Facilities and financial update from Jamie Pollard

[awd4cy]

You boys wanna come play big boy football? You know the big12. Play against central Floridas. BYU? Ya they won a title when your parents were babies. Houston? Yer damn right we got our own strip mall in a flood zone to compete with Houston. We are recruiting that city. Come to our Buffalo Wild Wings next to the stadium most of the tvs work. Get your mom a le crusent oven pad from William somina. Get your girl friend a Biuld a bear in a isu sweater.
Isu 2035 is gonna rock

Stick to the cave.

 

[besserheimerphat]

You boys wanna come play big boy football? You know the big12. Play against central Floridas. BYU? Ya they won a title when your parents were babies. Houston? Yer damn right we got our own strip mall in a flood zone to compete with Houston. We are recruiting that city. Come to our Buffalo Wild Wings next to the stadium most of the tvs work. Get your mom a le crusent oven pad from William somina. Get your girl friend a Biuld a bear in a isu sweater.
Isu 2035 is gonna rock

You're right. What we need is a massive expanse of flat concrete. Nothing but flat grey stretching to the horizon. That's the hallmark of a winning football program.

 

[Cy94]

Looking for the return of stadium concerts with the entertainment district.

 

[Gerbs]

The latter is especially needed. Johnnys is downright claustrophobia-inducing before\during games.

Completely agree. I don’t even enjoy Johnny’s. Way too packed. They need to restrict it, add another similar place, or expand

 

[ForbinsAscynt]

Looking for the return of stadium concerts with the entertainment district.

One would hope but JP has never hinted to that. In fact I thought he was quoted as saying athletics facilities should be used for athletics.

I like the Hilton renovation and wonder if they have discussed something similar at JTS. The open air concourse just seems cheap to me and glass would be a good way to tie the two together.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Even if they build a ramp. It won't be indoor as you can't dig down in a floodplain. We are stuck with the cold

They could throw pilons down to bed rock. Build a tower of babel.

 

[CloneFanInKC]

Stick to the cave.

Actually, just go away…

 

[c.y.c.l.o.n.e.s]

How busy was the Memorial Union hotel? Truly asking because I don't know. I would think anyone that used to stay there - visting academics, etc - would now likely stay at the new hotel.

 

[DSMCy]

You're right. What we need is a massive expanse of flat concrete. Nothing but flat grey stretching to the horizon. That's the hallmark of a winning football program.

Duh it’s so simple. Just move Hilton and build on higher ground.

 

[JP4CY]

How busy was the Memorial Union hotel? Truly asking because I don't know. I would think anyone that used to stay there - visting academics, etc - would now likely stay at the new hotel.

Not very busy.

 

[StPaulCyclone]

JFC. Feel free to show yourself out.

No @#$&! This is Pollard‘s solution for a tapped out, small donor base. He’s conceded that the base isn’t growing and the small number of donors have their breaking point. Again, we lag behind all of our peers in donations; so…welcome the Pollard & Light district. When I get bumped to grass lots, that are newly paved, I won’t be blaming Pollard.

 

[3TrueFans]

You're right. What we need is a massive expanse of flat concrete. Nothing but flat grey stretching to the horizon. That's the hallmark of a winning football program.

I think that's called a parking lot.

 

[ISUCyclone06]

I was on the motorboating team back in college

You and me both brother!

 

[StPaulCyclone]

Yeah I totally agree, this is going to ruin tailgating.

If you park in the grass lots today, you should be looking for an alternative in the next 8-10 years.

 

[Dr.bannedman]

If i am wrong about this i will come back here in 2035 and apologize to everyone one of you

 

[ForbinsAscynt]

It’s called an entertainment district not suburban strip mall district.
It’ll be bars/restaurants, a liquor store or convenience store, hopefully a place with a stage, and something fun like a barcade. The only traditional retail will be a fan shop which should be moved off duff anyway.

 

[motorcy90]

Mattressfirm and O'reilleys. Get a quart of oil and new windshield wipers on game day

Hey the Trooper burns a qt and the Grand Prix leaks it on the way to the game so that helps.

 

[cyballrulz93]

You boys wanna come play big boy football? You know the big12. Play against central Floridas. BYU? Ya they won a title when your parents were babies. Houston? Yer damn right we got our own strip mall in a flood zone to compete with Houston. We are recruiting that city. Come to our Buffalo Wild Wings next to the stadium most of the tvs work. Get your mom a le crusent oven pad from William somina. Get your girl friend a Biuld a bear in a isu sweater.
Isu 2035 is gonna rock

Give it a rest dude....your schtick is getting old.

 

[CapnCy]

I think that people need to have a holistic view of the whole thing. First off, tailgating is the golden goose for ISU. It's what keeps people coming to games win or lose. So what do you do to make tailgating more of an event than it already is? You add amenities. RVs getting power hookups and the ped bridge are a start. Then you give people without prime spots a reason to come. A restaurant and bar district would do that. A hotel with parking garage makes it easier for people to show up and stay.

Second, when you look at Ames, it's a mess as far as commercial. No one goes to Campustown because you can't park there and it's so student focused. Main St is kind of a jumbled area. Duff is a bunch of chain restaurants with horrible traffic. Somerset is out of the way. I think if you have a couple of decent restaurants and bars with easy access and parking, it will do OK all year round, not just during ISU events. Something like Toppling Goliath would be a huge win.

Third, with the AD taking over Scheman, CY and Fisher, you have more events that will draw people in. Having a hotel and some bars and restaurants increases the likelihood of getting concerts and conferences. And conferences are huge money makers. At a time when TV revenue for the AD is up in the air at the very least, another revenue stream is huge.

Finally, I'm just not too concerned about the floodplain. The biggest flood we've ever seen never even got into JTS. It flooded Hilton because Hilton is at a lower elevation. If you build anything in those lots up a few feet, there's just not much of a chance that water will ever get to it with the mitigation work that's been done downstream.

Excellent post....basically said all the reasons why I am super excited for this.

Especially the ease of access to this district on non game days....lots of students live in the vacinity, easy parking for people visiting campus and not wanting to walk/mess with parking, etc.

 

[JP4CY]

It’s called an entertainment district not suburban strip mall district.
It’ll be bars/restaurants, a liquor store or convenience store, hopefully a place with a stage, and something fun like a barcade. The only traditional retail will be a fan shop which should be moved off duff anyway.

The fan shop had maybe the worst parking lot in strip mall history.