UAB’s proposed stadium, since tabled along with its program, was much farther along than Temple’s when this plan was proposed in 2011.

A couple of years ago, a member of the Temple University Board of Trustees whispered something to an ardent Temple fan at the Temple vs. North Carolina State basketball game.

“The stadium is a done deal,” the BOT member said.

That was in March. Not March, 2015. Not March, 2014. If you guessed March, 2013, you would be right.

If it was a done deal then, it has to be the strangest done deal in the history of done deals. Recently, the TU BOT had a chance to talk about the stadium issue in its May, 12, 2015 meeting. It said the stadium  would not be discussed, if there ever really was  a stadium issue. If that sounds familiar, consider the content of this story:

Versus this story:

The “strike one” part of this story pretty much says the exact same thing in the story above about Temple’s BOT meeting.

There was a rumor that there would be some announcement by March 1 and March 1 came and went and there was no announcement. Then there was a rumor that there would be an announcement by Cherry and White Day, April 25, and there was no announcement.

The latest rumor is the hold up is the university is trying to raise $25 million of what could be anything from a $90 million stadium to a $300 million stadium from “Temple boosters”‘ before making an announcement. If that is true, expect the announcement to come, say, in about May of 2068.

Then there was the rumor that the thing would be discussed May 12 and it wasn’t discussed May 12. The next meeting is scheduled for July 14 and that’s the kind of kicking the can down the road that Temple really doesn’t have time to do. Even then, we do not know if the issue—again, if there is an issue—will be discussed at the July 14 meeting.

The current stadium lease for Lincoln Financial runs out at the end of the 2017 season. For a stadium to be built by the start of the 2018 season, it would appear that something has to be decided by July at the latest.  By something, the university really only has two choices—extend the Lincoln Financial Field lease beyond 2017 or close a deal that was rumored to be done two years ago. Any discussion of Franklin Field or PPL Park even as a temporary home does not border on lunacy, it is lunacy.

Bleep or get off the pot, as it were.

Or what happened at UAB could happen here.