big al Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Received my Biondi letter today requesting arena money...I called (314)977-2349 and was told there will be a weight room...I also asked about points for bricks and about license for seats, they said they will call back on those two questions...This should have all been planned out before the letter came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billikenmetz Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Did you happen to find a date that construction would start?? That might be a critical piece of information to obtain. I would like to start a gentlemen's wager of $5 for the first person to tell us here on billikens.com when construction for the Biondidome will start and upon verification, you will be $5 richer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knight_rider Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 The letter state this facility will hold a weight room; will it include anyhting else? I would hate to see Brad and Shimmy be stuck in West Pine while their players work out in the new place. This isn't conducive to establishing a first-class program. Of course, it seems some at the University couldn't distinguish a real sports program from a YMCA league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 many times on this board they will only begin construction when they have a fixed amount of dollar commitments. Unless someone has a magic ball that can see into the future and tell us when we will receive enough $ to begin then nobody can tell you a start date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEE Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 as I have stated before: everyone will hear and see that later this summer we will all find out about timetables for construction. right now they are trying to get big money gifts. I totally agree that points/psl's should have been figured out in the very beginning, but this is SLU athletics, Billiken nation tends to march to the beat of their own drummer. with all of that being said, I can't believe I am saying this: be patient :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big al Posted June 28, 2005 Author Share Posted June 28, 2005 I received a call back today from Donna...She said there will be offices for the coaches...They are still looking at earning of points and seat lecenses...She said there will be points for donations but values have not worked out yet...She agreed that all this should have been worked out in advance of the letter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 That's great news about the offices - just a few weeks ago, they weren't part of the plans. Thanks for the update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 God forbid the U. announce this publicly, given that the last public media article with info about the arena (Stu 2/23) said, "The project has undergone some changes in recent months. Two tall spires were eliminated to save money, while a sports medicine facility and weight room have been added. Plans do not include a practice court or offices for athletics department personnel." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gister Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 This was in the Business Journal last Friday. This has some bearing on the start of any construction, I assume. http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories.../27/story7.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 The proposed new SLU arena will have offices for the coaches. Talk about a killer story to lead with. Only Bonwich can take positive news regarding the arena and turn it into a "the SLU athletic department sucks" message. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SluSignGuy Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Bonwich has a point. I mean, I think Billikens.com can honestly be called the best place to learn about the current status of the Arena without sitting in an office at SLU itself. And it shouldn't be that way. Look what we have. Multiple posters calling, and multiple posters having to wait for call backs about information. I rarely criticize the administration, but the Arena was announced how long ago? And we still don't know how donations affect Billiken Club points? This seems like a very simple question. How hard is it to come up with a point system? Why not just have every dollar donated to the Arena project be worth the same as if they were donated to the Billiken Club. Or, if they don't want that. Make the Arena Donated Dollars worth 75% of what a Billiken Club Donation Dollar would be. With the Bricks, since someone is getting something out of it (their name on a Brick). Just make Brick Donation Dollars worth Half of What a Billiken Club Donation Dollar is worth. The Diehard fans should not have this many SIMPLE questions about the fundraising of such a large project. It is becoming a little ridiculous. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 ...how would we know it makes any noise? Your key words were "positive news." A note on an Internet board ain't "news" except to the 100 or so people who read it. Clue: If the athletic department called Stu and gave him an update on the arena progress, he'd be overjoyed. And he'd probably even be able to argue for decent placement on a day (oh, say, like TODAY) when there wasn't a Cardinal recap story to run on Sports-1. But you just keep being content with 19th Century p.r., and we'll just keep sitting here waiting for a 24-6 season to turn everything around. Hey, winning is all that matters, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 will almost always have information before it is diseminated to the general public. I can go to a Cardinals board if I want to read what Pujols ate for dinner at the charity golf yesterday. I can read the Tigerboard if I want to know how their recruitment of Brandon Rush is going. I come to the Billikens board to get a new piece of information on the arena and once we get it the very next post is blasting the administration for not having a feature article in the Post about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Thanks, Gister. That pretty much explains the delays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SluSignGuy Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 I think it is a matter of two points. 1 that the information isn't exactly made public when it could be (This, I think is bonwich's point). And that the information is still hazy and haphazard to the fans. If things were more clear, I bet there would be less complaints. All people are asking for it information to be made clearly public. This is stuff that should be in a pamphlet in the Athletic Department's office. And I am sure Stu would write a little piece on it once. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 that the AD has screwed up by not announcing the point system for arena gifts. The fact that big $ guys like Iggy and Roy won't donate till they know the system proves that. I will say that the point of giving to the arena is not really supposed to be a substitute for a contribution to the Billiken Club. It is intended to be a one time contribution to the betterment of this program, something I think everyone wants to see. However the Billiken points work out is fine with me, as long as the program is better because of my donation. It just seem like every time we learn a new piece of information on the billiken board, bonwich is on his pulpit about how this should be made public, the department is stupid, etc. Considering Bonwich has been against the arena from day 1 and has been railing on the SLU administration from day 1 I shouldn't be surprised when I see his comments but they still irk me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 "I come to the Billikens board to get a new piece of information on the arena and once we get it the very next post is blasting the administration for not having a feature article in the Post about it." 1) How do we know it's a "new" piece of information? The arena web site has always shown "offices" on one level of the plans -- the U. has simply done its usual abysmal job of articulating specifics. 2) Along the same lines, with all due respect to your wonderful $5,000 donation for a brick, obtaining the remaining approximately $15M before we break ground should be relying on a professional, integrated marketing and public-relations campaign making the case for the need for the building, and, again God forbid, expanding the base of pro-SLU individuals in the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Bonwich has a point. A glut of public arena space doesn't exactly help the city of St. Louis. Being somewhat selfish I don't care. The city gets 1% of my salary just for the privledge of working here. My concern about the Keil ends when we no longer play there..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 "Considering Bonwich has been against the arena from day 1..." You illustrate a lack of interpretation. I've been against the arena from day 1 when it has been positioned as a profit center for the university, a benefit to Grand Center, a generator of incremental tax revenue for the city of St. Louis, a potential venue to serve "the St. Louis community," or any of the other dubious or outright fraudulent rationalizations that have been put forward for the place. Very early on in the whole discussion, even before the arena was announced, I put up a post noting that it would be possible to argue for the arena in terms of intangible benefits like "building tradition" and "enhancement of campus life," and that I objected to all the highly questionable (and unsupported) propaganda that was being disseminated by the University. The real question should have been: Were those actual but intangible benefits somehow worth $70M? (See also my very recent post on the subject, to which you could only respond about my perceived age.) You seem to have an incomprensibly high tolerance for repeated examples of the University's poor communications. As another example, Father Biondi's most recent fundraising letter, which just showed up yesterday, talks about the example of Gonzaga and its arena in raising that institution's national profile. But the Zags didn't get good because of the arena -- the Zags were able to build an arena because they got good. And they did it for 1/3 of what we're talking about spending. Moreover, consider this item from Gonzaga's web site, posted there in 2003: "SEAT SELECTION PROCESS OUTLINED The selection process for seats in the arena will start as early as late summer 2004. Individuals in each seating category will select their seat assignments based upon the number of points they have accumulated with the following points system. The individual with the highest point total in each category (in this order: Platinum seats, Gold seats, Silver seats, Bulldog seats and finally Zag seats) will select first, the individual with the second-highest point total in each category will select seats second. This process will continue until the individuals with the lowest point total in each category have selected their seats. Everyone will have the opportunity to come into the new arena and sit in their new seats as part of the selection process. Initial individual point totals will be made available later this summer. "The Point System - Points will be calculated per the following formula: "One point for each year (up to 20 years) as a season ticket holder. Ten-point bonus for every 10 years (up to 20 points) as season ticket holder. "One point for every $100 of giving to the Athletic Department over the previous 10 years. "One point for every $1,000 of giving to Gonzaga University, excluding athletics, over the previous 10 years (up to 100 points). "One point for each $100 contributed to either the Founding Members or the Arena Partners Building Fund." Geez, that would have been really hard to copy and reproduce as our own policy, wouldn't it? And again, my "slams" on the U. only appear on a message board, where they have little effect. You'd no doubt be surprised (nay, shocked -- shocked I tell you) at the behind-the-scenes, more tangible spinning I do for the U. I simply wish my alma mater to illustrate a minimum level of professionalism, which much of the evidence on this board disproves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 bonwich, it doesnt help matters that your precious employer has cut back on billiken coverage. it is my understanding that we dont even have a beat reporter anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 how will donations be tied to psl money's? i.e. if i buy a brick is that money a credit towards a psl as well? if not, how much will psl's cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 i dont think stu is a billiken reporter any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 > it is my understanding that we dont even have a beat reporter anymore. News to me. Of course, I've never even met Stu -- but I do find that at least 6-8 of the articles he's written recently, in the off-season, were about SLU. I think you'll find that any number of the "beat reporters" end up writing secondary "beats" when their primary sport isn't in season. If it is true, however, has anyone in either the athletic department or the administration mounted any sort of campaign to point out the size of the SLU alumni community locally -- not to mention the potential contradiction between Lee Enterprises' stated core principles to " - Provide depth and continuity in coverage that can't be found from other local sources. " - Emphasize local coverage, starting with the front page of the paper and continuing by making state, national and world news relevant to its community." and inadequate coverage of the only Division I basketball program in the newspaper's base geographic marketplace? Or are we waiting for winning to solve everything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 I just placed my ear to the ground. My second-hand word is that he may or may not be, but in any event, the beat will not remain vacant if he moves to another one. (In many ways, this institution is much like our favorite university in terms of definitive and comprehensible actions .) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Law Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 not nearly as much as the requirement they have the $35 million in hand before a shovel can be put in the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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