs to wait, oh well. We have the opportunity to get football going, which will in turn improve all sports.

[yyz28]

Several years if we include baseball, which would be pretty cool. I just want the football program built first. We have used to much 'baling wire" over the years to hold things together in football, and even with that, it still breaks down. Now, its time to get serious, and if something like baseball needs to wait, oh well. We have the opportunity to get football going, which will in turn improve all sports.

I agree 100%!

[UNT2012]

Let's get into the stadium first before worrying about a sport that makes no money. Ricky V. told me on campus that a lot of money still has to be raised, and he emphatically said a lot.

[UNT Mean Green]

Let's get into the stadium first before worrying about a sport that makes no money. Ricky V. told me on campus that a lot of money still has to be raised, and he emphatically said a lot.

Did you know that the NCAA Division I men's baseball College World Series is the second (2nd) largest championsip series sponsored by the NCAA? Coach Polk made this point .... the baseball regionals, super-regionals and CWS are surpassed in revenue generated for the NCAA only by the men's basketball tournament. What about football? Those bowl games are not revenue shared by the NCAA, only the participating schools and in some cases their conferences.

In that case, baseball is the second largest revenue earning sport shared by the NCAA behind Men's Basketball.

[greenminer]

Did you know that the NCAA Division I men's baseball College World Series is the second (2nd) largest championsip series sponsored by the NCAA? Coach Polk made this point .... the baseball regionals, super-regionals and CWS are surpassed in revenue generated for the NCAA only by the men's basketball tournament. What about football? Those bowl games are not revenue shared by the NCAA, only the participating schools and in some cases their conferences.

In that case, baseball is the second largest revenue earning sport shared by the NCAA behind Men's Basketball.

Not much of a baseball fan myself.

So can I assume this post is a dance around the fact that Men's bball and football are the two big money sports, and everything else is a distant third or worse?

How much revenue can a gymnastics team produce around here? I'm not marketing expert, but this metroplex is a hotbed for world class gymnastic development. I can only speculate how many families would get behind an upper-level, competitive team?