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Long-term plan for CU facilities upgrades

ahoelsken said:
It draws fans.......you reference DU selling out their stadium to back that. DU didn't draw 3,000 fans to a home game this season. If lax is growing that quickly......how come that program (which won a national championship not too long ago and made this NCAA tournament) can't sell out their 5,000 seat stadium? On the east coast, I'd agree with you......but three universities west of the Mississippi field Men's lax teams as I said. You've still gotta find a conference. You mention Michigan, Ohio State, and Marquette being in the "same radius" of the Pac 12........what the hell does that mean? All of those schools are over 800 miles from any Pac 12 campus. That logic doesn't hold water. With baseball, our primary conference sponsors it. Everybody plays it but us. There are enough teams in the neighborhood who play it-Air Force, UNC, New Mexico, New Mexico State, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Kansas, Kansas State, Wichita State, Southern Illinois, Missouri, Grand Canyon, Chicago State, and Utah Valley State all field baseball teams. Almost all of them are closer to us than Marquette is. It would be a lot easier putting together an OOC schedule there than in lax.
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I’m sorry I don’t know where you are getting your stats but DU absolutely sells out every home game plus fills up a huge hill with kids. Again the bigger point is that nobody is going to get excited about CU vs Southern Illinois in baseball. Not going to happen.

Plus it will take us a generation to compete with ASU, Stanford and the rest of the Pac-12 in baseball. Colorado would be almost instantly competitive in lacrosse, as evidenced by the women’s team.

CU vs Notre Dame in a 5000 person lacrosse only stadium. You won’t be able to get tickets. Just ask DU. Oh yeah and the kids get excited about it too. It is a huge draw at a 4000 person school like DU and would be even bigger at CU.

In terms of radius I would venture to say the Columbus Ohio is only marginally more distant from Denver than Seattle.

Bottom line adding lacrosse is what a man of vision and leadership would do, which is exactly why RG will not be adding baseball.
 
SBP said:
I’m sorry I don’t know where you are getting your stats but DU absolutely sells out every home game plus fills up a huge hill with kids. Again the bigger point is that nobody is going to get excited about CU vs Southern Illinois in baseball. Not going to happen.

Plus it will take us a generation to compete with ASU, Stanford and the rest of the Pac-12 in baseball. Colorado would be almost instantly competitive in lacrosse, as evidenced by the women’s team.

CU vs Notre Dame in a 5000 person lacrosse only stadium. You won’t be able to get tickets. Just ask DU. Oh yeah and the kids get excited about it too. It is a huge draw at a 4000 person school like DU and would be even bigger at CU.

In terms of radius I would venture to say the Columbus Ohio is only marginally more distant from Denver than Seattle.

Bottom line adding lacrosse is what a man of vision and leadership would do, which is exactly why RG will not be adding baseball.
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All my stats are from DU's website. They did not get 3000 people to a game this past year.
 
Buffnik said:
This says that DU's lacrosse stadium seats 2,000. http://www.denverpioneers.com/facilities/peter-barton-lacrosse-stadium.html

The biggest drawing programs in the nation (Maryland, Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Michigan) draw 3500-5000 fans for a home game.
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I would add the 1000or so kids that line the hill and back fence at DU games who aren’t counted in the attendance. I also know that there is talk of adding a second side to the stadium because it is such a hot draw

In contrast Pac-12 baseball attendance is lower
https://247sports.com/college/west-...ents/2017-Baseball-Attendance-Report-54724565

I’m telling ya! Lacrosse is the way to go.
 
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Lacrosse and baseball are great but I can just ****ing get a white jersey finally? Why can’t we buy the damn jerseys?!
 
hawg1 said:
Yes. There are better pools in which to train, no doubt. It’s serviceable though. Swimmers want s blue line, not much else in my experience (i’m A forme HS swim coach). But I guess Clare Small would be a no go.

Rally is five lanes, narrow, but they have a post grad group, even elite open water (Christine Jennings).

I think you can turn altitude training into a big plus. Establish strong relationships with HS and Club teams. Get Nelms on deck from time to time. Invite OTC folks up. Create tie in to new CU Sports performance center. Swim Labs is already there. Train at South, East or North if needed on early days. Create additional momentum for swim facility we have all dreamed about in Boulder through public/private partnership. Establish ties with SwimMAC for Rocky Mt pro group. Establish/Grow a program.

I like Arizona and new pool at Cal.
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You know Skip Kenny?
 
I love baseball and Colorado could compete on the big stage pretty quickly with the right coach and facilities but it is a pointless conversation for the foreseeable future until this AD becomes rich with cash again. Adding another sport is way down the list of priorities and let's not act like these other tasks are easy to complete. Unless a guy like Solich comes in and essentially pays for the west side stadium project we will be scraping by for the next 10-15 years.
 
onealcd said:
I love baseball and Colorado could compete on the big stage pretty quickly with the right coach and facilities but it is a pointless conversation for the foreseeable future until this AD becomes rich with cash again. Adding another sport is way down the list of priorities and let's not act like these other tasks are easy to complete. Unless a guy like Solich comes in and essentially pays for the west side stadium project we will be scraping by for the next 10-15 years.
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I think we'll see a 5-year plan that focuses on organizational infrastructure with maybe some smaller project. If I had to guess, a DU type lacrosse stadium will happen before Balch/West Side.

I say 5 years because the next Pac-12 media contract could change the math considerably if the AD has another $5-10M per year to play with after that.
 
Buffnik said:
I think we'll see a 5-year plan that focuses on organizational infrastructure with maybe some smaller project. If I had to guess, a DU type lacrosse stadium will happen before Balch/West Side.

I say 5 years because the next Pac-12 media contract could change the math considerably if the AD has another $5-10M per year to play with after that.
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You could definitely be right, I just see the west side remodel as priority number one for RG. Not only is it about football, which we all know is priority number one for him, but there is so much lost revenue with that space on game days and non-game days and it is so messed up I think it could actually be a hazard at some point lol.
 
onealcd said:
You could definitely be right, I just see the west side remodel as priority number one for RG. Not only is it about football, which we all know is priority number one for him, but there is so much lost revenue with that space on game days and non-game days and it is so messed up I think it could actually be a hazard at some point lol.
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If we're talking about the financial health of CU's athletic department, I agree that every discretionary investment dollar should be put into better monetizing Folsom right now. There's still so much to do and so much of that facility is still substandard. But there's also some politics involved with this stuff and other programs do need some love & attention. My read is that RG is focused on building up the AD endowment for the Balch/West project and while he's doing that he has some discretionary money he can put toward smaller projects like lights for Prentup, concourse improvements for the Keg, locker room for VB, etc. And within that he may be able to pull off a LAX stadium that seats 3k or so with an investment around what was spent for the hoops court practice facility. This is all Bohn type stuff he's talking about in the short term while he builds that endowment.
 
OUBuff said:
I think their hole on the west side is fine. No reason to give them afternoon sunshine on a cold day any longer than they already have it.
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Keep them away from their sideline. Players feed off of the visiting fans in that corner.
 
onealcd said:
I love baseball and Colorado could compete on the big stage pretty quickly with the right coach and facilities but it is a pointless conversation for the foreseeable future until this AD becomes rich with cash again. Adding another sport is way down the list of priorities and let's not act like these other tasks are easy to complete. Unless a guy like Solich comes in and essentially pays for the west side stadium project we will be scraping by for the next 10-15 years.
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We have an alumnus with the same money as Solich, if not more, who is a fan. CU is failing in not engaging him.
 
Coach Elliott has earned her own stadium. In fact, they should probably name it Elliott Stadium. Or the Ann Elliott Women’s Lacrosse Center.

I know they just did a trade for the practice fields, but that would be a great place for the new Ann Elliott Center. Lots of parking, close to the locker rooms in the Dal Ward.
 
Buffnik said:
It's only a "mistake" if you believe that enjoyment by the students of something they chose which their fees paid for and also makes for a great image on the front of the brochure when marketing to prospective students is less important than the opportunity, possibly maybe down the road, to add varsity swimming at CU with that same facility.
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And then there is the friction that comes with scheduling for said pool time between two competing entities... One is trying to accommodate the people who paid for the pool with their student fee. The other is trying to accommodate coaching schedules, classes, and scholarship athletes who dont pay for the pool with said fee. Ultimately, if you are serious about recruiting for that sport and playing in it you'll need your own facility to compete for the best athletes. Maybe you use the rec center for five years until you have one. The rec center probably decided it didnt want that and avoided it. Water Polo is rumored to be one of those sports that is easier to get a scholarship in because there are far fewer people playing it. Crew/Row teams are another one. So is it really worth it?
 
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Stampeder said:
DU has 2000 seats plus the standing room. Sold out 28 straight games:
https://duclarion.com/2018/04/denver-lacrosse-finishes-perfect-in-big-east-play/
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As Nik said, the bigger drawing programs in the east typically draw a lot more than DU does. I don't think Lax is growing as quickly in the west as some think is my point, and I also don't think Men's Lax is something we need to add. If we could add something right now, my vote would be baseball, but I could also do without that for now. I'd rather invest in the improvements we need to make to Folsom and the CEC right now.
 
I think CU should focus on becoming consistently competitive at important sports before they add sports that don't matter (this coming from a former college baseball player).
 
ahoelsken said:
As Nik said, the bigger drawing programs in the east typically draw a lot more than DU does. I don't think Lax is growing as quickly in the west as some think is my point, and I also don't think Men's Lax is something we need to add. If we could add something right now, my vote would be baseball, but I could also do without that for now. I'd rather invest in the improvements we need to make to Folsom and the CEC right now.
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There is no good argument for baseball over lacrosse for CU other than “I like baseball”.
 
Buffnik said:
There is no good argument for baseball over lacrosse for CU other than “I like baseball”.
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Disagree. Two schools west of the Mississippi have it. Our primary conference doesn't have it-which means that program could be competing as an independent a la Arizona State's men's hockey team (Utah's lacrosse team might wind up in that spot too) or in a conference like the Big East a la DU or Southern a la Air Force. That's before we talk about a permanent stadium or any other expense with this. The travel is too much, but I'd rather not add either right now. Get Folsom and CEC completely done before any conversations about new sports.
 
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