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SLU Stadiums?


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3 minutes ago, Billy Ken said:

 Guys it doesn't matter if you like him or not. I think the point Doubleday is trying to make is the AD isn't good at his job? The track and field facility isn't even close to as nice as Lindenwood or even Kirkwood and baseball field is bad for a college, especially D-1. Those aren't very good examples. It costs money to be a D-1 program in 2017. Real easy to just say write a check or AD is weird, bigger question is how much does university president care or understand athletics. I think that's the problem actually.

I didn't intend to make this an I don't like AD rant. If he is responsible for raising money for facilities the results are right in open to judge for yourself. Great point about bigger picture and president caring. AD is just a puppet and ultimately president has total control over all things athletics in the end. Thanks

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The fact is that SLU doesn't have an unlimited athletic budget and when you have a budget tough decisions have to be made. Do you contribute money to the baseball, softball, track etc with little hope that it can return some of that investment or do you spend on the basketball program which has a chance to actually increase revenues. I choose basketball.

its easy to say "just raise more money" but it's a whole lot harder to do. As 72 points out, it would be nice if some of the people bitching about the lack of funds would pick up the phone and offer a check. I'm pretty sure they'd get CM's personal attention as soon as there are four 0s behind the first number. 

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3 hours ago, Tilkowsky said:

SLU just can't afford a Grizzlies/Rascsls type stadium. Even if they had that I doubt more people would come.

Very true, I was referring to the idea and the feel more so than seat numbers or dollars and cents. Those are games that people go to because there is an element of a fan experience outside of what the players are literally doing. Watching SLU baseball on a field such as ours is more like high school where it's fun as long as your kid is on the team. 

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Just now, BillsNBrews1818 said:

Very true, I was referring to the idea and the feel more so than seat numbers or dollars and cents. Those are games that people go to because there is an element of a fan experience outside of what the players are literally doing. Watching SLU baseball on a field such as ours is more like high school where its fun as long as your kid is on the team. 

Literally an enclosed stadium with a press box, concession with a grill and fan contests 

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SLU should have a nice baseball stadium just as a marketing tool alone. More people would come to campus and talk about the program just because of having a first class stadium, its St. Louis. Renting a place like that would make a small fortune for department I'd imagine. 

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20 minutes ago, kshoe said:

The fact is that SLU doesn't have an unlimited athletic budget and when you have a budget tough decisions have to be made. Do you contribute money to the baseball, softball, track etc with little hope that it can return some of that investment or do you spend on the basketball program which has a chance to actually increase revenues. I choose basketball.

its easy to say "just raise more money" but it's a whole lot harder to do. As 72 points out, it would be nice if some of the people bitching about the lack of funds would pick up the phone and offer a check. I'm pretty sure they'd get CM's personal attention as soon as there are four 0s behind the first number. 

I agree with almost everything you said. I can go either way with AD, he's been at SLU for a while now with mixed results and if he's only going to talk to people if they donate money, that might be a big problem. If I misunderstood you, please let me know.

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24 minutes ago, BillsNBrews1818 said:

This may be expanding this discussion too far, but do our lackluster facilities hurt us when it comes to AAC or other conference invitations? Chaifetz can compete with anything as far as I'm concerned, but conferences have to be somewhat interested in the holistic athletic environment. 

I agree! Not trying to beat a dead horse but if we just had Lindenwoods facilities with Chaifetz it'd be awesome. Raise the bar across the department to want to be first class division one program. Thanks

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6 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

Excellent first post. It's on the AD to raise the money for the most part and maybe 100%. The kicker is that I've heard that it's been upto Hendrickson to get Alumni donations for the hitting and pitching facility adjacent to the field. It's a criticism that doesn't get brought up enough in my opinion.

I would pay to attend a handful of baseball or softball games if they could improve the fan experience even a little bit with comfortable seating(even just put bleachers with backs to them). 

 

05.  What?  What is your source for placing the burden of new stadium upon our AD?  Are you kidding?  What AD ever raised money for a stadium other than in a helper role?  Fr. Biondi was responsible for every new building and structure on campus during his 25 years at the helm.

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10 minutes ago, Clock_Tower said:

05.  What?  What is your source for placing the burden of new stadium upon our AD?  Are you kidding?  What AD ever raised money for a stadium other than in a helper role?  Fr. Biondi was responsible for every new building and structure on campus during his 25 years at the helm.

I'm putting athletic facility improvements on the AD. Hendrickson had to go to alumni himself to get the hitting/pitching facility built. That's insane. It's clear that the coaches are not getting institutional support wether that's from May/oberle regime or Pestello. If it's on the coaches to drum up donations in my mind that's a problem in the AD that they aren't doing a good enough job reaching out to donors/alumni

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4 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

I'm putting athletic facility improvements on the AD. Hendrickson had to go to alumni himself to get the hitting/pitching facility built. That's insane. It's clear that the coaches are not getting institutional support wether that's from May/oberle regime or Pestello. If it's on the coaches to drum up donations in my mind that's a problem in the AD that they aren't doing a good enough job reaching out to donors/alumni

 

What?  Now you are changing the topic?  The question posed (and not by me) was who is responsible for stadiums and your answer is the AD?  Please explain.

The next topic you bring up is lack of institutional support -- a separate and distinct topic.  And yes, if the SLU President and alumni/big donors do not come through, you actually cite an example of a head coach (not the AD) who fundraised and built a small hitting/pitching facility.  How does that support your argument that the AD is responsible for stadiums.  And if the baseball coach raises money from baseball alumns and friends of the baseball program to supplement the program, how does that relate to stadium building?

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15 minutes ago, Clock_Tower said:

What?  Now you are changing the topic?  The question posed (and not by me) was who is responsible for stadiums and your answer is the AD?  Please explain.

The next topic you bring up is lack of institutional support -- a separate and distinct topic.  And yes, if the SLU President and alumni/big donors do not come through, you actually cite an example of a head coach (not the AD) who fundraised and built a small hitting/pitching facility.  How does that support your argument that the AD is responsible for stadiums.  And if the baseball coach raises money from baseball alumns and friends of the baseball program to supplement the program, how does that relate to stadium building?

Honestly I don't care enough to argue this further. If a coach has to raise funds for facility improvement then it's clearly the Adept's job to improve facilities. 

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I dont post much about non-basketball topics, but I go to Missouri State and even though in my opinion the baseball program is miles ahead at MSU, SLU could do so much more to get general baseball fans out for games. To have a baseball program that can compete at almost the highest level in division 1 is rare, and it seems like the AD just doesn't put in the full effort to show off the product that they have

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The big question is would putting money into the baseball field draw more people? I go to a few games a year and like the experience. I don't need nor do I want extra activities. It's a baseball game. Learning the names of the players and following the team on the website will help to get you invested and maybe you will want to go. How many people posting on this thread have been to a soccer or baseball game in the last 12 months?  I'd bet many are complaining and still wouldn't go regardless of the stadium.

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16 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

The big question is would putting money into the baseball field draw more people? I go to a few games a year and like the experience. I don't need nor do I want extra activities. It's a baseball game. Learning the names of the players and following the team on the website will help to get you invested and maybe you will want to go. How many people posting on this thread have been to a soccer or baseball game in the last 12 months?  I'd bet many are complaining and still wouldn't go regardless of the stadium.

Yeah you're what the big J journos call a "baseball guy". You organize the worlds longest baseball game. With all due respect you're not the target audience. Will 3 small promo contests ruin YOUR fan experience? Would folding stadium seats? Would an enclosed park? Would a real concession stand? A professional looking pressbox?

The "stadium" is a joke and frankly it's sad that we have to rent a makeshift press box for the A-10 tournament.

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5 hours ago, slubillikens43 said:

I dont post much about non-basketball topics, but I go to Missouri State and even though in my opinion the baseball program is miles ahead at MSU, SLU could do so much more to get general baseball fans out for games. To have a baseball program that can compete at almost the highest level in division 1 is rare, and it seems like the AD just doesn't put in the full effort to show off the product that they have

You are overstating how good the baseball team is.

I go to one soccer game a year. Mainly due to the lack of good teams SLU plays.

Hermann is fine for SLU.

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29 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Yeah you're what the big J journos call a "baseball guy". You organize the worlds longest baseball game. With all due respect you're not the target audience. Will 3 small promo contests ruin YOUR fan experience? Would folding stadium seats? Would an enclosed park? Would a real concession stand? A professional looking pressbox?

The "stadium" is a joke and frankly it's sad that we have to rent a makeshift press box for the A-10 tournament.

The rental press box leaves a lot to be desired, would like to know who thinks that looks good. SLU is division one. When high schools and D-2 area schools have better facilities sure it might be keeping up with the jones' but gosh you just have to do it if you are in the business. I think the overall perception of the program is lifted by having first class facilities. I think a lot of donors, fans and administrators live in a bubble at SLU. In sports other than basketball, even that sport, SLU isn't very relevant in St. Louis like Mizzou or Illinois. I think having top facilities will bring people down to campus and give people outside the bubble something to talk positive about SLU in community. I also think it's not supportive to just freely bash AD and president because there are probably factors we are not aware of they face possibly, especially with shape school and medical school is in right now.

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/09/176664998/how-louisville-went-from-little-brother-to-powerhouse

 

 

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11 hours ago, Doubleday said:

I agree! Not trying to beat a dead horse but if we just had Lindenwoods facilities with Chaifetz it'd be awesome. Raise the bar across the department to want to be first class division one program. Thanks

You can do this simply by changing the allegiance of the guy who donated the money to Lindenwood's baseball facilities to allegiance to SLU. Then you can go work on him  to get him to cough up another few million for doing the same type of thing at SLU, easy does it.

If my aunt had balls she might be my uncle. If pigs had wings they would fly, or perhaps not if they were like ostriches, then they would run around flapping their useless wings... Dream on.

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7 minutes ago, Old guy said:

You can do this simply by changing the allegiance of the guy who donated the money to Lindenwood's baseball facilities to allegiance to SLU. Then you can go work on him  to get him to cough up another few million for doing the same type of thing at SLU, easy does it.

If my aunt had balls she might be my uncle. If pigs had wings they would fly, or perhaps not if they were like ostriches, then they would run around flapping their useless wings... Dream on.

This is the kind of status quo attitude I'm afraid is shared within the athletic department and has caused our programs to remain stagnate.

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11 hours ago, Doubleday said:

I agree! Not trying to beat a dead horse but if we just had Lindenwoods facilities with Chaifetz it'd be awesome. Raise the bar across the department to want to be first class division one program. Thanks

FWIW, the actual playing surface at Lindenwood leaves a lot to be desired, and SLU's is nicer, even before the turf...

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2 hours ago, Billy Ken said:

Tired of the Louisville stuff already; state school, shouldn't be whining about being a "have not" institution. In light of the Kentucky Derby being in Louisville, this is another Barbaroic thread.

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1 hour ago, Bobby Metzinger said:

Tired of the Louisville stuff already; state school, shouldn't be whining about being a "have not" institution. In light of the Kentucky Derby being in Louisville, this is another Barbaroic thread.

You can get as tired as you want. U of K rules the state and what that AD did was impressive at Louisville. Easy thing he could of said was make excuses, why try because Kentucky is too powerful and we are Louisville? Not short sighted thinking, he had a vision and executed. Plus, why didn't it happen before that AD got there if it was a state school? They were able to develop a plan and find the money. That was my point not trying to compare SLU to Louisville overall, just the fact of having a plan and vision. That's it.

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4 hours ago, billikenfan05 said:

Yeah you're what the big J journos call a "baseball guy". You organize the worlds longest baseball game. With all due respect you're not the target audience. Will 3 small promo contests ruin YOUR fan experience? Would folding stadium seats? Would an enclosed park? Would a real concession stand? A professional looking pressbox?

The "stadium" is a joke and frankly it's sad that we have to rent a makeshift press box for the A-10 tournament.

Fair point. However, I don't want to take credit where it's not due. My role in the WRBG is very small when you take into account all that goes into putting them on. And ... Thanks for setting me up. If anyone is interested we are playing another game Memorial day weekend to benefit Mission Continues which is a Charity to support our veterans. I'll have a post with more details in the next few days. Approx 74 hours this time

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