Facilities and Arena discussion

[Pablo]

Andrew Lieber is Mason's Senior Associate AD, Capital Planning, Facilities, and Events - https://p3resourcecenter.com/2018/0...out-athletics-facilities-partnerships-part-2/

Thinking Innovatively About Athletics Facilities Partnerships (Part 2)​

• Andrew Lieber, B&D
• April 19, 2018

"PROCESS INSIGHT #2: GET PROFICIENT AT QUANTIFYING AND CONVEYING VALUE

While partnerships bring a lot of non-financial benefits, at the end of the day, they need to make sense financially. As an institution, you will not be able to entice a partner or agree to terms when solicited for partnership—whether a private developer, the local public entity, or some other organization—if the numbers don’t work, and if they don’t tell the right story. That means that a critical part of the exploration of any partnership is carefully and accurately quantifying and conveying the values of the project. Only once the potential partners fully understand the true value of the project can investment be committed to the partnership—whether a dollar amount or an asset associated with a dollar figure (land, tax breaks, etc.)."

​

 

[The Great PATSby]

I just got back from Disney Orlando... how the F are concessions at Disney parks less expensive than EBA?!?!?! Literally Burgers, popcorn, ice cream, drinks... all like 10-20% less expense.

 

[GMUgemini]

GW just announced their intention to decommission the pool at the Smith Center and replace it with a practice facility for the basketball teams.

 

[Pikapppatri8]

I just got back from Disney Orlando... how the F are concessions at Disney parks less expensive than EBA?!?!?! Literally Burgers, popcorn, ice cream, drinks... all like 10-20% less expense.

Well the tickets are
Like $135 per person. So there is that.

GW just announced their intention to decommission the pool at the Smith Center and replace it with a practice facility for the basketball teams.

Do they have another pool?

 

[GSII]

Do they have another pool?

DC is a pool. But of the smelly kind.

 

[JPgmuswim]

Well the tickets are
Like $135 per person. So there is that.


Do they have another pool?

They do not have another pool.

“Aquatic athletic programs will be moved to off-campus facilities, according to the application.”

 

[NewPatriot]

They do not have another pool.

“Aquatic athletic programs will be moved to off-campus facilities, according to the application.”

That sucks...really stupid. Mason wants to be less of commuter school and they take away a basic amenity that attract students.

 

[tblack33]

That sucks...really stupid. Mason wants to be less of commuter school and they take away a basic amenity that attract students.

It’s not Mason it’s GW.

 

[NewPatriot]

It’s not Mason it’s GW.

Wow am I dumb!! LOL

 

[GMU79]

Wow am I dumb!! LOL

Happens to all of us. Especially me!

 

[Pikapppatri8]

That sucks...really stupid. Mason wants to be less of commuter school and they take away a basic amenity that attract students.

Mason still has their pool - that was GW. We have over 8000 beds on campus -- GW - not sure if they have dorms.

 

[Pablo]

Mason still has their pool - that was GW. We have over 8000 beds on campus -- GW - not sure if they have dorms.

https://living.gwu.edu/

"6400+​

Students live on campus"

 

[Jack Strop]

Mason still has their pool - that was GW. We have over 8000 beds on campus -- GW - not sure if they have dorms.

...and that's going to go up big time next year when that HUGE apartment development across from the field house opens.

 

[EXpatriot13]

...and that's going to go up big time next year when that HUGE apartment development across from the field house opens.

I was wondering what that was when I was recently on campus...looks like an awesome "off campus" apartment complex, something the school really needs!

There's another one called "The Flats on University" in Old Town, great way for the school to create more connectivity between campus and that area.

 

[Pablo]

I hear people say this but I don’t understand it. Maybe I am there so frequently that I don’t see it anymore, so I’d like to know what people see that makes them say this.

There are 100 year old arenas still in use. We will visit 2 of the top 10 oldest arenas this year, so I also wonder where the we need to replace EBA sentiment comes from when it is less than 40 years old.

Edit to correct arena age.

Wouldn't it be nice if the EBA was renovated similar to the Robins Center - https://www.athleticbusiness.com/pr...renovation-university-of-richmond-richmond-va

 

[Falco]

I hear people say this but I don’t understand it. Maybe I am there so frequently that I don’t see it anymore, so I’d like to know what people see that makes them say this.

There are 100 year old arenas still in use. We will visit 2 of the top 10 oldest arenas this year, so I also wonder where the we need to replace EBA sentiment comes from when it is less than 40 years old.

Edit to correct arena age.

Like I said, there’s nothing particularly wrong with it. It’s perfectly functional. But it feels like walking into a house from the 80s that has the original kitchen. Just feels dated, yet not old enough to exude that charming, old-time charm.

But if I had to put my finger on it, it’s the dated color pallet and the material of the floors and walls of the concourse.

 

[gmubrian]

Wouldn't it be nice if the EBA was renovated similar to the Robins Center - https://www.athleticbusiness.com/pr...renovation-university-of-richmond-richmond-va

It would be nice if we had $50M burning a hole in our pockets (assuming inflation from cost of Robins Reno to when we could get this done) but that really isn’t responsive to my question of what, specifically, do people see that says old or says it needs to be replaced.

Robins center is also, 13 years older than EBA. If memory serves correctly, we did a minor renovation of sorts several year back (probably a decade ago).

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

Like I said, there’s nothing particularly wrong with it. It’s perfectly functional. But it feels like walking into a house from the 80s that has the original kitchen. Just feels dated, yet not old enough to exude that charming, old-time charm.

But if I had to put my finger on it, it’s the dated color pallet and the material of the floors and walls of the concourse.

The velvet couches and waterbeds all over the arena along with the fuzzy dice on the dashboard of the EBA need to go.

Let’s put some teleportation portals, Bitcoin vending machines and a booth selling real estate on Mars to get ahead of the game.

I really think the portals will help with attendance

 

[EXpatriot13]

It would be nice if we had $50M burning a hole in our pockets (assuming inflation from cost of Robins Reno to when we could get this done) but that really isn’t responsive to my question of what, specifically, do people see that says old or says it needs to be replaced.

Robins center is also, 13 years older than EBA. If memory serves correctly, we did a minor renovation of sorts several year back (probably a decade ago).

I agree. I don’t think there’s anything alarmingly obvious that screams the arena needs to be full on replaced at this point.

What I think most, myself included, fixate on are the smaller cosmetic things that impact the gameday experience. Like a shoddy hospitality area or lack of dedicated fan shop, etc. But that’s an entirely different topic that’s been beaten to death (and doesn’t warrant full on replacement).

Based on latest master plans (who knows how accurate they are) and other recently presented docs it seems the administration wants to eventually move the arena over by the field house, and repurpose the EBA area to expand the residential/academic core of campus. It’s anyone’s guess at this point when they’d actually make a move towards that becoming a reality, given it would be an incredibly large undertaking. We could maybe see minor upgrades in the short term that address some of the cosmetic/smaller issues.

 

[Patriot8]

You know what makes an arena look and feel better? Fans in the stands.