WSJ: Colorado State University Bets on a Stadium to Fill Its Coffers

[colbycheese]

I came across this article (on LinkedIn of all places), and thought it was pretty interesting. It will be interesting to see if this gamble actually pays off in some way for them.

Colorado State University Bets on a Stadium to Fill Its Coffers - WSJ.com

The following excerpt stood out from the article. I've known that CSU is a pretty solid Land Grant university, but it's not surprising that public opinion favors Oregon for academic reputation, simply because they hear about Oregon regularly due to sports. It's an interesting comparison.

CSU officials point to the University of Oregon, which has made massive investments in athletic facilities over the last 15 years, thanks in part to the largess of Nike co-founder and Oregon alumnus Phil Knight. The investments coincided with a period of dominance by the football team, ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation last year. The University of Oregon doubled its number of nonresident students between 2002 and 2012 to nearly 42% of the undergraduate population.

Colorado State and Oregon are largely similar institutions, Dr. Frank, CSU's president, said. "In fact, in places—research funding and things—we do far better," he said. "Yet, I bet if you asked 100 people outside the state of Oregon and the state of Colorado which is the better academic institution, probably 90 to 95% would say the University of Oregon. And what I would argue to you is that that would be based largely on perception and the visibility from athletics."

 

[Cyclonepride]

Do they have a few billionaire donors? That seems to the key.

 

[Judoka]

He's right about the conception of athletic success = academic success. Which is why I'm glad we have a president now who realizes that athletics are the front door to the university. But he's kidding himself if he thinks this isn't a tremendously stupid plan.

 

[Agkistrodon]

I went to CSU. They need a new stadium, but I don't know where in the hell they think they're going to find room to build a stadium on campus. There is zero room for expansion unless they're going to be buying up residential neighborhoods or destroying parking lots (and they already don't have enough available parking... or at least they didn't 6 years ago).

Even though the stadium is tiny, I kind of like Hughes Stadium's location right at the base of the foothills.

 

[Cyclonz]

Large alumni base that has always been disinterested. Great city, close to large metro area, but never got great fan support even in the Sonny Lubick years when they won regularly.

 

[vmbplayer]

With Colorado as down as they are it's a good time to start. Chance to become the best in the state and start raising visibility nationally. I don't know that it's a terrible plan either. If you acknowledge the perception of academics being tied to the perception of the athletics program it's logical. If you agree with that then you are saying the plan is a bad one because facilities can't improve athletics programs...If that is the case then ISU and nearly every other program in D1 are making some very costly missteps on a yearly basis.

 

[Wesley]

Do they have a few billionaire donors? That seems to the key.

One billionaire would work. It is the shoes.

Maybe they could go with Facebook Stadium or Linked In Stadium.