Tag Archives: Temple football stadium

05.24.16
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The Turner Field Solution

turnerbaseball

Georgia State will take over Turner Field  and configure it for football (below).

If you accept the premise, as I have, that this whole stadium deal will be long and dragged out, then it becomes acceptable to look at long-term stadium solutions that do not involve an on-campus facility.

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Someone two weeks ago mentioned Chester and then Dave last week mentioned Camden and those are bad options, and not entirely because they are crime-ridden towns that start with the letter C.  There really are no good public transportation options that get fans from the campus to either Chester or Camden or get those same fans back to campus after a night game.

So both of those places are out, but if the Philadelphia Phillies were to do what the Atlanta Braves did—get rid of a perfectly good modern stadium for a more perfect and modern stadium—than a Citizens Bank Park reconfigured for football would be a perfect backup plan.

Georgia State is moving into Turner is not crazy to suggest that one day Temple might move into Citizens Bank Park because the Owls have transportation options there and it does offer the relative size range (42-45K) they are looking for. Plus, if they buy CBP, they could keep the concessions and the parking and still offer their fans a great game day experience. That all depends on the Phillies moving out, though, probably not likely.

Did anyone, though, see the Braves leaving Turner Field even seven years ago? Probably not.

Turner Field, a perfectly good modern stadium that was opened in 1996, will be abandoned by the Braves next season for a new $600 million stadium in Cobb County. It opened seven years before Citizens Bank Park opened and, just maybe, seven years down the road, the Phillies could be in the market for a new stadium—and maybe one of the affluent suburban counties will give the Phillies the same kind of sweetheart deal Cobb County gave the Braves.

With all of the red tape Temple has to face with an on-campus stadium, waiting seven years to take over CBP might not be the worst option of all.

Thursday: An Open Letter to Gov. Wolf

 

05.13.16
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Stadium: The End Game

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On the eve of the Toledo game, I wrote that the Owls were walking into an ambush and I did not have a good feeling about that outcome.

I have had a similar feeling in the pit of my stomach for a long time about the proposed new stadium. I kept hoping it was heartburn and it would go away, but now I am more convinced than ever it is not after hearing City Council President Darrell Clarke say this the other day: “I don’t know even five people who are in favor of it.” If he were really considering approving this, his comments at this point would open the door slightly for interpretation by saying things like “we’re going to review this” but the “I don’t know five people” comment is effectively slamming the door shut.

(He must be ignoring the hundreds of Temple students who voted in favor it it in the Temple News poll. Either that, or they don’t count as people in Clarke’s world.)

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Not counted among those five is Mayor Kenney,  who has been against it from the beginning, thinking that it was nothing more than a Temple ploy to bring down the rent. Temple President Neil D. Theobald debunked that notion while speaking to the student government by saying that the school is committed to building a new stadium for long-term reasons and despite any concessions it gets from the Eagles.

Kenney has also been adamant that this is Clarke’s baby and, if he doesn’t want it, Kenney is going to put the full weight of the city’s political machine against it. I’m particularly not buying the belief of many Temple people that the city wants a handout before they give the go-ahead. I don’t think this falls into the same category as the Liacouras Center. The city is really dead set against this.

I don’t see Temple having the stomach to rage against that machine. That’s too bad because I feel, if push comes to shove, the city would stand a good chance in a more friendly state supreme court if it decided to sue the city for the right to build the stadium. (The state hates the city anyway.) Temple can simply state it has as much right to build a stadium on its property as any other university building (citing no city opposition to Morgan Hall, the Library or the Student Activities Center). It can further point out that similar universities, like Penn State and Rutgers and Maryland have stadiums on their campus and that the city barring Temple from building puts the school at a competitive disadvantage.

The top three administrators at Temple are all Indiana Hoosiers, who could be so shocked by how city politics operates they decide to say bleep it, let’s continue to play at LFF. It all comes down if they decide this is worth the fight.

This is the same bad gut feeling I had before Toledo, and no amount of Alka-Seltzer or arguments to the contrary is going to make me think differently.

Monday: 2017 Mock Temple Draft

Wednesday: For Pete’s Sake

Friday: Spoiling Joe’s 50th

05.07.16
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Inside The Mind Of A Stadium Stomper

tustadiumconstruction

With a lot of luck, this is what Geasey Field will look like in 2 years.

Days before her scheduled graduation in 2015, Rachel Hall was struck by a hit-and-run driver, leaving her in a coma. After an agonizing year of medical treatments and therapy, Hall received her graduating honors with her fellow Temple University grads on Friday.

Hall was among the 9,341 Owls who graduated and made most of her fame not only in the classroom, but with her athletic accomplishments on the site of the future on-campus stadium at Temple, currently called Geasey Field.

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Colorado State started construction on its $220 million stadium. This photo was taken Friday night. It will open in the fall of 2017.

There would have been no athletic opportunities for Hall or her teammates had there been a group of Geasey Field Stompers when the university sought to build the then “largest Astroturf field in the world” 40 years ago. (They used the same land as grass fields for at least 63 years. In 1953, university public information director Bob Geasey died and the fields were immediately named after him.)

Fortunately, most students today at Temple are like the ones back then, intelligent and driven to success.

Then you have others,  looking to pick a fight when there is no fight really there.

Those are called Stadium Stompers and at least one went off on an illogical rant in response to our recent post how misguided the stompers are. Here are just some twitter responses.

stomper

Yes. People who want to donate to that can follow this link and name it as their specific cause. There are donors who made stadium-specific donations. If the stadium is not built, the money returns to the donors.

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To give to the office of sustainability, go to Temple.edu, find giving , click other and name that as your cause. I’m sure they would appreciate as many Stomper contributions as possible.

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You are also allowed to donate to that as well.

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That above tweet, as well as the others, represents a basic misunderstanding how of university projects are funded at Temple. It might be “stale” to her, but it’s how funding life works at major universities without an Ivy League-level endowment. For a special project like a stadium, where the university does not want to dip into the general fund, it solicits donations. The Board of Trustees made clear it would not approve this project without special conditions. For the stadium, the bulk of the project will be funded by donations from alumni specifically directed toward that project. The  balance of the money required will come from shifting the Lincoln  Financial Field rent to the new stadium. If the project isn’t started, the money returns to the donor and the Owls continue to rent LFF with the Linc money. It’s a relatively simple concept that is hard for some who have not done their homework to understand.

Something tells me Rachel Hall and most of the graduates yesterday have done enough homework to understand simple reality that others interpret only as stale rhetoric.

Monday: Future Schedules

Wednesday: Real Meaning of Unfinished Business

Friday: Stadium End Game

 

04.01.16
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Moody Blues

 

… and I thought Temple dropped softball ….

With the hiring of an architect, Moody Nolan, the endless speculation about what the new on-campus stadium will look like can finally come to an end.

Temple Football Forever was given a working concept of what the stadium will look like and, while it admittedly is preliminary, this is what they were able to come up with:

architect

“We’ll be working on this concept and refining it, of course,” our source said. “What you see here is a generalization based on something novel.”

If what you see above looks like a crude Roman Coliseum, our source says that the resemblance is on purpose.

“Dr. (Neil) Theobald asked us what we could give him for $100 million for the stadium and $26 million for retail. I said to Neil, ‘Well, we won’t be able to put seats in.’ Neil said, ‘We’re OK with benches. That’s fine.’

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An art firm has been commissioned to paint this on the rolldown retail security doors in an attempt to “blend the project in with the surrounding community.”

“We then broke the bad news to him. We won’t be able to do seats,  or benches for $100 million, but we can give you concrete seating, just like the Roman Coliseum had. Neil didn’t look happy, but we sold him on the general concept and have the retail blend in like the outdoor markets in front of the old Roman Coliseum. One of the retail stores will be called Animal House and it will sell themed items like sandals and Cherry and White togas. We could make it a Roman/Greek themed Stadium by calling it the Apollo of Temple. The President said that idea was already tried, but could be revived.

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The old Geasey Field scoreboard.

‘It was a hard sell, because the President kept saying the Board of Trustees would not go a penny over $126 million so that made it tough. We said we can just move the current Geasey Field scoreboard over to the new stadium to cut corners.

 

“We finally sold the President when we said we would not only blend our theme in with the design of the stadium and the retail, but we would blend the rolldown security doors on the retail stores with the surrounding community. We’ve even commissioned an art firm to paint the row houses of the community on those doors so the project looks like an extension of the neighborhood.”

 

There will be a fun element the retail.

“Much of the Roman/Greek theme will be playing up the whole Apollo of Temple concept. The President thought that could be fun. Temple will be the only fan base in the country with a toga party tailgate. So we’re going to pour the concrete as soon as we can and hope to get this thing done in 18 months after that. The only thing we’re concerned about are the fans getting butt hurt over the deal.”

“You mean, because there are no seatbacks or video boards?” I said.

“No, because they are going to have to sit on concrete for three hours every week but the President said something that made sense. He said, ‘If the Romans could sit on concrete for three hours watching Chariot races, then our Temple Tuff fans shouldn’t mind the concrete at all for football games.’

“After that we shook hands and said, ‘Done deal.’ ”

Happy April Fool’s Day everyone.

Sunday: The First Scrimmage

Tuesday: Funding Ideas For Stadium

Related:

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Urban Meyer

Devonte Watson

 

02.21.16
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A Stadium David Jones Can Be Proud Of

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Imagine in say, 10 years, an impartial visiting fan who happens to be one of the best sports writers in America writes this of the new Temple Football Stadium which, for purposes here, we will just call The Apollo:

“It simply is the best place in the region to watch a game. I’ve been going there since it opened a couple of years ago and it is … bright, warm, inviting and fun. Concession food is decent, booths adequately staffed. Above all, the student section is tremendous—full of energy and volume and ritual gags … marketing directors can’t prefabricate this sort of fun. It’s organic and spontaneous and precisely why college sports are awesome. This venue is stigmatized by outdated fear of North Philly and shouldn’t be. The best place to watch a game in Pennsylvania.”

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Imagine this view of Center City.

A great writer did pen those wonderful words about an on-campus sports facility and it was long-time Penn State football beat writer Dave Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News. He was writing about the current Liacouras Center.

The point here is that Temple got this on-campus basketball facility right 20 years ago and, if Jones can give the same glowing report of this Apollo that he can of that Apollo then Temple will have gotten this stadium right. In that story, published exactly five years ago (Feb. 20, 2011), Jones ranked it the top basketball venue by far in the state, ahead of Pitt’s Petersen Events Center (third) and well ahead of Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Arena (dead last). Of that cavernous place, Jones wrote: “If it weren’t for the small, hard-core, following of students, this place would be a $55 million Bingo Hall. Often, it is anyway.” Jones added: “Everyone has his opinion and they are all valid. (Except only mine is correct.).” Having been to all those places, too, I can vouch his opinion is correct. The LC is a wonderful state-of-the-art facility that Temple got right.

Temple must get this football one right or it will risk building a half-assed facility like Tulane’s, which is a Bingo Hall. If the Owls build something like Houston’s, they will have done it right.

Then, in 2026, Jones can write something like this: “The chairs, with Cherry seatbacks, are roomy and comfortable and the school was really ahead of the technology curve by installing two large 3-D video screens beyond both end zones. Those screens are the envy of Eagles’ fans, whose mere HDTV screens look like a 1950s black-and-white TV in comparison. The view of Center City through the open south end zone is breathtaking. Putting the 15,000 students opposite the 15,000 alumni from enhances the home field advantage and the nearly fully enclosed stadium captures the sound as much as it escapes from the Linc. Often, opposing quarterbacks have to use hand signals because the noise is so loud. The best place to watch a football game in Pennsylvania.”

There you have it. Temple spent $1 million for a feasibility study but the advice in the above paragraph comes for free and should be forwarded to the architect as an outline. If the Owls build a stadium Davey Jones can be proud of, they will build one which we can all be. They might have to spend a little more than $126 million but it will be worth it.

Anything less, and they can use it for Friday night bingo.

 

02.09.16
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Ignorance And The Stadium

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Because Temple is an educational institution, I do not expect President Neil D. Theobald or Temple University to give up educating some very misinformed individuals on the subject of a proposed new on-campus football stadium.

I do, however, understand how difficult this must be for men of their intelligence.  Now I have serious doubts that this will ever get built because of Temple’s history of having been through this with the on-campus basketball facility. Peter J. Liacouras did not get that built until he threatened to move the entire campus to Ambler, but I don’t think Theobald has the chops or permissions to make a similar threat. The extortion demands from the city and community for this are going to make that robbery look like a simple pickpocket.

That holdup aside, it seems, to me, that there are two important issues here.

One is represented by Anna in this video.

This very naïve person needs a simple economics lesson: “Temple is telling us they can’t afford $15 an hour and now all of a sudden they have $100 million for a stadium.” The $100 million is from moving the LFF money and private donations. Try going to a big donor and saying, “Err, doc, change of plans. No stadium, but can we use your $3 million contribution to raise Temple workers to $15 an hour?” Somewhat surprised Doug Shimell lets these statements to unchallenged. Maybe Jesse Watters of The O’Reilly Factor should be doing these interviews, not a local freelance hack like Shimell.

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The second issue is a similar one, but slightly different. I read about 85 comments after the proposed stadium story and I cannot believe how dense people can be.

Many of them write Temple can spend the $100 million earmarked for the stadium on academics. The only reason that anywhere close to $100 million will be raised (as well at the current LFF rent) is for football. These are donors who can do whatever they please with their hard-earned money. They are galvanized by the thought of a stadium on campus. They don’t want to give to build another chemistry lab. It’s either $100 mil for a stadium or 0 for anything else.

These small-minded individuals who are doing the protesting now can get jobs for Temple asking the same people to give to academics and they will get the same response, probably a hangup click.

When will they get it through their enormously thick skulls that this money isn’t for a stadium OR academics, but it’s for a stadium or nothing? If their skulls are that thick, Temple must redo the entrance examination and weed out this stupidity before they get to the registration desk. Being able to pass Logic 101 should be the base requirement before admission to Temple University.

That’s the reality.

02.02.16
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Groundhog Day And Temple Stadium

ambit

Theobald might want to call Ambit Architecture and have something that looks like these two photos from the outside with a view of the city from one end  from the inside (small photo below)

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About 24 hours ago, Temple president Neil D. Theobald and athletic director Pat Kraft showed up at the Student Activities Center to talk about a stadium. They did not wear top hats or pull a rodent out of the cafeteria to tell if there would be six more years of stadium talk, but it certainly seemed that way.

owlet

Something like this with smaller decks built deep into the ground (entrance at the top of the first deck) and the seats on top of the field and some view of the city would be perfect.

In March of 2012, a member of Temple Board of Trustees told a long-time athletics supporter that a stadium was a “done deal.” That was at a basketball win over North Carolina State in the NCAA Tournament, but that was three years ago and nothing was done in this deal.

Mark that down as three wasted years.

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Now, three years later, Theobald and Kraft marked the first time any Temple officials appeared before one or two reporters to talk about it and the guess here is that by next Groundhog Day, they will still be talking and not a single shovel will break the ground. Who knows how many years after that will we eventually see a stadium at Broad and Norris. My guess is well into the next decade, if at all.

 

Temple has several significant hurdles to jump over, the first being “the community”, the second the city and the third the unions.

What we will hear is a lot of what we heard yesterday—a lot of loud shouting and not much in the way of intelligent discourse.  By all accounts, there were about 200 students there and 180 wanted to hear what Theo and Kraft had to say. Because 20 or so did not, every answer was shouted down. That seems to be the way discussions go nowadays. The people who do not want something do not want to hear answers to questions, only to hear themselves.

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That’s unfortunate because it doesn’t help their cause, however just it might be, going forward.

Temple will hire an architectural firm at Monday’s special BOT meeting (3:30 p.m., Sullivan Hall, Feinstein Lounge) and here are just a couple of words of advice, borrowed from someone we know but will just call him “Matt.” If you are going to build a stadium, do it the right way. That means any architectural firm will have to draw a stadium that includes seatbacks (no bleachers), 3D video screens, seats right on top of the action (not sloped back), and a mostly closed bowl to maximize the noise and make it a real home field advantage for the Owls.

If the architectural firm does not deliver those things for $100 million, either increase the budget or sign a 20-year renewal at the Linc. There are no other options.

Tomorrow: The 5 Best Things About This Signing Class

01.09.16
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Powerball Could Yield Best TU Stadium

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Without a large endowment or big-ticket donors, fans of the Temple football team will have to hope one of the school’s season ticket holders hits Saturday’s $800 million Powerball Jackpot because the school’s current plans to build a stadium are woefully inadequate.

Then, they have to hope that fan has a large and generous heart and a warm and fuzzy feeling toward Matt Rhule’s team.

Temple is planning on spending $100 million to build an on-campus stadium similar in size to Wake Forest’s BB&T Stadium and that is just not good enough if the Owls hope to position their football team into a Power 5 Conference a few years down the line. Wake Forest’s stadium seats 31,700 and that is the smallest of the P5 schools, just ahead of fellow ACC member Duke (33,941) and Pac-12 member Washington State (32,952).

apollo

The difference between those schools and Temple is that all three of them have been grandfathered into the P5, charter members of established conferences long before the latest round of musical chairs added some new money from a former Big East school like Louisville. The schools Louisville left behind became the AAC, of which Temple is now a member. Louisville brought with it a 55,000-seat stadium that was filled on a regular basis.

No new teams bring 30,000-seat stadiums and surely the Owls’ administration has to be smart enough t realize that.  Fellow AAC teams with P5 aspirations bring larger stadiums, as Memphis seats 61,008, Connecticut 40,642, Houston 40,000 and Cincinnati 35,097. Temple is going to have to build a stadium of similar size or its entire athletic program could be marginalized into oblivion when the P5 splits from the G5, a fate many believe is inevitable.

That’s why the athletic department fund raisers are certain to check the roll of season ticket holders against the names of the Powerball winners next week. It could be their last best hope to build a functional stadium.

Tomorrow: Package Deals

12.27.15
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The Chinatown Syndrome

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“Proposed Stadium Site” should be renamed “The Promised Land.”

When I hear the plans surrounding the proposed stadium at Broad and Norris, all I can think of are the words of the great Martin Luther King Jr.

“I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.”

If this thing ever gets built,  I can pretty much say I will not get there with you and, while you never know about these things, I don’t plan going anywhere for the next 20 years.

You can blame it all on Chinatown.

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The city of Philadelphia had its heart set on a center city baseball stadium at 12th and Callowhill and Chinatown not only held up the project, but tabled it. That stadium later became Citizens Bank Park. Pittsburgh got the stadium with the great center city view, PNB Park, while Phillies fans get a similar view of the skyline only now through binoculars.

I have no doubt Temple’s administration is committed to building this. I do have serious doubts that the Indiana imports running Temple know what they are up against. Once the unions, city council and the community put up their dukes, I don’t think they have the stomach for this fight. What gets built easily in Bloomington, is built in Philadelphia only after extreme extortion–all legal, of course.

Philadelphia is the ultimate Provincial town—the only place where “not in my neighborhood” means not in any neighborhood. Ever wonder why every stadium is built in South Philadelphia? The reason is that there is an artificial barrier between the South Philadelphia neighborhood and the stadium called I-76. No such barrier exists in Center City or North Philadelphia.

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Knowing Philadelphia as I do, the so-called community will hold up this project just like it held up the Liacouras Center project. It should have taken no longer than two years to build the LC—then called The Apollo of Temple—but it was held up for a dozen years by the two Mayors, mostly John Street, the City Council, and the community.

Temple has a recent history of backing down from blowback from “the community” and the example that comes to mind is ads in the Temple subway stop. All the ads said “Temple” and, when the community demanded the ads be taken down, the university relented and took the signs down. They have been since replaced with “Draft Kings” ads. So far, no demonstrations demanding the Draft Kings ads be taken down. Don’t expect any.

The community’s disdain for Temple runs deep, and the blowback on this stadium will make an Oklahoma F5 Tornado look like a gentle breeze. Even the folks in Chinatown figure to be impressed.

That’s why I won’t get to this mountaintop with you. Maybe only the very youngest of our readers ever will.

Related:

5 Worst FBS Coaching Hires of 2015

Temple Football Looks to Be Even Better in 2016

 

05.24.15
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Kicking Stadium Can Down the Road Not a Good Sign

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

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:

source

Versus this story:

stadiumdead

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.

opm

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.

uabstory2