02.17.14
by

With a Caveat, I’ll pick up the tab on the new stadium

Hopefully, the new Temple Stadium doesn't have a track around it like this one does. I want the fans right on top of the action.

Hopefully, the new Temple Stadium doesn’t have a track around it like this one does. I want the fans right on top of the action.

We’ve heard this all before about this time two years ago.

“It’s a done deal.”

Back then, the Temple football recruits and their parents (fathers, mostly) were saying that Temple to the Big East was a done deal. Almost one month to the day after signing day 2012, Temple inked a pact to join the Big East for all sports.

The original Temple Stadium at Pickering and Cheltenham Aves.

The original Temple Stadium at Pickering and Cheltenham Aves.

That lasted one year for football, while the basketball team never got to play in the Big East.

Now many of the new recruits and their parents (again, fathers mostly) are saying (privately) that they have been told a new stadium is a done deal. I will give Matt Rhule a little more credit than Steve Addazio here. He’s keeping a lid on Social Media and none of the recruits are saying publicly that they’ve been told a new stadium is a done deal. We’ve heard, though, that is what they’ve been told.

Temple will have a new football stadium and it will be sooner as well as later.

I don’t know if it’s true but, if I were a betting man, I’d bet there’s at least a 60 percent chance the stadium gets done before the Lincoln Financial Field contract expires before the start of the 2018 season.

Eagles’ owner Jeff Lurie wants the Owls out and he basically wants to use a $521 million stadium for 10 games a season in addition to a concert or a soccer game or two. Since $60 million of that was state money, that doesn’t seem fair to Temple but that’s a story for another day.

The Geasey and old track field complex, rumored site for Temple Stadium

The Geasey and old track field complex, rumored site for Temple Stadium

I like playing at Lincoln Financial Field. I think there are significant advantages of playing at a $521 million palace located a 10-minute train ride from the main campus, with dedicated stops at each end. In fact, the university might consider all the alternatives and come to the conclusion that the ransom Lurie is demanding is more cost-effective than sinking $300 million into an on-campus facility likely to be delayed by legal challenges.


I like playing at Lincoln Financial Field.
I think there are significant advantages
to playing at a $521 million palace located
a 10-minute train ride from the main campus,
with dedicated stops at each end. In fact,
the university might consider the alternatives
and come to the conclusion that the ransom
Lurie is demanding is more cost-effective
than sinking $300 million into an on-campus
facility likely to be delayed by legal challenges

All that said, a new on-campus stadium could better simply because the regional rail which has a stop by the Edberg-Olson Practice Facility does not go to South Philadelphia. Any time you can open up more public transportation options to get to a Temple football game you increase the likelihood of a bigger crowd. The rumors are that the stadium will go on the present site of Geasey Field also using the former adjacent track “stadium” at 15th and Montgomery. When I went to Temple, Geasey’s claim to fame was that it was the “largest astroturf field in the World.” Temple had a stadium once–located eight miles away from the campus in Mt. Airy–and I always wondered why it was so far away. I asked one of our distinguished alums about that recently and he said the plan was to move the whole campus up there to Wyncote/Oreland/Erdenheim, lock stock and barrel, but they could not grab  sufficient land for the deal and those plans were scraped. Unfortunately, they had the stadium built before finding that out.

Not all that worried about tailgating since the games are on Saturdays when you can close off some student lots used for weekday classes just for those purposes.

New Tulane Stadium will open this fall.

New Tulane Stadium will open this fall.

I am worried about where the funding for this will come from. I don’t think the state or city or feds will contribute one dime, so it will have to come from Temple fans. Knowing Temple fans like I do, it won’t take them long to raise the money.

Unless you consider 346 years long.

I’ll tell you what: I’ll pick up the tab. Powerball on Wednesday night is $400 million. If I win, I’ll keep a measly $100 million and donate the balance to the stadium.  If 21-22-28-39-58 (06) pop up and nobody else uses those numbers, I will send Temple University a check the day after the presentation ceremony in Harrisburg. The university can consider this post a promissory note. All I want is for them to name it Temple Stadium in perpetuity, without any future sale of naming rights.

Done deal.

15 thoughts on “With a Caveat, I’ll pick up the tab on the new stadium”

  1. I’ve been saying for years that TU should form a alliance with the Roberts and Comcast. Bradshaw would just blow me off every time I brought it up. How would Comcast stadium sound? In addition, Comcast networks need content and one thing TU does well is draw viewers. it could be a marriage made in football (and soccer and women’s sports)heaven.

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    • Comcast does sponsor UMD’s Basketball arena, Believe the deal was in the neighborhood of $20 Million

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      • It’s a great idea since Comcast built the two newest (and tallest) skyscrapers in Center City and would further cement its name into the community with a deal like that.

  2. I like the Linc also. Temple alumni need to encourage the city and state to pressure the Eagles to maintain the Linc’s current rent. If the city and state can’t deliver, Temple should consider alternate locations for any stadium. The city should respect Temple and the services and employment it provides.

    I grew up near Temple Stadium, which was located in Mt. Airy because Charles Erny donated the land. He owned a construction company and built many of the homes in West Oak Lane and Mt. Airy. Temple received donated land and facilities (Tyler & Ambler Campus). If I hit the Powerball…

    Reply

    • Twenty minutes before I find out I can’t afford to fund a new stadium … or not. One of the problems with Temple is that people who have the will (like me) don’t have the money and people who have the money don’t have the will. (Now I know Lew Katz donated $25 mill and Dennis Alter a similar donation, but not SPECIFICALLY earmarked for athletics in general and football in particular.)

      Reply

  3. guilty of reinforcing failure…, just renewed my season tickets, section 120, row 32

    Reply

  4. Theobald’s letter describing that TU as a mid major should have everyone up in arms. He has just undermined years of work to dispel that moniker. If he thinks he’s the president of a mid-major university he should leave because he doesn’t have TU’s best interests at heart. Besides, he’s demeaned every student and alum. Regrettably, TU is now where it was when
    David Adamany.was president.

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  5. JD, here’s the quote from his letter:
    Let me leave you with a few final thoughts. The decision to reduce the number of Temple’s varsity sports and bring us in line with all other mid-major athletic programs in the U.S. was not an easy one.
    Go to Philly.com to see the whole letter.

    Reply

  6. John, I read the letter in the email I received from the Owl Club. I guess my question is from what perspective is Theobald talking from, overall number of sports, budget, etc or the level of play? I certainly don;t see Temple basketball as a mid-major program but to be honest I really don;t know how that term is defined is defined.

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  7. TU basketball has the 6th most wins in college basketball history and the school’s enrollment is way over thirty thousand students. These facts plus numerous others including the number of teams Temple fields do not a mid major make especially when Villanova is considered a major at least in basketball. The problem is that such an outlook lowers the bar and gives those in charge of making decisions an out because TU, in their minds, is only a mid major. The remark just exemplifies why TU has not excelled, Yea we have football, but it never got the kind of support from administration and alumni almost every other school gets. That’s because it’s been treated only as a mid major, All aiming low gets you is average. Well, average ain’t good enough especially when TU can excel with better choices of coaches and a better attitude from the president.

    Reply

    • I think for most people a major has to be in one of the five major conferences or Notre Dame. Temple was attempting to make that move when the Big East was still tenuously a major but the AAC is Conference USA+. What the AAC has going is there are some programs on the rise and perhaps if that continues it will be considered a major some day. The main problem will be as the mega contracts start to pay out for the majors the top programs will go through the roof and the lower tier programs in those conferences will have insane facilities and media access. It is hard to say what is going to happen with college athletics but what it has looked like is likely going to change drastically in the next 10 years. Hopefully, Temple has put itself in the best possible situation for the future but only time will tell.

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  8. Very disappointed with the mid-major comment but even more disappointed that the words “Franklin Field” have come out of Theobald’s mouth without the word “sucks” following it. I agree with John he’s looking more and more like David Adamany redux and Matt Rhule’s first year was very reminiscent of Ron Dickerson redux. If this current level of competence visa ve big-time college football continues, we are royally bleeped.

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  9. I really want to see what really happens with all of this on campus stadium talk. I agree with the talk about Franklin Field, if an on campus stadium project can’t be put together and completed to coincide with the end of the lease at the Linc, ok maybe one season at FF given project delays, etc. then I have to wonder how serious any of the rumors are. I’m still going to give Theobald the benefit of the doubt right now but it is starting to look like he “talks the talk” but isnt going to “walk the walk”

    Reply

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