The Facilities Thing

Let me ask a question…who REALLY cares about non-revenue sports? Would you rather have our Football team go 10-2 with a Big 10 Championship or our Football team go 7-6 with a bowl loss and National Championships in lacrosse, Men’s Soccer, and Wrestling?

I guess many would choose the former.

How much money do you think NU is going to spend on this project?

Oregon just got 41 million for a football-ONLY facility
Ohio State spent 22 Million on an add-on for their already giant football facility

Does anyone wonder how Oregon got to be so good at football? It was money provided by Phil Knight, along with some great coaching, to get great recruits who CHANGE the program. And to get great recruits they had great facilities.

Guess what? We have great coaching. We just need players that can make a difference on the field. We lost recruits like Dan Voltz to UW, and Bennett to Ohio State. Can anyone imagine our line with those two players, not to mention the other young talent we have? Those players can help win B10 Championships and push the program OVER the ridge of mediocrity(what is our record as a ranked team, like 1-something?)

In order to become a great football program, we need to go BIG on this project, and big on FOOTBALL. I would say maybe 30-50 MILLION depending on if new facilities are built, which they should be. Make a Football-only facility with the WORKS to make Ohio State look small. Build a FULL SIZE indoor practice facility with 2 Fields. Build an 18,000-20,000 sq. ft weight room for FOOTBALL only. Make the football offices have Plasma’s in every room. All the chairs leather. etc. etc. etc.

The point is to go BIG. Because if we just touch up our facilities it’s just going to be a band-aid for a bullet hole.

As for Olympic Sports…

As long as Football essentially has an unlimited budget and can do whatever Fitz wants, Olympic sports can do whatever they want.

But don’t tell me you want to take money away from football to give to the lacrosse team. Sure it’s nice to say they are going for 6 straight National Championships in Towson.

I’d rather go to Pasadena.

I agree that EVERY sport – men’s and women’s – must be included. Get NU into the 21st Century. And it must be a blockbuster plan that leaves everyone of us slack jawed! They didn’t need to hire Populous if they are looking for a cosmetic cure.

All that being said, construction needs to start yesterday. You don’t sign recruits based on a fundraising campaign that pay for new facilities that will be completed after they graduate!

I know a lot of people complained about the Soldier Field redesign, but something similar is what I think needs to happen to Ryan Field. Keep the classic facade, then spaceship the s*** out of the interior. Make this place sparkle with specialty concessions (Chicago-style dogs, Lou Malnati’s, REAL grilled Italians and Polish sausages, gourmet pretzels, sushi, Bobby Flay personally cooking for the luxury suites, etc., etc.–o.k., just joking about Bobby Flay), seatbacks for everyone, excluding the student, young alumni, and visitors’ sections. Install the latest field turf (or, even better, the most state-of-the-art possible natural turf system), a MEGA jumbotron, a real sound system (let’s mic up and amplify NUMB while we’re at it), NFL-style player intros, etc., etc. Let’s make this the flashiest place in the NCAA to play football, and THEN, let’s add the 20,000 square foot weight room and indoor practice facilities. Keep the skeleton of W-R, and then gut the place. Make it a mini (10,000-seat) Staples Center. Get rid of the practice court (or whatever is in that mystery area behind the east stands) and open the place up. Every seat should have a back, other than the student section, which should be right on top of the opposing bench, curving behind the basket. Obviously, add the luxury suites, courtside seats, and the same designer concessions available at Ryan Field. Build a top-of-the-line practice facility in or near SPAC.

Finally, assuming that Ryan Field and W-R stay where they are currently located, lobby the NCAA to consider them off-campus venues so that beer can be served during football games (alright, a guy can dream), and charge $4.50-5 for a beer, not $6.75 or $7 like the pro venues do.

Obviously, all of this is pipe dream city, but this vision is a sure way to get fans in the stands and, more importantly, to have the Dan Voltzes of the world picking NU over your Wisconsins and Michigan States. *sigh*

@CatInTheHat

I like a lot of your ideas, but I hope they don’t go for the “amped up” sound system like they have at NBA arenas. Sorry, I don’t want to go deaf attending a sporting event. And I’m saying that as someone who was screaming his lungs out on 3rd down at the Michigan State and Iowa games last fall. (No, I’m not over 50.) Those arena sound systems are a barrage to the senses – way too loud too much of the time. It’s impossible to hear the person next to you speaking.

And call me old school, but I’d still prefer a well-manicured grass field over the fake stuff.

Paul Myerberg of presnapread.com has the NU vs BC game as one of his “Top 15″ nonconference games to look forward to in 2011.

Here’s what Paul has to say:

“Northwestern at Boston College, Sept. 3. An intriguing game, one that would be made far less intriguing should Northwestern’s Dan Persa still be sidelined by last season’s Achilles tear. He should be ready to go by September: modern medicine at work. Yet he won’t be the dynamic dual-threat quarterback he was in 2010, at least not at first, one would think. That’s a big bonus for Boston College, which has the defense to slow down Northwestern but maintains those pesky questions on offense – a healthy Persa might provide too much spark for B.C. to overcome with its own offensive attack. Of course, B.C. can avoid any questions on offense by getting more consistent quarterback play. Easier said than done: sophomore Chase Rettig has a bright future, but he needs to produce today, not next fall, to make the offense more balanced, less one-dimensional.”

@ Wildcat6

Agreed on grass vs. Field Turf. I’m a huge fan of natural surfaces as well. Our new field should be the best maintained and most meticulously manicured in the NCAA. Also, I agree that the sound system probably shouldn’t turn the games into a circus, but I do think that a 21st-century sound system that doesn’t crackle or echo and allows us to hear the band and PA announcer would do us some good.

@ jason:

Fine–then introduce the team as a whole in a flurry of fireworks, fog, and music, Bulls/Blackhawks style. I understand that tradition should be maintained and that tradition is what draws big-time recruits to places like OSU and Michigan. However, we obviously cannot stand on tradition alone, as evidenced by the fact that we still can’t keep up with those schools when it comes to recruiting. We need to offer something that those guys can’t, and unfortunately, top-notch academics on their own don’t seem to be working as that wildcard.

Also, it’s a given that the weight room and practice facilities need to be the best in the Big Ten. That’s a given and was addressed quite amply by previous posters, which is why I didn’t make it the focus of my post. Sorry if I was unclear, but when I said “THEN add,” I didn’t mean add it later. I was just saying that, in addition to the top-flight stadium, this renovation would obviously also include the practice/weight facility improvements that others had mentioned.

@dozer

How are we an elite school athletically? What teams are considered “elite” besides lacrosse?

@CatintheHat

NCAA has no say over whether we serve alcohol at football games. That is an institutional situation. Many state schools are bound by state laws in this matter.

For NU it would be first a choice to endeavor to do it and then the approval of the City of Evanston. Neither of these things are likely to happen.

NCAA rules regarding sales of alcohol are only relative to NCAA championship events.. i.e. the recent basketball games at the United Center (at which there were no beer sales)

The framework of the plan can be guessed from the questions asked. For football, massive renovation of Dyche/Ryan, with “luxury” seating that would entail something like a ticket license, in the form of a mandatory donation to the Wildcat Fund, ranging from a couple of toes up to an arm and a leg, and maybe a mortgage on the earnings of your first-born. Please, no beer. There are enough drunks already. I’m guessing that structural engineers have already cleared the existing framework.

For basketball, a new arena, seating 15k or so and in line with the rest of the conference. A new arena, I think, is key to luring a top-flight coach who can fill it. The new arena can be built on a part of the existing parking area.

Parking has to upgrade too, but how to please tailgaters with a multi-tier parking facility is a challenge.

It would be neat if the vacant Kendall College land could be used somehow, but in all these things, resistance from Evanston has to be expected. Look at the static that a few folks on Orrington put up when NU put a small restaurant in the old Seabury-Western dining hall.

Jason, I’d argue that we’re elite by virtue of being members (competitive, at that) in the Big Ten. We may not win national championships in all of our sports, but we compete at a level near the top of the game in every sport in which we participate. I don’t think there’s another conference in the country that can compare across all sports.

If you’re looking for championships, in the last decade, we’ve won three conference titles in men’s golf, two in softball, 10 in women’s tennis, and, of course, lacrosse’s stellar record in the ALC. Other sports that don’t compete in the Big Ten, like wrestling and women’s fencing, compete at a very high level nationally. And a lot of our other teams– both soccer teams, for instance– are definitely moving in an upward trajectory.

The Athletic Department has put together a pretty good overall showing, I think, and we’re up against the toughest conference in the country.

@NU68, it would be foolish to withhold ticket purchases until the plan is revealed, not least because the plan doesn’t need to be rushed but also because the plan isn’t going to be implemented instantly. It has little to do with this year’s experience, I’d guess.

As for the survey, they had no need to ask the likes of us what we thought of training facilities. The whole point of it was to find out what kind of seats there’s a market for. That’s it. They surely talked to people who know what they’re talking about when it comes to the weightroom.

NU M Soccer – 8-8, 5/7th place
NU W Soccer – 6-10-3, 8/11th place
Volleyball 9-11 Big Ten
Wrestling – competes in the big ten. But they are about middle to upper tier.
Baseball – 7-14 currently.
M Tennis – 1 Win in B10 Play 09-10 season
Field Hockey 3-3 in Big ten Play
Basketball – Barely made NIT
W Basketball – NIT
Football – 7-6. Win against Iowa, Indiana(bottom feeder), and Minnesota(bottom feeder).
Softball – 11-12 Big Ten Play

Golf…
Fencing…

W Tennis and Lacrosse have been good, but W Tennis is not good because they play in an awful conference, which is why they almost always lose in the 1st or 2nd round of NCAA’s. Who cares.

So…How are these teams Elite?

By being in the Big Ten? So Indiana and Purdue are Elite athletically as well?

being ELITE means being the best Overall. We are “Elite” in Lacrosse. That is it.

If we want to be ELITE in football, we need to commit overboard to make our team have the best possible facility in the country. Because we need to recruit nationally to get the best players. The talent level in Illinois is lacking and we need to go outside of the state to attract players.

@CatInTheHat

Staples Center? Soldier Field? Amplify NUMB? No thanks.

How about build great a great COLLEGE stadium and arena, with a COLLEGE SPORTS atmosphere. There is a difference in feel between a college game and a pro game, one I’d guess that most college sports fans appreciate and would like to preserve. We don’t need laser lights and jock jams and whatnot.

Look we are an elite academic institution in an elite athletic conference and with MAC-like facilities and for the most part, MAC-like quality of athletic talent who play up (coaching, character of kids, whatever) to compete and win occasionally against elite (results on the field) programs. I consider the athletics program elite in the total sense – kids graduate with real degrees and often high in their classes, represent the university well and now are respected (if not yet feared…) on the field.
This facilities overhaul will hopefully get us on-par with the rest of the B1G schools that will help us get the occasional big recruit to give us the possibility of creating some elite (results on the field) teams in the future without forsaking the qualities that make the athletic programs elite already.
We need some kind of tradition and a much better game day experience to get the rest of (at least North) Chicago-land involved. I like the idea of a “Chicago” experience in terms of the food and perhaps the decor (maybe some Ivy somewhere…?).
The idea of having a live big cat is kind of neat, but I also think some skits or movies or whatever that shows us “eating up” the competition could be cool. I went to a CHL (Central Hockey League) game and the team was playing a team that basically had a rabbit for a mascot. Before the puck drop, they played scenes from the Bugs Bunny “Kill the wabbit” cartoon (when Elmer was a “Viking” hunting Bugs with his spear and magic helmet…). It had the place rocking and everyone pumped (the younglings still think that skit was more interesting than the game!). With our supposedly vaunted drama programs you would think they could come up with unique mini-movies before each game…

how is it that fencing, lacrosse, women’s basketball, wrestling, and men’s golf are all able to recruit and do well without fancy pants facilities? all of these sports function at an elite level or, in the case of women’s hoops, get us the only McDonald’s All Americans in school history (Amy J and the Jones incoming freshman)? sure, we’d like a new house. I’d like better coaches for some sports who could get better kids. facilities can be smoke and mirrors.

If NU decides for a teardown (or major renovation) of Welsh-Ryan, please design it so that it could be used for hockey if such a decision were made in the future. Better yet, if you are tearing it down anyway, it shouldn’t be hard to make the facility hockey-ready now. Add both a men’s team and a women’s team.

Jason, is this the only year that counts for you? And is national champion the only definition of elite you’ll accept? Because I think you’re off base on both counts. Over the past ten years we’ve been highly competitive in many of our sports at both the Big Ten and National levels.

In Wrestling, in the country’s toughest league, we finished in the middle, and still finished 12th in the NCAAs, and have been higher in recent years. That’s elite.

In Men’s Swimming we’re down this year, but have competed at the top in recent years.

Softball the same, and your comment about Women’s tennis is ridiculous given the success individual women tennis players have had in the NCAAs.

Likewise with Golf, fencing. Hell, we didn’t win the Lacrosse championship last year, so by your definition they aren’t elite either.

@Just the Facts – Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes – tear down Welsh-Ryan (it really needs to go – I have seen minor league hockey/basketball games in better facilities and no amount of touching up will do it) and make the new digs multiuse. Even if they do not anticipate a hockey program for some time, getting the building at least prepped for it might convince someone to pony up to sponsor the sport. I personally really like the idea of it also being part of the Evanston community (we must get more than just NU students/alumni interested in NU athletics – the whole north side-shore/southern wisco needs to come on board) as a multi-use venue. We gotta get those people fans and excited so we don’t lose the kid from Barrington (already forgot his name) and the one from Bradford (forgot his name now as well).
Practice facilities (basketball, volleyball, hockey, etc.) can be built separate, but the game-day venue has got to be really special.
I would love the idea of a Lakefront football stadium and would really set NU apart from the rest of the B1G and really the nation in my opinion, but the chances of that are basically nil (about the same chance of hockey getting sponsored right now, sadly). I really really hope they study that option well and if they choose not to do it at least explain why. LTP had a really nice article on that a while back.

@ calmer …

“laser lights and jockjams … ” Funny stuff.

wasting money on things other than football or bball is a BIG mistake

And both Jasons should realize that spending money on non-revenue items is not “wasting” it. Don’t worry – money (a lot of it) will be spent on football and basketball. But money will also be spent on all the non-revenue sports, as well — as it should.

I’ve been to a bunch of Georgia Tech games over the last two years. Bobby Dodd is an interesting place and has a unique, bandbox feel to it. I never went to a game there before 2009, so I can’t speak to how much it’s improved, but the new parts of the stadium are pretty nice. Some new suites and offices overlooking the field and a completely new, double-decked 15,000-seat endzone. The last $75 million project increased capacity to 55,000, which I don’t think would serve as a very good example for NU to follow.

At the same time, GT has a lot of the same challenges as NU, in that they have some real academic standards and a ton of competition from nearby pro and college sports. I don’t know what they’ve done in terms of marketing, but when the Jackets win, the place fills up, and when they don’t (like 2010) they can struggle with attendance.

@CatInTheHat

I’m not saying “force tradition”. I’m saying “college football atmosphere” as opposed to NFL atmosphere or, even worse, Arena League atmosphere, which is what I think of when I hear “flashiest place in the NCAA” and “amplify NUMB”.

I haven’t been, but from what I’ve seen Minnesota did a great job building a completely new stadium with a college football feel. Like all the best places to go see a college football game, they didn’t attempt to Jerry Jones the place.

@catinthehat

Put your hands up in the air sure did wonders in the 4th quarter for us with Purdue, Michigan State, and Illinois, not to mention our 2nd half + 1 minute Penn State collapse.

find a different song, i Say

Agree with lots that has been said, especially moving the ballfields to create more tailgating space. W-R should probably to a total teardown but if the shell must stand then eliminate the practice facility and use the entire footprint for the new “Writz” arena.

@ Doug: I get the reluctance to want to add to the “production” of the Ryan Field gameday experience, and I see it both ways. However, the fact is that Wisconsin has done what NU thus far has been unable to do: put a consistent winner on the field for the last 15-20 years. Ultimately, W’s put butts in seats. I would love to think that NU will reach that point someday, but the truth is that we are victims of a perfect storm: pro sports town, stringent academic standards, tons of competition for recruits at schools with better facilities, stronger traditions, etc. Something’s got to give, and I just don’t see how adding some creature comforts, better concession options, etc., would hurt the program I agree with the notion of shrinking the stadium a-la Stanford, but you don’t want to reduce capacity by much–maybe make it 40-45,000. Fine, don’t build a spaceship within the Ryan Field shell, but put backs on the seats for crying out loud (I don’t see how this would be a bad thing or detract from the experience). At least give us a real sound system so that the PA, team intro, etc. don’t sound like the adults in the Peanuts cartoons. NUMB is tiny compared to most Big Ten bands. Let’s amplify them so that we can actually hear them. We have an old jumbotron that is invisible to 30% of the stadium. Having a jumbotron is generally acceptable, even to purists, so why at least have a modern one that everybody can see? I definitely get the desire for a pure, classic college football experience. I love that experience too. But let’s face it–NU simply can’t put fans in the stands for whatever reason, and they’re not going to relax the academic standards as a quick fix to improve the product (and it’s unclear whether that would make any difference, since we would still probably lose out to the OSUs and Michigans of the world for recruits), so there has to be some other draw, and the new facility should be it.