Nothing here that's very encouraging.
It's pretty clear they're keeping this close to the vest. His public comments don't engender much optimism of a quick turnaround, granted. But, it's been my impression that behind the scenes, things are progressing well. "preliminary designs have been discussed" is a very vague, political statement. What I've seen is not a preliminary sketch or concept. But, it's too be expected. Until they've gotten all of the funding locked down, what else would we expect him to say? It's pretty obvious they're too smart to let a Gridiron Club scenario play out. I would guess that once they reach their internal goal, we see this thing unveiled to the public very quickly.