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Post by lasalle89 on Mar 31, 2013 19:14:46 GMT -5
I am still in Cali. I need some hard facts about what tourny exposure does for a university. I would also love it if someone could find the USA Today article a out Xavier board making the decision to market through basketball. It was done in the early 90's. I want to make a unemotional fact laden pitch for the arena and an all out commitment to the basketball program. Also any info about what an arena does for a school and a program. I will put together a presentation. It wouldn't hurt if I had a few checks made out to LaSalle basketball. I raised a few grand this week. If are thinking of giving please give it through me. It will give me a bigger voice. Thanks.
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Post by calsufan on Mar 31, 2013 19:24:44 GMT -5
I bet if you went to the A-10 board and posted this, one of the X fans might be able to point you in the right direction.
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Post by 20thandolney on Mar 31, 2013 19:27:46 GMT -5
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Mar 31, 2013 19:37:32 GMT -5
I am still in Cali. I need some hard facts about what tourny exposure does for a university. I would also love it if someone could find the USA Today article a out Xavier board making the decision to market through basketball. It was done in the early 90's. I want to make a unemotional fact laden pitch for the arena and an all out commitment to the basketball program. Also any info about what an arena does for a school and a program. I will put together a presentation. It wouldn't hurt if I had a few checks made out to LaSalle basketball. I raised a few grand this week. If are thinking of giving please give it through me. It will give me a bigger voice. Thanks. I have something written on this that I was planning for Tuesday or Wednesday. It might be tomorrow night. |
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Post by calsufan on Mar 31, 2013 19:52:47 GMT -5
I also found an abstract of a USA Today front cover page article on Xavier Men's basketball, from Feb. 26, 1990 titled: "Pronounce Xavier 'WIN-ner'" There's a chance that's the article you want, but I'm not positive. You can buy the full article on USA Today's website, just search their archives.
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Post by SICguy84 on Mar 31, 2013 22:11:49 GMT -5
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Post by belfieldhappyhour on Mar 31, 2013 22:42:39 GMT -5
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Post by lasalle89 on Mar 31, 2013 22:57:45 GMT -5
Thanks . This is great stuff. They brag of 320 days of sunshine and it freakin rained today. Cool city. I highly recommend it. Wore my LaSalle colors everywhere. Amazing what the tourny does for exposure. Everybody recognized us.
Joe about your article I think that's great . The more we hammer home the better. I hope you talk about the absolute necessity of an arena and keeping the momentum going. Legler said on national tv LaSalle dropped the ball after him and Lionel and that just can't happen again. To move ahead it MUST BE AN ADMINISTRATION COMMITTMENT PERIOD. Coach G has done all he can do. He needs help. Can't go onto this undersized with one hand tied around your back. That gets you 1 tourny appearance every 20 years. I am fired up. I will make a push to raise money and get the ball rolling on an arena announcement. Can't wait to frame and hang my SW Philly Floater posters they were handing out at the pre game.
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Post by crayzeeguy on Mar 31, 2013 23:21:50 GMT -5
89... With this passion, we could use someone like you on the Alumni Board.
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Post by lasalle89 on Apr 1, 2013 0:23:18 GMT -5
They asked me to be part of Alumni relations which is a nice way to say an official fund raiser. I already raise money for LaSalle on my own. I do want to get a bunch of money together to pay for team travel, tourney's and start chartering flights. That goes a long way with recruiting. If everyone else is offering it and you aren't it is another obstacle. The Arena another obstacle . We need to show the administration that this is not an expense but an investment that we will get back 10 fold. Besides I want to go to the tourny every year! This is to much fun! Back East tomorrow.
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Post by coachd on Apr 1, 2013 8:35:53 GMT -5
Summary of what needs to happen over the next 5 years for our basketball program to thrive:
I. The Big Picture - 100,000 feet (new facility)
Corporate partnership(s) for naming rights to: A. The New Arena; B. The Luxury Boxes; C. The Concourse Areas; D. The Training facility attached to the arena.
>>> Any company that does business with the university currently should be contacted first. Under Armour, NovaCare and Coca-Cola are just a few that come to mind.
II. The Aerial View - 10,000 feet
Every day expenses for: A. Recruiting; B. Team Travel (more then 6 hours requires chartering flights); C. Buy OOC home games.
>>> The Explorer Club will gain membership after this season. Additional fund-raisers to include: A. Video from past season made available for purchase; B. Golf outings monthly; C. Banquets with Coach G; D. Happy hour fund-raisers in Center City and Jersey shore locally with Legler, Overton, Simmons, Raftery and other famous hoops alum.
III. The Grass-Roots View - Ground
Don't leave it up to the President, AD or Board of Trustees to get it done.
>>> We, the alums, fans and students, are La Salle. We must dictate to them what we want done and provide the means for getting there. They work for us so let's put them to work!
All of the wealthy alums must be contacted this week and asked if they want to join us in building this program where it deserves to be. Most will be more then happy to help based on previous fund-raiser findings.
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Post by ltrain38 on Apr 1, 2013 8:51:32 GMT -5
Luxury boxes? Monthly golf outings? Can we temper our expectations even a little?
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Post by coachd on Apr 1, 2013 9:28:39 GMT -5
Luxury boxes? Monthly golf outings? Can we temper our expectations even a little? HELL NO! We only have one opportunity to do it right. Stop thinking small-time unless you just want a modified Gola Arena for the next 25 years... our time is NOW! |
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Post by sawdoctors on Apr 1, 2013 10:03:50 GMT -5
The Admin is in the 18th Century. Nothing is going to happen. Lets pray G stays.....
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2013 10:13:42 GMT -5
The Admin is in the 18th Century. Nothing is going to happen. Lets pray G stays..... Welcome back, Mr Sunshine. Everyone missed you while the players and coaching staff you trashed back in February went to the Sweet 16. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2013 10:27:36 GMT -5
I am still in Cali. I need some hard facts about what tourny exposure does for a university. I would also love it if someone could find the USA Today article a out Xavier board making the decision to market through basketball. It was done in the early 90's. I want to make a unemotional fact laden pitch for the arena and an all out commitment to the basketball program. Also any info about what an arena does for a school and a program. I will put together a presentation. It wouldn't hurt if I had a few checks made out to LaSalle basketball. I raised a few grand this week. If are thinking of giving please give it through me. It will give me a bigger voice. Thanks. Thanks for the passion and hard work, and what you're doing will hopefully help give the basketball program more money for tournament travel, the recruiting budget, etc., but unfortunately, it will have little to no impact on a new or renovated arena. That will not happen without a big-ticket donor. La Salle's Advancement and Development departments need to use the Sweet 16 run to find their Michael Hagen, James Maguire, etc. There absolutely has to be a least one or two major donors willing to write a seven or eight figure check to get the ball rolling. |
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Post by ltrain38 on Apr 1, 2013 10:39:41 GMT -5
Luxury boxes? Monthly golf outings? Can we temper our expectations even a little? HELL NO! We only have one opportunity to do it right. Stop thinking small-time unless you just want a modified Gola Arena for the next 25 years... our time is NOW! I'm sorry, but I'd be shocked if most A10 programs have luxury boxes in their arena. There are huge improvements to be made, but people don't come up to Olney for the luxury box experience. I don't think that's a necessary piece of the arena puzzle. I think GW has ten in their building. I'm sure Dayton, X and SLU have boxes. Who else in our conference has that? How much would that cost? What makes you think prominent alums will have the time to come to the area (supposing they've moved away) monthly to put on major fundraisers. There's a huge gap between what we have now (modified Gola Arena) and Duke-level spending. There are limits. Of course, you also said we would "Bring another title to Philly," before we were even definitely in the tournament. I really do like the optimism, but since the arena isn't happening this year, let's see how much interest goes up in Philly before we commit to having empty box seats at every game. |
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Post by lasalle89 on Apr 1, 2013 11:20:29 GMT -5
Yes we need big donors for the arena BUT do not think that smaller contributions do not help. I asked Tom Brennanand Bro Mike what can the little guys do. They said give consistently, try to get fellow alums to give. Need to charter. What a nightmare here in LAX . On plane ready to return to LaSalle country. Wearing our colors!!
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Post by coachd on Apr 1, 2013 11:21:11 GMT -5
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Apr 1, 2013 11:40:20 GMT -5
HELL NO! We only have one opportunity to do it right. Stop thinking small-time unless you just want a modified Gola Arena for the next 25 years... our time is NOW! I'm sorry, but I'd be shocked if most A10 programs have luxury boxes in their arena. Some do, some don't. About 50/50. It seems as though most built recently or renovated recently do have some form of luxury seating though. Since Gola openend: Palumbo (Dukes) was renovated, no luxury boxes. Dayton was renovated, luxury boxes. Smith Center (GW) was renovated, kind of luxury boxes. Ryan Center (URI) was renovated, seven luxury boxes. Robbins Center (UR) was renovated, luxury boxes I think... Hagan was renovated, no luxury boxes. Liacouras was built, luxury boxes. Chafietz Arena (SLU) was built, luxury boxes. Mullins Center (UMASS) was renovated. Maybe luxury boxes (conflicting report) Siegel Center (VCU) was renovated. Luxury boxes. Cintas Center (X) was built and renovated, luxury boxes. |
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Post by coqui900 on Apr 1, 2013 12:45:59 GMT -5
The way I see it is like this:
1) There's a lot of pressure to get a new arena ASAP. But with the new business school already in the works (and for a very legitimate reason), it means the time needed to spend on this to have something really new won't happen. That means a refurbished Gola.
2) We wait a few years and hope the Sweet 16 carries over for a few more seasons and then build a $50 million arena.
I know I am in the minority here but I am fine with Option 1. There's a way to make Gola better that we can do a lot faster and cheaper than building something entirely from scratch.
As far as the bells and whistles for option 1:
1) We flip the court and have bleachers on at least 3 sides of the court. 3,500 seats. I think that's the biggest we should go. Getting to campus on a weekday night is a logistical nightmare. There's no easy way to do so. That's always going to limit attendance save for the must, must games. We'll have a bigger attendance the next few years (and I suspect more season ticket plans sold) but consistently filling 5,000 seats in a gym in Olney is impossible.
Also, Temple has a much bigger campus and is easy to get to from all points in the city w/ a subway and regional rail right on campus. They have a NBA-caliber arena. They still get half of that for games despite three decades of consistent success.
I would love a three sided court with one blank wall for banners, etc. That will add character and the like.
2) Have more than one bathroom and more than one concession area.
3) Entrances on both sides of the building. If not that, do something with the facade of the Olney Ave. side. It's gross. I don't know about logistics or space or anything like that, but maybe they could add some sort of restaurant on the ground floor and take out that bus/car loop that's rarely used on Olney?
4) I don't think we'll ever have luxury boxes. The only selling point for a luxury box is the possibility to drink alcohol in one. I'm sure that opens up some sort of liabilities and licensing and the like that might not be worth the headache.
Bottom line: We either improve what we have if we want to build off of this immediately or wait a few years before a $50 million (at least) plan comes forward and wait even longer for the thing to get built.
I do think there is a possibility to improve Gola.
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Post by 20thandolney on Apr 1, 2013 12:57:01 GMT -5
I don't like the idea of renovating the Gola. That place stinks and always will. It is just a band aid solution. Take the money you would use to renovate and save it for a new arena.
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Post by calsufan on Apr 1, 2013 14:23:05 GMT -5
Unless we find one or two pretty big donors, a new arena will not be in "a few years". It will more likely be 10 years.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2013 14:49:08 GMT -5
1) We flip the court and have bleachers on at least 3 sides of the court. 3,500 seats. I think that's the biggest we should go. Getting to campus on a weekday night is a logistical nightmare. There's no easy way to do so. That's always going to limit attendance save for the must, must games. We'll have a bigger attendance the next few years (and I suspect more season ticket plans sold) but consistently filling 5,000 seats in a gym in Olney is impossible. I would love a three sided court with one blank wall for banners, etc. That will add character and the like. Sorry, coqui, these are both horrible ideas. If they're going to spend any money to renovate Gola, they better do it right this time. It would have to be 4,500 capacity at a minimum. I don't care if there are empty seats. You don't spend all that money to increase attendance by 100 and make it look worse, which a three sided court with one blank wall would be. La Salle would be ridiculed (and rightly so) if they ever did something like that. Gola could be made into a very nice arena at a third of the price to build a new arena (which would be more like $60-$70 million, not $50 million. La Salle will never and should not ever spend that much unless someone pays for most of it). All anybody needs to do is look at what Loyola of Chicago did. Their gym was a carbon copy of Gola and they were able to "retrofit" a bowl design into their existing space and it looks very similar to what Bucknell and College of Charleston have. And they did it in the city of Chicago in 2011 for $8.5 million, which is an unbelievable bargain in this day and age. Figuring in inflation and the infamous Phila unions, it might cost you $12 mill to get in done in Phila now. If La Salle can find one major mid-high seven figure donor for that project, I don't think they'd have much problems getting the rest of the money with a fundraising campaign specifically for the upgrade. Before:  After:  |
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Post by explorer88 on Apr 1, 2013 15:02:49 GMT -5
1) We flip the court and have bleachers on at least 3 sides of the court. 3,500 seats. I think that's the biggest we should go. Getting to campus on a weekday night is a logistical nightmare. There's no easy way to do so. That's always going to limit attendance save for the must, must games. We'll have a bigger attendance the next few years (and I suspect more season ticket plans sold) but consistently filling 5,000 seats in a gym in Olney is impossible. I would love a three sided court with one blank wall for banners, etc. That will add character and the like. Sorry, coqui, these are both horrible ideas. If they're going to spend any money to renovate Gola, they better do it right this time. It would have to be 4,500 capacity at a minimum. I don't care if there are empty seats. You don't spend all that money to increase attendance by 100 and make it look worse, which a three sided court with one blank wall would be. La Salle would be ridiculed (and rightly so) if they ever did something like that. Gola could be made into a very nice arena at a third of the price to build a new arena (which would be more like $60-$70 million, not $50 million. La Salle will never and should not ever spend that much unless someone pays for most of it). All anybody needs to do is look at what Loyola of Chicago did. Their gym was a carbon copy of Gola and they were able to "retrofit" a bowl design into their existing space and it looks very similar to what Bucknell and College of Charleston have. And they did it in the city of Chicago in 2011 for $8.5 million, which is an unbelievable bargain in this day and age. Figuring in inflation and the infamous Phila unions, it might cost you $12 mill to get in done in Phila now. If La Salle can find one major mid-high seven figure donor for that project, I don't think they'd have much problems getting the rest of the money with a fundraising campaign specifically for the upgrade. Before: After: I like it. If we are not going to go forward with a new arena in the next 5 years, this is the way to go. We need to strike while the iron is hot. A few 15-17 win season will make it more difficult to secure the funds. La Salle has a small open window to move here and need to think, plan and react quickly if they are serious about staying relevant. G has laid the foundation but needs help. Get it done!!! |
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Post by coqui900 on Apr 1, 2013 15:07:06 GMT -5
THAT would be awesome if they could pull it off. They actually shrunk the capacity at Gentile by 800 seats when refurbishing the arena.
Why the fixation on a 4,500 seat arena? 3,500 seats and you get a packed house very consistently. 4,500 seats and you get a packed house three or four times a year.
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big5vet
Utility Bench Player
Posts: 176
Likes: 38
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Post by big5vet on Apr 1, 2013 16:13:03 GMT -5
A basic question about the before photo. Was the Loyola facility originally a two story building like ours that was converted to a high ceiling one story real college basketball arena?
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Post by luhoopsfan on Apr 1, 2013 16:37:35 GMT -5
Anyone know of there would be a way that you could build a new pool and practice facility and then open up the existing Hayman Center to a point where the basketball court could be where the pool is and then essentially open the whole place up above?
Maybe Louth will even bring back the original Gola plans and do it at cost.....
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big5vet
Utility Bench Player
Posts: 176
Likes: 38
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Post by big5vet on Apr 1, 2013 16:49:48 GMT -5
I have a basic question about the "before" photo. Was the original facilty a two floor complex like Hayman Center that was then converted to a bona fide collegite basketball arena?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2013 18:15:56 GMT -5
Why the fixation on a 4,500 seat arena? 3,500 seats and you get a packed house very consistently. 4,500 seats and you get a packed house three or four times a year. Why the fixation on a 3,500 seat arena? Sorry, but that is small-time thinking. Part of building the program is building the fan base back up. During the Simmons years, the home attendance averages were: 3,889 4,378 3,999 6,236 If they played in a 3,500 seat arena during those years, you would have lost thousands of dollars in ticket sales. That is pure profit when you own the facility. That's how Xavier was able to build their program. I don't expect La Salle to average 6,236 fans, but there's no reason if they start to win and make the postseason consistently again that they can't average 4,000+ per game. So what if there's a few hundred empty seats for games against the less attractive opponents. You'd also have a better chance at getting quality OOC opponents with the larger facility because you can afford to offer the opposing team a better deal. |
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