SEEKING A SUITE DEAL
MSU wants to raise $7 million for more stadium skyboxes
By GAIL SCHONTZLER Chronicle Staff Writer
Montana State University wants to raise $7 million to build another sky-suite structure at its Bobcat football stadium and will seek permission this week from the Board of Regents.
President Geoff Gamble says nothing will be built unless the money can be raised first.
“My basic rule is we won’t start construction until we have all the money,” Gamble said Tuesday.
MSU’s first sky-suite structure was constructed in 1998 on the southwest side of the stadium. MSU wants to build another multi-level structure on the facing, northeast side.
The regents are meeting Wednesday through Friday in Missoula, which is hosting the Bobcat-Grizzly football game. If the regents approve MSU’s proposal, the Bozeman campus will be able to start planning and design work, expected to cost $400,000.
Gamble said this isn’t a case of MSU trying to keep up with the rival University of Montana. UM is asking students to pay an additional fee to expand the sold-out Grizzly Stadium.
MSU has a waiting list of more than 50 individuals or corporate sponsors for Bobcat skyboxes, Gamble said. MSU is hoping to find someone to donate the construction money, which would allow the university to lease out the sky boxes and pay off the debt with the lease revenue. Private donations and other nonstate athletic department revenues would finance the project.
The problem with trying to raise funds once something is already built is that people are less interested, Gamble said.
MSU learned that lesson after it ran into difficulties with the original $10 million stadium expansion cost. The athletics department in still paying off that debt.
There’s no chance that student athletic fees would be raised for the skybox project, Gamble said.
MSU will also ask the regents for permission to enter negotiations with the city of Bozeman to purchase the Story Mansion. The university is interested in housing a Humanities Institute there.
“Nothing will happen on either of those until funding is in the bank,” Gamble said of the stadium and mansion.
MSU hopes to raise the roughly $1.3 million needed to buy the mansion from a combination of federal grants and private donations. It also plans to raise funds for an endowment to pay annual costs to run and maintain the building, estimated at $120,000.
MSU faculty also plan to show the regents a short video with interviews of faculty who have left Bozeman and other MSU employees who are struggling because their paychecks aren’t keeping up with the area’s high housing prices.
Gamble said he hopes that by sharing such information with the regents and legislators, they will help craft solutions.
On other issues, MSU will ask the regents to:
OK an increase in the cost of a new large-animal, biosafety level research building from $2.5 million to $3.5 million, an increase largely resulting from inflation. The building will be paid for with research grant overhead money and other non-state funds.
Make permanent a pilot program that allows MSU to pay key faculty members extra to teach summer classes. It has been used successfully with hard-to-hire nursing faculty, Gamble said. It will make it possible for MSU to expand its popular architecture program by nearly 40 percent.
Gail Schontzler is at
gails@dailychronicle.com
By my calculations we only need to sell about 5,000 shirts per year. If you guys can swing that we will invite certain posters to the box each week.