Hereās my problem. When economy was soft and costs were low for construction and bonds it was stated demand was a concern, now economy is hot and construction costs and bonds are more expensive and now we are held back. Its like we are screwed either scenario. That is so FRUSTRATING!!!
There is never a goldilocks economy and other peer institutions seemed ro have figured it out. I appreciate our fiscal discipline but we are in the AAC and have a chance at the mythical CFB playoffs but we are playing in a nice 18K stadium.
Im not sure why so many of you are acting disappointed. I have been one of the biggest proponents for stadium expansion on this board, but this is exactly what we said would be done since even before the evergreen release (expand in phases). This is phase 1.
State rules in NC and our charter do certainly tie our hands to some degree.
Personally once we had the 60 mil in hand we should have had enough in hand to and have floated bonds and gone for it. They may have been hoping the bond environment would improve, but by waiting on that the nature of the economy is construct costs going up. You really do have to pick your poison.
Would have been better to strike cheaper construction costs than better bind environment.
I remember when I was driving a Corolla. Worked hard. Went to get a new car. Wanted a Highlander but I had to get a Rav-4 because I couldnāt afford the Highlander.
We have almost no premium seating options now. To drive greater revenue you have to appeal to a broader base of people. You canāt run a modern college athletic program selling $100 season ticket packages. The tower being built can also be used year round for other events. Iām not rich yet but if I keep progressing in my career I aspire to sit in the nicer seats one day. Also, due to the short history of our football program and the lack of success there is only so much demand for seats.
If we can get to 21k in the next 2 to 3 years snd then bring in temporary seating as necessary thats probably all we realistically need for the next 5 to 10 years. Give it time to build support for the program and get more graduates who have experienced football as students. Plus win some damn games and compete for conference championships and build some support and demand for 30k seats. $50 million of the $60 million for this phase came from 1 donor and the state. That means the rest of us only raised $10 million. We donāt even know if G5 football as we know it will exist in 10 years so it wouldnāt make a lot of sense to go deep in debt to build seats that probably wonāt be filled in the short term and may not even be necessary in the long term.
My brother works in the construction industry (steel particularly) and has talked at length about how expensive itās become. I am grateful weāre getting some expansion started at this point. Hopefully it continues and we can get more money flowing. I personally ldonāt think we need to go beyond 28-30K capacity but weāll see how things shake out I guess. Premium seat options will bring in revenue.
I was excited for expansionā¦ This is just construction.
We have the gold level FSLās (which appear to have a similar differentiator in the new upper ādeckā. If the goal is to sell more gold FSLās and boxes for revenue as a key step 1, be honest about itā¦ Iām sure we will sell those too- and Its just as likely those seats are a sporadically filled as their lower bowl brethrenā¦ As for the boxes- yes, on paper a solid revenue stream- if fully sold annually, but based on our struggles to get meaningful new, and visible corporate sponsorship, its going to be the same old same old with Judy having her pick of a box.
The other trickle down is those ānet newā people will probably get parking around the stadium- adding more no shows in the lots early making the tailgate scene gets more morgue like.
When I watch how we run things, I always think to the very beginning of Rounders āIf you canāt spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.ā Weāve been looking for the sucker for 20 years and havenāt spotted em.
