Walsh & more
- Thread starter Halldan1
- Start date
Looks Great. My back hurts just looking at the old seats.
might have to visit in person, does this still look kind of old to anyone? its probably the stage wall
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$6M well spent.
Now on to bigger and better things. Hopefully shovels in the ground by next spring if the donations match expectations.
Now on to bigger and better things. Hopefully shovels in the ground by next spring if the donations match expectations.
I believe it has something to do with those particular walls and load bearing on the structure… possible to remove, but it would drastically increase cost. Removing the stage would also mean one less flexible space for larger functions.
But a $6m major renovation they can’t spend the extra to remove it and add more permanent seats for more frequent events? How often does that stage actually get used? I would imagine almost never. Idk, just makes the whole building appear very dated now matter how good the renovations are.
Everyone knows the stage doesn't belong. Unfortunately we aren't a state school with free money to do whatever we want. The administration has to be very strategic with how we spend our money. It sucks, but it just comes down to we cannot justify spending millions to add seats to an arena that the women don't sell out and the men don't play there.
Trust me - Lyons and Felt 'get it'. They didn't want to keep the stage...they had to.
Not the end of the world. They should have put the curtain down for photos. They really could not have done much more. We play so few games in there. Will we really lose recruits because of the new version of Walsh?. Definitely not an embarrassing venue for a TV game. The new practice facility will be important in the grand scope of things.
The Women's Basketball Team basically has better facility now and the perfect size. I doubt the Volleyball coach is upset about the upgrades.
Looks great! I'm very much looking forward to seeing it in person.
Hindsight is 20/20 but looking back they should have converted that area into the coaches offices instead of removing the other seats.
Maybe it’s just me, but I was really hoping they’d spring the extra couple of bucks and do individual banners for each Big East member school instead of going the cheap route and putting everyone on one banner. Just looks cheap to me.
The other renovations look great though. Should also help with recruiting for both women’s basketball and volleyball.
The other renovations look great though. Should also help with recruiting for both women’s basketball and volleyball.
They have already started quietly with the big hitters. Guys that can donate hundreds of thousands of dollars. Maybe even in the millions.
When completed, maybe by the end of the year or so they will announce their fundraising campaign for all us normal contributors.
The initial phase which has already begun is going very well.
BTW, this doesn't mean you can't donate now and request that the money go to the practice facility. I have already done that and will do more when the campaign is announced.
Thanks Dan. In the past year or so I have specified that some donations do just that, go toward the practice facility. I’m sure others here have as well.
The thing that gets me is that the university seemingly asks us late, or not at all, for capital projects such as this after everything has been decided and then tells us they wish they could have done more but they didn’t have the funding and then we hear how our alumni are cheap. Don’t call me cheap when you never told me what you wanted to do and never asked me to donate.
Honestly, on OTC when they redid the field and stadium they never asked any to donate toward the renovations (same with Walsh). Maybe if they had they could have gotten rid of all of the bleachers and put in all seat backs. With Walsh, if they asked and said what the money was going toward, maybe they’d be able to get rid of the stage that seemingly everyone but five people on campus want to see gone.
Once the practice facility is done it must be the biggest and best, especially within the Big East and in New Jersey otherwise that is a huge problem.
I am sure it will be nice, but it won’t be the biggest or best in the BE or in NJ. It doesn’t need to be either.
When you compete at the highest level of Division 1, yes, it has to be the best. You don’t invest that kind of money to only be #2 when you’re finished. Seton Hall should be the best of the best, not the best of the rest.
This is always my thing too, and Seton Hall is not exclusive to this "Gripe". Don't set things in stone, THEN ask for money, then when it's all done give the old "Well, we have to work within the confines of the budget".
Look, I get it. Fundraising folks are pretty good at their job and have a good sense of what they can expect to bring in. All the same, tell me what you want to do and I'll determine how much I can afford to give. Maybe fat cat donors will give the same amount regardless of the details, but not everyone is like that. I tend to give within the same range every year, but if something big is going on, I kick in more.
It would be nice if they first tell us what we're doing (i.e. "building a men's practice facility). Come up with a few plans that vary in terms of financial cost. Go to the big donors, go to the small donors. Get whatever you can. Count it all up, see what we have enough to do. If it's not enough for anything? Go back again. If it's close to getting us the "better" model? Go back again and tell us how much more. If we fell comfortable within the costs of one option and its far off from the others? We're done.
I use Walsh as the example. Don't tell us it's too much to remove AFTER everything is done. Should have told us what it'd cost to remove BEFORE - let the donors decide what it's worth to them. Now, maybe the University thinks the money they'd have to raise to remove it is better spent elsewhere, but guess what? The donors should pay for what they want, and get what they pay for. I'd have gladly kicked in extra money if they could have done something productive with that space. Either tell us you wanted to keep it because you prefer it that way, or quit saying it's too expensive when you didn't let us make that decision for you.
I know what you're saying but the thing is, they know almost exactly what they are going to get, how much and from whom, well before they ever set the plans. People tend to give what they always give, within some range, because past behavior always predicts the future in fundraising. There are people in development whose sole job is to identify the meaningful donors by accessing every publicly available record, building prospect files and donor profiles by ability to give, at what level, and for what types of projects. The development team cultivates prospects for years in order to make the big ask when the appropriate affinity project arises. They knew exactly who was going to be the lead donors on a project like this because they were working on them for years before we ever knew a word about it. And these donors are the ones who get these things finished because they are giving at the multimillion dollar level. It's not $100 donors, nor $1,000 donors, nor even $50,000 donors - a very generous level of giving, to be sure! - who drives these things. There was no fruit left to shake out of the tree to make any such major architectural changes like removing the stage, which might have doubled the cost of the project. If they thought anyone had the ability to help shape the project in that way, they'd have asked them.
By the time we know about these campaigns, the only plans left to sort out are the details and finishing touches, because all the real money has already been accounted for. The public phase is mainly to rally spirit, let alumni feel some ownership and offset overruns by raising what they'll still raise from the rank and file donors, which is almost everyone.
Then reality sets in and you accept that it won’t compete with RU that cost more than 2X.
Like I said, I get it and I understand there are professionals that know what they are doing. However, the average schmuck like me is still going to get frustrated when you constantly are told that every dollar makes a difference, when in reality, the people asking don't even believe that as evident by how these campaigns go.
Do you have any idea how hard Nyre, Lyons, Felt and others are working day and night to woo donors?
Truthfully, I doubt many on this board do.
Trust the leadership who are working 7 days a week, from early in the morning to late at night to accomplish what we all want. And when the time comes let's help them in any way possible.
Truthfully, I doubt many on this board do.
Trust the leadership who are working 7 days a week, from early in the morning to late at night to accomplish what we all want. And when the time comes let's help them in any way possible.
Honestly, I don’t think many on this board do because we don’t really hear from them in that respect. They don’t ask us for extra donations for capital projects or tell us about any plans until all is said and done. That’s when we hear that they wanted to do more but couldn’t because the alumni are cheap.
I don’t think I’m alone in thinking if I was told about the plans for OTC and Walsh and asked if I would make a special donation towards those projects that I would try to up my donations. No, it wouldn’t be a six figure donation but those three and four figure donations do add up. Sadly though none of us were even asked.
The Trove has interviewed all of the above and to a man they have outlined their plans from the acquisition of the bonds to the campaigns already starting and those to come.
The info is out there. You're just not familiar with it.
Also, JP will be talking to Jon Paparsenos Monday for another Trove interview. Some of which I will post here. Jon is the head of fundraising at the Hall with a distinguished past in that capacity. He is also a former SHU scholarship athlete.
The info is out there. You're just not familiar with it.
Also, JP will be talking to Jon Paparsenos Monday for another Trove interview. Some of which I will post here. Jon is the head of fundraising at the Hall with a distinguished past in that capacity. He is also a former SHU scholarship athlete.
I admire your passion, and I have no doubts that the facility will be beautiful once completed but I would encourage you to research the facilities arms race. I think you would be interested/surprised in what you would find.
Just for example...NJIT (America East) recently invested $102M in a 200,000 sqft athletic facility that's absolutely jaw dropping. Fairfield (MAAC) has begun construction on a 85,000 sqft $45M basketball facility. Georgetown $70M / 150,000sqft, Nova $70M, etc. The list goes on.
Even low level programs are investing SERIOUS money into facilities. And keep in mind you can't compare 2013 budgets to 2023 budgets and expect the same results (flawed logic: Uconn spent $40M on a stand-alone 85,000 sqft practice facility in 2013 therefore we can build an 85,000 sqft practice facility for $40M in 2023)....
The project will go on for 2.5+ years from today. Fundraising is not late. Size is irrelevant. Having the appropriate lounges, study rooms, weight rooms etc are key.
Regardless of what we will do we still have a serious space and overall $ issue
It will be great. We just need all fans to step up.
Give us the details and ask us to write checks! I’m sure everyone will step up. This is something we know we need and we certainly want! With no details, other than being told “they’re working on it” many here, including myself, have already sent in donations earmarked for this project.
We need to find a good plot of land outside of South Orange! Too bad we didn’t grab the land Seton Hall Prep acquired about 15 years ago or take over what used to be Upsala many, many years ago or the land where the VA hospital now sits. The university foolishly sold off a lot of the land we could have used. They thought in the moment, not long term.
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