Welsh-Ryan arena
- Thread starter vgshwk
- Start date
I'm not a NW fan or that of McGaw...I actually saw a game there in 1968 (still have the 2 page program)...if you think it is a dump now...anyway I like the renovation instead of a new building somewhere else. Its NorthWestern way.
The location is great being next to football field. And we don't know what the renovation will look like...nothing wrong with their decision to go this way. I'd rather Collins leave asap.
The location is great being next to football field. And we don't know what the renovation will look like...nothing wrong with their decision to go this way. I'd rather Collins leave asap.
The Northwestern University Endowment Fund is estimated at around $9B which ranks it among the top 10 of all such university funds. For point of reference, the University of Iowa's endowment balance is estimated at approximately $1.5B*
If Northwestern would set aside 01% of its endowment balance for a facility, it would start with $90 million. That's a pretty good start for a new basketball arena. With sponsorship fees and further fundraising, NW could easily reach $125 million, probably much higher considering NW's alumni pool. That amount would be sufficient to begin building a very nice, new modern basketball arena which would serve the school for multiple decades.
NW is founding member of the B10 conference. Welsh-Ryan (1952) is outdated and a borderline embarrassment. Its past time to build facilities commensurate with their status IMO.
* The value of University endowment funds fluctuate frequently due to financial market conditions, expenses, distributions and donations.
Isnt that the arena that is right next to the airport? Might make it better to go to the Iowa/Northwestern game there next year since there is a ton of stuff to do in that area?
Your endowment comment is correct but endowment earnings are not going to be set aside for athletics, especially at Northwestern. Earnings are most often placed into the operations budget.
Fundraising is the name of the game, especially with athletic renovations.
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NU is in the middle of a 260 million dollar facilities upgrade, with about 110 million of that going to Welsh-Ryan.
My thought was when Collins got the NW job and Wojo at Marquette both were auditioning for the Duke job when Coach K ever decides to retire. So far advantage Collins especially with former OU coach and now current Duke assistant Jeff Capel of doing just a mediocre job when Coach K was gone for couple of games due to back surgery this year.
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Yep. Went a couple years ago. Got stopped in the concourse to get to our seats cause the teams were passing on by onto the court. Place is filth.Was just reading that players and coaches have to walk through the public concourses to get from the locker rooms to the court. That's weird even for something built in '52
You'd think with 110 million could just build something better than renovate that dump. Looked up and said McLeod Center where UNI plays at cost something in the 25-30 million range to build a decade ago.
I agree. Nebraska opened the Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2013 at a total cost of about $150M. That arena seats 15,500, about twice the current size of Welsh-Ryan gymnasium. Northwestern could likely build a brand new facility and add 2,000 - 3,000 more seats over current capacity for a price in the same general neighborhood.
It doesn't make sense to me, especially when you consider NW's very wealthy donor base. Fund raise an additional $50M and tear that sucker down.
I hate to nitpick, but I will. .01% of 9B is $900,000.
If you meant 1%, that would likely be a pretty good chunk of the annual endowment spending. I have to believe that all of the distributable income from the endowment is restricted as to it's use, and committed to academics or the hospital.There is far too much money spent today on athletics. I applaud NW for worrying more about building a world-class institution of higher learning than they do about the basketball program.
On the other hand, I watched the end of the Mich/NW game last night. The fans seemed to be enjoying themselves in that "dump".
http://www.nusports.com/news/2016/6/13/WRA_Renovation.aspx
The project, part of the 2010 master athletics facilities plan recommendation, will entail a complete renovation of Welsh-Ryan Arena and McGaw Memorial Hall, including:
- New seating throughout the arena, with chair-back seats replacing existing wood bleachers
- Wider, more accessible concourses with improved lighting to alleviate congestion
- Improved accessibility for the mobility-impaired, with five new elevators replacing the existing one
- New restrooms, doubling the number of toilet fixtures as well as the addition of accessible family restrooms
- New concession areas with twice as many point-of-sale stations to increase efficiency, along with new food and drink offerings
- State-of-the-art lighting, audio and video capabilities in the arena
- Premium seating areas and expansion of the N-Club, which provides space for pre- and post-game events, by more than 400 percent. The club, which is located on the second floor, will be extended south onto Randy Walker Terrace at Ryan Field and provide expanded hospitality opportunities on football gamedays.
- Expansion of the building lobby by nearly 50 percent
- A new ticket office
- New locker rooms for men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball
- New offices for men's and women's basketball
- Expansion of usable court space in both the main arena and fieldhouse.
I wrote 01% not .01%. I did not include a decimal point.I hate to nitpick, but I will. .01% of 9B is $900,000.
I am by no means an expert in endowment funds and I am wholly unfamiliar with Northwestern's endowment fund but I understand that, generally speaking, general endowment funds (as opposed to special purpose endowment funds) are either written with fairly broadly terminology or subject to liberal interpretion by the fund's administrators.
If the general fund allows expenditures for upgrading or replacing school facilities, I would assume that such authorization could include sports facilities as well(unless specifically prohibited by the fund itself or by law, of course). I could be wrong; some of which I have stated is conjecture on my part.
The City of Lincoln owns Pinnacle Bank Arena. It used tax dollars, as supplemented by naming rights, to fund the construction. Northwestern can't do that. As others have noted in this thread, NU also can't use endowment dollars for athletic purposes. It needs to raise the money through traditional fundraising. That can be a tall order with an alumni and fan base as small as NU's--especially when it had just raised $260MM to fund the new lakefront athletics facility. The $110MM in Welsh-Ryan money had to be raised on top of that. Rumor has it that phase 3 will involve desperately needed renovations of Ryan Field, but that might take a little while longer. NU has a fantastic AD who I am sure is a terrific fundraiser. He is pulling a lot of this together in a pretty short time on the job.
I have mixed feelings about renovating Welsh-Ryan versus rebuilding. I would have preferred a new, on-campus facility that players and students could access more easily. But there is insufficient land and parking on campus to support such a facility. I assume it is more cost-effective to renovate than to demolish and start from scratch. You also need to keep in mind that NU probably did not want to add more seats. It would rather fill a smaller house consistently, like Duke does, and maximize the home court advantage. Indeed, the renovation will actually reduce capacity by 617 seats. This is probably a wise move.
I hate to nitpick, but I will. .01% of 9B is $900,000.
There is far too much money spent today on athletics. I applaud NW for worrying more about building a world-class institution of higher learning than they do about the basketball program.
On the other hand, I watched the end of the Mich/NW game last night. The fans seemed to be enjoying themselves in that "dump".
There's certainly some common sense in this post. The escalation of spending on athletics, has certainly gotten out of hand, considering what these universities are there for in the first place.I hate to nitpick, but I will. .01% of 9B is $900,000.
There is far too much money spent today on athletics. I applaud NW for worrying more about building a world-class institution of higher learning than they do about the basketball program.
On the other hand, I watched the end of the Mich/NW game last night. The fans seemed to be enjoying themselves in that "dump".
I am similarly uninformed about the NW Endowment. But, from their website, it appears that it is to be used for the purposes of "education". I suppose that a general purpose facility that contains an arena could be squeezed into that definition, but I imagine the Trustees would face a serious sh*t storm if they tried it.
Thanks for the info. I wondered whether there were other considerations (land, space, as you mentioned).
Interesting that the renovation will reduce capacity. Looking forward to see what $100M in upgrades produces.
I doubt many institutions would allow endowment earnings to be used for brick and mortar projects. Northwestern is a unique example due to their huge endowment but earnings are most often used as budget relievers.
