Memorial Stadium in Lawrence blows

[kslim]

i can only assume that's the new track? impressive beems but where does your schools priorities lie?

New track = football stadium upgrades and the removal of the track from Memorial Stadium.  How many times does this point need to be made before it sinks in?

and how many times do i have to tell you your school mumped up here.

quick question cat fans out there. If you were to say have a shitty football stadium that was being used for track would you want a new track built or say eff track and give us a better money making sport stadium/upgrades?

if this situation was reversed and it was ksu that needed upgrades that hampered both sports until a facility was built our AD would probably just scrap track all together until it was built

The track & field program is an athletic program with real athletes and real coaches.  They won a national championship last year.  Grow up.

obviously that was hypothetical beems but i think you got my point. football wins fans and money, track....does not

[Cartierfor3]

Silver Medal 'tater!*


 




















*this is the thread for arguing about track correct?

[OregonSmock]

i can only assume that's the new track? impressive beems but where does your schools priorities lie?

New track = football stadium upgrades and the removal of the track from Memorial Stadium.  How many times does this point need to be made before it sinks in?

and how many times do i have to tell you your school mumped up here.

quick question cat fans out there. If you were to say have a shitty football stadium that was being used for track would you want a new track built or say eff track and give us a better money making sport stadium/upgrades?

if this situation was reversed and it was ksu that needed upgrades that hampered both sports until a facility was built our AD would probably just scrap track all together until it was built

The track & field program is an athletic program with real athletes and real coaches.  They won a national championship last year.  Grow up.

obviously that was hypothetical beems but i think you got my point. football wins fans and money, track....does not

Why do you think this is somehow news to me? 


 

[lopakman]

I was actually a little jealous of KU back in the "Lew is building a monster" days, when they rolled out the Olympic Park to be built on campus.

Being seeing KU's athletic department revenue's plummet, seeing KU athletics have to dive into reserve funds to make up for a nearly $9 million dollar budget shortfall in FY 2012, and seeing the urestricted fund account be short by over $4 million dollars.   Coupled with Zulu having to go borrow millions to build a WAY off campus track on a 50 year lease.    Not so much.

It's a 30-year lease, and yeah, a 1-11 football season will hurt any athletic department in terms of generating revenue.  Meanwhile, K-State has over $83 million in long-term debt.  Keep the butthurt 'tater propaganda machine rolling, though.

First off, it's a 50 years lease, the first 30 are a set annual payment, and the next 20 are at FMV.

K-State Athletics Inc. by KDFA mandate has millions in bond reserve funds to pay the debt.   Otherwise the KDFA and the BOR would not have backed the debt offering.   

You simply don't understand how this works.

The lease agreement is for 30 years, 'Pad. 

Kansas Athletics will pay Fritzel’s Bliss Sports $1.3 million each year for 30 years as part of a lease that will give KU full use of the track and field stadium, the soccer field, softball stadium and other amenities in the park. The 30-year agreement will produce $39 million in payments to Bliss. KU officials have estimated the value of the proposed facilities to be about $50 million.

• The payments to Bliss Sports will last for 30 years, but Bliss Sports will own the facilities for 50 years. At that point, ownership of the facilities will transfer to either Kansas University Endowment Association or KU Athletics. The property the facilities will sit on will be owned by KU Endowment. The Endowment Association has created a separated limited liability company — called RCP LLC — to own the property on its behalf.

• Fritzel confirmed that if any non-KU events are held at the facility, Kansas Athletics — not Bliss Sports — will collect any facility rental fees or other type of charges associated with using the property. When asked if the $1.3 million per year lease payments were the only revenue that Bliss Sports would receive from the project, Fritzel said: “Yeah, if you want to call that revenue, sure.”

• Fritzel said he and his wife, Dru, are the only owners of Bliss Sports. Questions have arisen why Fritzel is providing the financing through a for-profit company as opposed to a not-for-profit foundation that he previously had established. He said the only reason is because tax and financial professionals he had hired had advised him to do it this way.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/jan/18/fritzel-breaks-silence-proposed-rock-chalk-park-de/



And you can spin $83 million in long-term debt any way you want... it's still $83 million in long-term debt.  If KU had that much debt, you would be jacking off to it at least twice a week and talking about how sad our financial situation was.

Yeah, that's not the whole story beems.  You don't even know what's going on do you? 

As previously reported, KU Athletics will pay $1.3 million a year for 30 years to Bliss Sports to cover Bliss’ costs to finance the project. Also as previously reported, Bliss will maintain ownership of the facilities for 50 years.

What has not been previously disclosed is that the lease also calls for KU to pay lease payments in years 31 through 50 as well. Fritzel made no mention of that provision when interviewed by the Journal-World in January.

The rate of the lease for years 31-50 will be the “fair market rental value” of the property as determined by Bliss and agreed to by Kansas Athletics.

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2013/feb/19/details-emerge-about-agreements-between-fritzel-en/

[OregonSmock]

I was actually a little jealous of KU back in the "Lew is building a monster" days, when they rolled out the Olympic Park to be built on campus.

Being seeing KU's athletic department revenue's plummet, seeing KU athletics have to dive into reserve funds to make up for a nearly $9 million dollar budget shortfall in FY 2012, and seeing the urestricted fund account be short by over $4 million dollars.   Coupled with Zulu having to go borrow millions to build a WAY off campus track on a 50 year lease.    Not so much.

It's a 30-year lease, and yeah, a 1-11 football season will hurt any athletic department in terms of generating revenue.  Meanwhile, K-State has over $83 million in long-term debt.  Keep the butthurt 'tater propaganda machine rolling, though.

First off, it's a 50 years lease, the first 30 are a set annual payment, and the next 20 are at FMV.

K-State Athletics Inc. by KDFA mandate has millions in bond reserve funds to pay the debt.   Otherwise the KDFA and the BOR would not have backed the debt offering.   

You simply don't understand how this works.

The lease agreement is for 30 years, 'Pad. 

Kansas Athletics will pay Fritzel’s Bliss Sports $1.3 million each year for 30 years as part of a lease that will give KU full use of the track and field stadium, the soccer field, softball stadium and other amenities in the park. The 30-year agreement will produce $39 million in payments to Bliss. KU officials have estimated the value of the proposed facilities to be about $50 million.

• The payments to Bliss Sports will last for 30 years, but Bliss Sports will own the facilities for 50 years. At that point, ownership of the facilities will transfer to either Kansas University Endowment Association or KU Athletics. The property the facilities will sit on will be owned by KU Endowment. The Endowment Association has created a separated limited liability company — called RCP LLC — to own the property on its behalf.

• Fritzel confirmed that if any non-KU events are held at the facility, Kansas Athletics — not Bliss Sports — will collect any facility rental fees or other type of charges associated with using the property. When asked if the $1.3 million per year lease payments were the only revenue that Bliss Sports would receive from the project, Fritzel said: “Yeah, if you want to call that revenue, sure.”

• Fritzel said he and his wife, Dru, are the only owners of Bliss Sports. Questions have arisen why Fritzel is providing the financing through a for-profit company as opposed to a not-for-profit foundation that he previously had established. He said the only reason is because tax and financial professionals he had hired had advised him to do it this way.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/jan/18/fritzel-breaks-silence-proposed-rock-chalk-park-de/



And you can spin $83 million in long-term debt any way you want... it's still $83 million in long-term debt.  If KU had that much debt, you would be jacking off to it at least twice a week and talking about how sad our financial situation was.

Yeah, that's not the whole story beems.  You don't even know what's going on do you? 

As previously reported, KU Athletics will pay $1.3 million a year for 30 years to Bliss Sports to cover Bliss’ costs to finance the project. Also as previously reported, Bliss will maintain ownership of the facilities for 50 years.

What has not been previously disclosed is that the lease also calls for KU to pay lease payments in years 31 through 50 as well. Fritzel made no mention of that provision when interviewed by the Journal-World in January.

The rate of the lease for years 31-50 will be the “fair market rental value” of the property as determined by Bliss and agreed to by Kansas Athletics.

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2013/feb/19/details-emerge-about-agreements-between-fritzel-en/

Okay, looks like Dax was right.  I stand corrected.  Commence circle jerk.

[Cartierfor3]

  Classic Beems.

[OregonSmock]

Classic Beems.

HUR HUR HUR

[star seed 7]

  <--- imagine a circle of these (too hard to do on phone)

[kslim]

i can only assume that's the new track? impressive beems but where does your schools priorities lie?

New track = football stadium upgrades and the removal of the track from Memorial Stadium.  How many times does this point need to be made before it sinks in?

and how many times do i have to tell you your school mumped up here.

quick question cat fans out there. If you were to say have a shitty football stadium that was being used for track would you want a new track built or say eff track and give us a better money making sport stadium/upgrades?

if this situation was reversed and it was ksu that needed upgrades that hampered both sports until a facility was built our AD would probably just scrap track all together until it was built

The track & field program is an athletic program with real athletes and real coaches.  They won a national championship last year.  Grow up.

obviously that was hypothetical beems but i think you got my point. football wins fans and money, track....does not

Why do you think this is somehow news to me? 


 

because the track aspect and defending it all you seem to focus on. you do realize they could have made memorial way better aesthetically but instead used that money to build a new track right? I am being completely honest here and I think most would agree but your AD is using things such as track and upgrades to AFH as a shiny ball to keep you satisfied. most of us 'taters want you to have a nice football stadium but its impossible to see until it actually gets started

[GoodForAnother]

poor beems.  sadly this type of thing happens a lot when slick-talking businessmen come into small kansas towns and start pumping everyone's heads full of dreams.

[star seed 7]

poor beems.  sadly this type of thing happens a lot when slick-talking businessmen come into small kansas towns and start pumping everyone's heads full of dreams.

Next thing you know, all the hay is gone and you never received a check.

[bubbles4ksu]

sorry your fellow hawk fans on the phog laughed at you for saying the overhead pic was great and the stadium could be "unreal." 

If by "fellow hawk fans on the phog" you mean Dr. J, then LOL.  Also, LOL at being so damn butthurt about KU's gorgeous setting and stadium location.
 

i hurt for you when he said upgrades would be "lipstick on a pig."

o my gawd. he got annihilated again today. 

Okay, I’m going to write something that will be very unpopular here.  To put it in perspective, I have been a KU fan since a little boy, but I went to college elsewhere because that’s where the scholarship money was.  I don’t get to go to many games – about 1 per year.
While those of you that graduated, and walked down the hill into the stadium, hold the view of the hill as something sacred, from an “outsider” (recruit), it ends up looking awful.  Sitting in the stadium and looking at the giant video board, that looks like it is in the middle of nowhere, hovering over what looks like are blow-up armchairs, just does not feel big time.  I went to a small college of just a couple thousand, and it literally feels like I’m looking at the scoreboard at a tiny NAIA school.  IMHO, it would actually look better if they removed some of the seating at the top of the opposite bowl and put the video board up there so that attention is not directed toward that end of the stadium unless something is done that can make it look more “polished”.

I just feel like having that end completely wide open reduces the ability to create the best game day experience possible.  It doesn’t look impressive (to those that haven’t walked the hill), it lets out a ton of stadium noise, and it simply reduces the “intensity” of the venue.
I’ve seen a ton of other stadium pictures posted here in this thread and others, and quite honestly, ours is WAY behind.

Blast away.

[kslim]

poor beems.  sadly this type of thing happens a lot when slick-talking businessmen come into small kansas towns and start pumping everyone's heads full of dreams.

sadly enough you are right and it never ends well

[OregonSmock]

i can only assume that's the new track? impressive beems but where does your schools priorities lie?

New track = football stadium upgrades and the removal of the track from Memorial Stadium.  How many times does this point need to be made before it sinks in?

and how many times do i have to tell you your school mumped up here.

quick question cat fans out there. If you were to say have a shitty football stadium that was being used for track would you want a new track built or say eff track and give us a better money making sport stadium/upgrades?

if this situation was reversed and it was ksu that needed upgrades that hampered both sports until a facility was built our AD would probably just scrap track all together until it was built

The track & field program is an athletic program with real athletes and real coaches.  They won a national championship last year.  Grow up.

obviously that was hypothetical beems but i think you got my point. football wins fans and money, track....does not

Why do you think this is somehow news to me? 


 

because the track aspect and defending it all you seem to focus on. you do realize they could have made memorial way better aesthetically but instead used that money to build a new track right? I am being completely honest here and I think most would agree but your AD is using things such as track and upgrades to AFH as a shiny ball to keep you satisfied. most of us 'taters want you to have a nice football stadium but its impossible to see until it actually gets started

1.  No.  KU isn't using much money at all to finance the rock chalk complex.  That's why Bliss Sports is financing the construction of the project.  $1.3 million a year for an athletic department that has an annual budget of over $70 million isn't that much money (~1.8%). 

2.  No.  The upgrades to AFH were done to satisfy Bill Self and help with maintaining recruiting at a high level.  Period.  The track upgrades are necessary in order to remove the track from the football stadium.  Repeat this to yourself at least five times if you need to do that in order for it to sink in: the track removal is the first stage of upgrades to Memorial Stadium.  The upgrades to Memorial Stadium will first be to remove the track, lower the field, and build a tunnel system into the football complex and for the commencement ceremony.  The construction will be done in phases, just like at K-State.

3.  Again, the track outside the stadium is the first step in removing the track from Memorial Stadium and moving forward with phase 1 of construction.  The track complex is ahead of schedule and should be done well in time for the 2014 Kansas Relays.

[sonofdaxjones]

My real point was that the on campus Olympic Village would have been much cooler than a sports park built out in the burbs like like every other municipality in the United States.   Now for the few thousand that attend the ku relays, or the few hundred that attend ku soccer or softball games.   Going to a game is going to be like going to a T-Bone's game, or heading over to the Soccer Megaplex in OP.    Is the downtown shot put event, the only real reason to even pay attention to the Relays going to be moved out to generic could be any suburb sports park?  If so, what a shame.
 

[Panjandrum]

poor beems.  sadly this type of thing happens a lot when slick-talking businessmen come into small kansas towns and start pumping everyone's heads full of dreams.

Friends, lemme tell you what I mean.
Ya got one, two, three, four, five, six lanes in a track.
Tracks that mark the diff'rence
Between a gentlemen and a bum,
With a capital "B,"
And that rhymes with "T" and that stands for track!

[kslim]

The track upgrades are necessary in order to remove the track from the football stadium.
The track upgrades are necessary in order to remove the track from the football stadium.
The track upgrades are necessary in order to remove the track from the football stadium.
The track upgrades are necessary in order to remove the track from the football stadium.
The track upgrades are necessary in order to remove the track from the football stadium.

[GoodForAnother]

[OregonSmock]

My real point was that the on campus Olympic Village would have been much cooler than a sports park built out in the burbs like like every other municipality in the United States.   Now for the few thousand that attend the ku relays, or the few hundred that attend ku soccer or softball games.   Going to a game is going to be like going to a T-Bone's game, or heading over to the Soccer Megaplex in OP.    Is the downtown shot put event, the only real reason to even pay attention to the Relays going to be moved out to generic could be any suburb sports park?  If so, what a shame.

I agree, Dax.  The original plans to have it on campus were much better, but as you have pointed out before, KU isn't exactly swimming in cash right now.  The track complex had to be privately financed in order to move forward with Memorial Stadium upgrades.  My hope is that the community rec center and the suburban setting will actually be a positive for the non-revenue sports, since those sports don't attract much of a crowd usually anyways.  Maybe families and surrounding communities will start to really embrace the sports complex and get involved with more of the non-revenue programs. 

[KITNfury]

3.  Again, the track outside the stadium is the first step in removing the track from Memorial Stadium and moving forward with phase 1 of construction.  The track complex is ahead of schedule and should be done well in time for the 2014 Kansas Relays.

At this point, there is no "phase 1" of construction. There must be some sort of master plan for there to be a phase 1 (ie- a phase 2,3, etc). Right now, it's Zenger trying to figure out how to raise money and a bunch of fans talking about it on the internet. We both know this is true.

[star seed 7]

Beems, why did it take until 2014(estimated) to remove the track at a D1 football stadium? Seems like maybe football wasn't a priority or something. 

[kslim]

this is lawrence high schools track. i mean hell i would have ksu run here for a year if it meant a better football stadium. honestly minus the bleachers there isnt that big of a difference

[OregonSmock]

Beems, why did it take until 2014(estimated) to remove the track at a D1 football stadium? Seems like maybe football wasn't a priority or something. 

For KU, I think the football complex was a bigger priority than removing the track.  In fact, I look at the football complex and the recent stadium updates kind of like phase 1 of the masterplan for Memorial Stadium.  When they built the football complex, they did multiple things to update the stadium's electrical grid and the surrounding landscaping.  They also built drainage systems.  It's no secret that KU is behind other schools when it comes to football programs (including K-State).  I just have optimism when it comes to the future of the program and the future of Memorial Stadium.


 

[OregonSmock]

this is lawrence high schools track. i mean hell i would have ksu run here for a year if it meant a better football stadium. honestly minus the bleachers there isnt that big of a difference

Could you imagine trying to recruit to a program that had to use high school facilities?  KU is coming off of a national championship in track & field... they're trying to build off of that momentum.  I know you only care about football, and that's fine, but some people enjoy when an athletic department is successful in multiple sports.

[lopakman]

The upgrades to AFH were done to satisfy Bill Self and help with maintaining recruiting at a high level. 

Well that was pretty stupid considering Self's going to be bolting for the NBA anyday now.