Facilities and Arena discussion

[Old Man]

It would take a solid 40-50 years to get a stadium that nice for GMU and to fill it up that much. When GMU eventually joins the ACC in 2070.

C'mon, we'll be in the ACC before then. Look at who the PAC-10 let on to keep their conference viable.

 

[phoenix-arizona]

Haha--touche! That is a fair point.

 

[Verdad]

Athletic facilities, housing and retail planned for GMU campus development | FFXnow

www.ffxnow.com

 

[EXpatriot13]

Athletic facilities, housing and retail planned for GMU campus development | FFXnow

www.ffxnow.com

Good stuff! Obviously most of this is a ways out from happening (if it ever happens), but I love how AD Lewis has not stopped talking about the need to upgrade our athletics facilities and the infrastructure around them, since day 1. Keep talking about it until it gets done.

 

[Verdad]

I noticed in the graphic it has the baseball field moving away from the neighbors (I think switching locations with softball). Hopefully this would allow for lights, something that is desperately needed for our baseball team to become an NCAA contender, which they seemed poised to become under Camp, and for them to be eligible to host a regional.

 

[thebiasedannouncer]

Good stuff! Obviously most of this is a ways out from happening (if it ever happens), but I love how AD Lewis has not stopped talking about the need to upgrade our athletics facilities and the infrastructure around them, since day 1. Keep talking about it until it gets done.

All very good but it looks like the NIMBYs are going to be out in full force to try and stop it because of “traffic concerns” again. Mason Nation needs to back admin on this one here, this would be a huge athletics development moment here

 

[Pablo]

In addition to relocating the baseball field, a soccer/lacrosse facility should be separate from the track.

 

[MasonSAE4]

1. Annual reminder that it's a tragedy that the new soccer stadium never got built
2. I feel like we see something about West Campus development once a year, always in the form of some master plan or concept or whatever. The admin really just needs to pick something and say "this is what we're doing" otherwise it's no further along than it has been for decades. It always seems to be some low-level community engagement and then it goes back to the drawing board. At this point it's a giveaway to design firms

 

[mkaufman1]

1. Annual reminder that it's a tragedy that the new soccer stadium never got built
2. I feel like we see something about West Campus development once a year, always in the form of some master plan or concept or whatever. The admin really just needs to pick something and say "this is what we're doing" otherwise it's no further along than it has been for decades. It always seems to be some low-level community engagement and then it goes back to the drawing board. At this point it's a giveaway to design firms

Completely agree. I'm very much in the "believe it when I see it " boat

 

[GM Logo Guy]

All very good but it looks like the NIMBYs are going to be out in full force to try and stop it because of “traffic concerns” again. Mason Nation needs to back admin on this one here, this would be a huge athletics development moment here

Can someone just say Mason is a commuter school. Fairfax is used to 30 thousand + people comming and going all week long. Fairfax is more than capable of handling traffic and being just fine.

 

[GMUgemini]

Can someone just say Mason is a commuter school. Fairfax is used to 30 thousand + people comming and going all week long. Fairfax is more than capable of handling traffic and being just fine.

It’s also not as if these are 20,000 seat stadia being built. We are talking about baseball and softball, which might draw 800 fans at best. Track? Who goes to see track meets? Soccer? Same as baseball.

 

[phoenix-arizona]

Nice use of stadia.

 

[Old Man]

Nice use of stadia.

GMUTomGMU will be proud of you, GMUgemini.

 

[2011WinOverVillanova]

1. "Multi Purpose Venue" - Would we be replacing Eaglebank just to focus on volleyball/basketball OR would this new arena also host things like Disney on Ice. Don't forget that we recently hosted the volleyball NCAA Championships at Eaglebank arena.

2. How many seats would this Multi Purpose Venue hold? - if we can find that out that might give us an answer whether or not Eagle bank is being replaced?

3. The suburban NIMBYs mounted a Braveheart style campaign to defeat the cricket stadium. Is Gregory Washington willing to take them on again at the risk of losing a second time/losing university president "capital"?

 

[NewPatriot]

Can someone just say Mason is a commuter school. Fairfax is used to 30 thousand + people comming and going all week long. Fairfax is more than capable of handling traffic and being just fine.

Mason is not just a commuter school. It's largest university in the state with over 40,000 students and the #1 public research University in the state. Top 10O in the nation. The biggest in the A10 by long shot..vcu a distant second by a long shot at 29,000+

 

[GMUgemini]

The NIMBYs will have less leverage if they keep this all in house. They were able to scuttle the last one because a third party professional team was also involved and there was some question about their investment and commitment to the grounds.

 

[GM Logo Guy]

Mason is not just a commuter school. It's largest university in the state with over 40,000 students and the #1 public research University in the state. Top 10O in the nation. The biggest in the A10 by long shot..vcu a distant second by a long shot at 29,000+

I don’t disagree with anything you said, but it’s worth noting that a large number of students and staff already commute to campus daily. Fairfax is more than capable of handling the traffic that would come with a baseball stadium.

It may be a stretch, but if Mason invested more in the campus experience, more students might choose to stay on campus—ironically reducing traffic in the broader Fairfax area.

 

[Mason2006Patriot]

Athletic facilities, housing and retail planned for GMU campus development | FFXnow

www.ffxnow.com

Great read! Thanks for sharing. Great to hear they are upgrading the facilities for all Mason sports, not just basketball

 

[Dawgs99]

Was just recently working a graduation at EBA and took a self guided tour of the back hallways under the arena. Outside of the new locker rooms (that were locked up), the rest of that area is just awful. The officials locker room is tiny and straight out of the 80's, and the other locker rooms that were open were just awful....old, smelled, and one had black stuff dripping from the shower ceiling. I can't believe nothing down there appears to have been updated since the building opened. What an absolute dump. They really need to decide what the long term plan for EBA is and if they are going to keep it, throw some significant money at that place. 2 million is not going to get it done.

 

[GSII]

Was just recently working a graduation at EBA and took a self guided tour of the back hallways under the arena. Outside of the new locker rooms (that were locked up), the rest of that area is just awful. The officials locker room is tiny and straight out of the 80's, and the other locker rooms that were open were just awful....old, smelled, and one had black stuff dripping from the shower ceiling. I can't believe nothing down there appears to have been updated since the building opened. What an absolute dump. They really need to decide what the long term plan for EBA is and if they are going to keep it, throw some significant money at that place. 2 million is not going to get it done.

Thats where the vistors go.