Students get first say!!

[Eastcoastgriz]

From today's Missoulian:
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UM student leaders to vote on stadium expansion
By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian


A proposed 4,000-seat expansion to Washington-Grizzly Stadium will take two things: roughly $7 million and the support of University of Montana student government leaders.

UM's current plan is to expand the east side of the stadium - the Hellgate Canyon side - before the start of the 2008 football season.

But in order for the concept to move forward, the Associated Students of the University of Montana must first give university administrators their stamp of approval.
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Why?

Funding for the project is tied to a $17.50 increase in the $36 athletic fee each student pays every semester.

In return for their extra dollars, UM students will get an additional 1,600 seats in the stadium, creating a contiguous block of nearly 5,000 student seats, said Jim O'Day, UM athletic director.

ASUM senators will discuss the expansion and potential fee increase Wednesday at their weekly meeting. If senators like the idea, a resolution will be drafted and a vote taken at their next meeting - Wednesday, Nov. 15, on the eve of the Montana Board of Regents meeting at UM.

If ASUM passes the resolution, the regents will discuss UM's current, not-yet-polished expansion plan at the Missoula meeting.

Although not yet finalized, the stadium project will include the following components:

Ticket revenue will be the primary source of debt service for the project.

In exchange for access to 1,600 additional student seats, a request will be made to increase the student athletic fee.

Loans/debt from the project will be repaid within five years.

Design for the expansion will begin in January 2007, with construction beginning at the end of the 2007 football season. The project will be completed prior to the 2008 season.

If ASUM does not give its approval, UM administrators will pull the item from the regents' agenda and start working on a new plan to pitch to Griz fans and boosters, O'Day said Monday.

“We are kind of in a holding pattern here,” O'Day said. “Our first obligation is to find out if having more seating in the football stadium is an important issue to students, and if they want to be a part of the expansion project.

“If they want more seating, we want to give them first crack at this. I know our boosters need more seats.”

With election distractions and ASUM's get-out-the-vote efforts, there's been no time to do an informal survey of ASUM senators, said student body president Andrea Helling.

Although she doesn't know how ASUM's discussions will go Wednesday night, Helling said she supports the expansion.

“From my perspective, I think it's a great plan,” she said. “It will be so exciting to see total seating up to 5,000 - that is a big deal for students.”

The expansion project won't be scrapped if ASUM doesn't support the idea, plans will just take a new fork in the road, O'Day said.

“If they don't support it, then we will look to survey our fans and supporters, and determine if we have demand for 4,000 more seats or more,” he said. “We'll try to answer how many seats do we think we can sell to boosters.”

Four years ago, as part of the north end zone expansion project, fans were asked to make a deposit on seats in order to gauge interest in additional tickets, O'Day said.

“We would probably have to do something like that again,” he said. “You don't want to start a project with the hope that we will build and they will come.”

Inflation, however, is a particular concern.

Four years ago, it cost $850 per seat to build. Now it costs $1,800 per seat, O'Day said.

Despite the funding challenges, O'Day said, future planning is crucial for athletic programs.

“We always need to be exploring opportunities - it's how you stay healthy and stay competitive,” he said. “And we have a special program here with great fan support and backing.

“We fight every game to find more tickets for people, and it would be great if we could get more students to the games. We owe it to them to do what we can.”

[bobcatgrad2005]

Four years ago, it cost $850 per seat to build. Now it costs $1,800 per seat, O'Day said.

Lets get building Mr. Fields!!!!!

[gtapp]

4000 seats seems like a fair number but I wonder if they (the griz) should look beyond the next five years. As has been stated many times the price of construction seems to double every 3-5 years so maybe a 7000-8000 seat expansion would make more sense.

[VictorG]

4000 seats seems like a fair number but I wonder if they (the griz) should look beyond the next five years. As has been stated many times the price of construction seems to double every 3-5 years so maybe a 7000-8000 seat expansion would make more sense.

That is true but there are negatives to over building right now. I'm sure that by 2008 the Griz could sell out a couple of thousand extra seats on a pretty regular basis but I'm not sure all 4000 will be regularly sold out right away. If you double that number, that's a pretty big investment without the revenue. They want it payed off in 5 years and to do that there would need to be butts in the seats every weekend. Besides, playing football in a stadium with empty seats would be like playing football at....................(smack board!)

From what I understand, a lot of the increase in construction cost is in the price of concrete, which from what I'm told, has basically about tripled in the past few years. This was caused by the construction boom of the past few years. IMO, either construction is going to slow down, or there will be more cement manufacturing plants made. (I'm not talking about the plants with the cement mixers but the places that make the actual cement.) Either case, I'd look for the cost to remain fairly steady for concrete or maybe even be reduced.

Additionally, after this 4000 seat addition, there maybe something else that needs to be done to the stadium more. Maybe something that needs to be completed before more seats can be installed. This I'm just guessing at but it is a possibility.

[Egg Salad]

So after this thing gets paid off, would they stop charging the additional $17.50/semester?