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Post by strummer8526 on Jan 11, 2013 12:01:07 GMT -5
So do I, but I have seen no evidence to justify that hope on any level. If we couldn't (or wouldn't even try to) do it when we had the #1 program in the country, why now? #1 team in the country? Are you talking about 30 years ago? I'll criticize the administration as much as anybody, but to hold them accountable for the failure to build an athletic center in the mid-80s seems a bit harsh.
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thebin
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Post by thebin on Jan 11, 2013 12:13:15 GMT -5
You can't blame THIS administration but the University has nobody to blame but itself for not paying any attention at all to the athletic facilities on campus when it was the most prominent program in the country. Kind of like winning the lottery and then investing none of it and coming to find you are in a real bind 30 years later.
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Jan 11, 2013 12:13:22 GMT -5
So do I, but I have seen no evidence to justify that hope on any level. If we couldn't (or wouldn't even try to) do it when we had the #1 program in the country, why now? When we had the #1 program in the country, McDonough wasn't all that much of an outlier - remember, it was still being used for big games into the early 80s. Even when it became just a practice facility for the men, its slide from "historic/quaint" to "laughable" has been an ongoing, three-decade process. In the meantime, there have been plenty of other, more pressing priorities, at the top of which has been raising the endowment to at least the same solar system as our peers (which is to say the schools we think are/should be our peers, the US News Top 25ers, rather than who our peers objectively are/were. When we moved out to Cap Center in '81, our institutional peers were the likes of Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Holy Cross, and Fordham. That is no longer the case). We skated by for the longest time with the business school scattered across the entire campus until confronted by the fact that the situation was intolerable and was blocking the business school from advancing in reputation and growing in size and scope. The Hariri Building became the top priority and the impact has been clear. We skated by for decades with sad science facilities in the top floors of White-Gravenor and the Reiss Science Building, until we could no longer put off any further the fact that Georgetown's sciences would be going nowhere without a modern facility. Regents Hall became the top priority, and now there is at least the hope of those programs rising to prominence. We're at that point now (many would say we reached it a decade ago or more) with athletics, and with basketball in particular, where we can no longer deny that our facilities are having an overwhelmingly negative effect on just about everything we do in this area. So now, finally, it is a top priority.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Jan 11, 2013 12:26:55 GMT -5
Will we ever get to the point where we will have a 400m track on campus??? I spent some time this fall at a Hoya track practice at the Ellington track across the street. Granted, it is convenient - an easy walk (or jog) from McD - but it is a five-lap-to-the-mile track with about five or six lanes. The men were running in one direction, the women in the other direction, and in the middle of the workout a bunch of school girls took to the track too, since the team has to share the track with the community. Not the best situation.
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Post by Coast2CoastHoya on Jan 11, 2013 12:29:57 GMT -5
Many thanks to the Shaws!
The bottom of the press release says that $60m has now been raised, out of the $125m goal for athletics. Anybody know the breakdown of what the $125m (and in what order) is planned to be spent on? If the IAC costs $60-80m, and we already have $60m raised . . . see where I'm going with this?
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nychoya3
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Post by nychoya3 on Jan 11, 2013 12:58:03 GMT -5
No, and I'm sick of your riddles. Many thanks to the Shaws! The bottom of the press release says that $60m has now been raised, out of the $125m goal for athletics. Anybody know the breakdown of what the $125m (and in what order) is planned to be spent on? If the IAC costs $60-80m, and we already have $60m raised . . . see where I'm going with this?
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Jan 11, 2013 12:59:01 GMT -5
Pessimists aside, shovels will go in the ground for the IAC within the foreseeable future. Many thanks to the Shaws for helping to jump start the process!
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Post by daymondmyles on Jan 11, 2013 13:09:38 GMT -5
Thank you to the Shaws! Amazing gift. Great alums.
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thebin
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Post by thebin on Jan 11, 2013 13:33:24 GMT -5
Russky- I could be mistaken but I believe McD used to be almost twice the size it is now....wasn't it reduced? If so, that's worse than doing nothing.
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Post by FromTheBeginning on Jan 11, 2013 14:05:32 GMT -5
Many thanks to the Shaws.
Two points to be made. Their most generous gift still leaves the naming rights to the IAC availble for another major donor or sponsor.
Also, the first $$$ target for action on the IAC is considerably lower than the 50% noted above. That lower level allows work on the constructuion drawings to proceed so they are ready when the groundbreaking level is acheived.
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Jan 11, 2013 14:13:40 GMT -5
Russky- I could be mistaken but I believe McD used to be almost twice the size it is now....wasn't it reduced? If so, that's worse than doing nothing. IIRC the amount of seating around the main playing court was reduced to make way for more office space. That's why we have the weird configuration now, where if you're sitting on the top row of the "home" bleachers, behind you is lots of floor space and offices. The building itself didn't get any small, but top capacity is reduced. The trade-off was probably worth it, though - needed the office space.
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lichoya68
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OK YOUNGINS ARE HERE AND ARE VERY VERY GOOD cant wait GO HOYAS
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Post by lichoya68 on Jan 11, 2013 14:15:00 GMT -5
Thanks to the Shaws and other unnamed posters on this board. who have stepped up GREATLY . . and it will be buildt. .Now i hope ALL will get involved and remember 1951 lets GET IT DONE now. please go hoyas beat st johns too.
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lichoya68
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
OK YOUNGINS ARE HERE AND ARE VERY VERY GOOD cant wait GO HOYAS
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Post by lichoya68 on Jan 11, 2013 14:16:31 GMT -5
Ps this IS the number one facility priority of the UNIVERSITY in this current campaign THAT is what is VERY different. LET GO HOYAS ONE AND ALL>every dollar counts thats EVERY dollar. go hoyas
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CAHoya07
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Post by CAHoya07 on Jan 11, 2013 14:17:30 GMT -5
Russky- I could be mistaken but I believe McD used to be almost twice the size it is now....wasn't it reduced? If so, that's worse than doing nothing. Capacity-wise, I think McDonough used to hold 4,000, but then seats were taken out to accommodate offices and such in the late 1980's, if I'm not mistaken. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. In any event, thank you, Shaws! Great news, and the first positive news I've heard about the IAC other than "we just need to fundraise, we need to get this thing built yesterday." Hope this spurs other major donors to the point where we can finally get shovels into the ground. Interesting that $1 million is also going towards the soccer field. They just put new seating there, what else are they going to do with it? How much does new grass cost?
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Post by FromTheBeginning on Jan 11, 2013 14:32:34 GMT -5
In the old days there were also temporary bleachers on the ends of the courts for big games.
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skyhoya
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Post by skyhoya on Jan 11, 2013 14:43:09 GMT -5
The owner of the Buffalo hockey team gave $100 M to his alma mater to build a ice hockey facility. Aren't the capS AND wizards worth more than the lowly Buffalo hockey team? Time for Ted's group to step up to the plate and help out the HOYAS.
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Post by HoyasAreHungry on Jan 11, 2013 14:43:18 GMT -5
Many thanks to the Shaws! The bottom of the press release says that $60m has now been raised, out of the $125m goal for athletics. Anybody know the breakdown of what the $125m (and in what order) is planned to be spent on? If the IAC costs $60-80m, and we already have $60m raised . . . see where I'm going with this? Exactly. This is what kills me. I'm sure there is a "reason" but it will all sound dumb to me . Tables where are you???
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jgalt
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Post by jgalt on Jan 11, 2013 15:12:46 GMT -5
The owner of the Buffalo hockey team gave $100 M to his alma mater to build a ice hockey facility. Aren't the capS AND wizards worth more than the lowly Buffalo hockey team? Time for Ted's group to step up to the plate and help out the HOYAS. Are the caps and wizards worth more than the Sabres? Yes. But that has nothing to do with how much the owners of those teams can afford to donate to their schools. Terry Pegula, who owns the Sabres, is worth about $3bil according to Forbes. Leonsis is worth about $1bil. Now you might say, thats not too much of a difference. But most of Teds worth is tied up in Monumental Sports (the entity that own the Caps/Wiz/Verizon) while Pegula's wealth was mostly in cash after he sold his Gas company to Shell. Pegula has the ability to actually donate the money, where Ted's worth is all in assets (and probably huge debt from purchasing the Wiz and Verizon).
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Post by vamosalaplaya on Jan 11, 2013 15:21:02 GMT -5
Russky - agree with many of and appreciate your thoughts. Not sure what you mean about "peers" back in the early 1980s; you are referencing the US25 which makes me think you are referring to academic comparisons. St. John's, Providence, and Fordham were a clear notch below Georgetown in terms of academic selectivity by 1980; no way were in the same orbit; on campus I remember reading about Georgetown/Fordham comparisons from the late 1960s early 1970s.
The school's academic profile exploded - and its selectivity tightened, as Father Healy's tenure wore on, through the 1970s. But by 1980 it had really arrived. It's endowment . ... . .a different story.
And I also agree that this facilities arms race didn't exist back then.
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Post by TrueHoyaBlue on Jan 11, 2013 15:32:00 GMT -5
On the other hand, Michael Heisley (B'60), who is worth ~$1.6 billion, last summer decided to "sell the [Memphis] Grizzlies and step aside from all of his corporate interests due to his advancing age."
That sounds like a good prospect for a down payment on IAC and/or MSF, no?
As to why this is a record donation to athletics: before the current capital campaign, GU could have counted its number of 8-figure donors on two hands, and the number of donations of $25 million or more, probably on one hand. The simplest reason, a late start. GU had its first capital campaign of any kind in the late 80s, and the first major campaign started under Leo O'Donovan in 1998(ish). In that campaign, the first mega-gift of $38 million came from Bob McDonough. Since then, two huge gifts have come through from the McDevitt ($75M) and Toulmin ($87M)estates.
Mega-gifts occasionally fall from trees, but they are usually the product of years-long cultivation. Also, on a more morbid note, many of them are bequests that don't come in until the donors pass away (as was the case with the Toulmin gift, which university officials knew about for several years ahead of time). Looking at the numbers, GU did not have many alumni prior to the classes of 50s and 60s that would have been in a position to make these kinds of gifts, even if a robust development office had been in place.
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