34 replies to this topic

[HR_Poke]

Just heard him say that CSU had to sell 80% of the tickets to every game in the new stadium just to cover the financing. Somewhere around 35k tickets each game.

[USUonU]

Just heard him say that CSU had to sell 80% of the tickets to every game in the new stadium just to cover the financing. Somewhere around 35k tickets each game.

For how many years?

[HR_Poke]

For how many years?

he didn't say. My guess is 20 but who knows. They can't get 80% know so it seems risky.

[Fort Fun]

Just heard him say that CSU had to sell 80% of the tickets to every game in the new stadium just to cover the financing. Somewhere around 35k tickets each game.

Ouch. That doesn't sound promising.

[HR_Poke]

Ouch. That doesn't sound promising.

he sounded optimistic but the price tag on the stadium keeps going up.

[RambleOn]

If you are interested, I've attached a link to the final feasibility study.

http://www.colostate...-12%20Final.pdf

The way that I understand it, ticket revenue is not even being counted toward potential debt service payments, only corporate naming and sponsorship rights, priority seat donations, and "additional" venue revenue will be applied to debt service. The assumption on priority seating is about 75% capacity on the low end. We are at 92% capacity on luxury suites today.

There's lots of good info in the feasibility study and IMO, the project will all come down to being able to raise an initial $135-$150M to get started. The rest will be financed at historically low interest rates.

One key fact in this debate for me is that in 1967 when Hughes was originally built w/ a 30k capacity, the population of the city of Ft. Collins was roughly 30k. Today, the population of Ft. Collins is roughly 142k, so its not a stretch to think that the community could easily fill a 42k seat stadium if the product on the field was worth watching.

[FresnoStateBulldogFan]

Just heard him say that CSU had to sell 80% of the tickets to every game in the new stadium just to cover the financing. Somewhere around 35k tickets each game.

Sounds like to me that either the state tax payers are going to be on the hook, student fees are going to get ugly, or the endowment will shed some weight (possibly all three). Dont forget they have Jimmy Mac to pay.

[HR_Poke]

If you are interested, I've attached a link to the final feasibility study.

http://www.colostate...-12%20Final.pdf

The way that I understand it, ticket revenue is not even being counted toward potential debt service payments, only corporate naming and sponsorship rights, priority seat donations, and "additional" venue revenue will be applied to debt service. The assumption on priority seating is about 75% capacity on the low end. We are at 92% capacity on luxury suites today.

There's lots of good info in the feasibility study and IMO, the project will all come down to being able to raise an initial $135-$150M to get started. The rest will be financed at historically low interest rates.

One key fact in this debate for me is that in 1967 when Hughes was originally built w/ a 30k capacity, the population of the city of Ft. Collins was roughly 30k. Today, the population of Ft. Collins is roughly 142k, so its not a stretch to think that the community could easily fill a 42k seat stadium if the product on the field was worth watching.

That's interesting. On the radio he was saying that ticket sales were included in the revenue generation needed to service the debt when he stated the 80% capacity number.

[EvilPoke]

I think the real news is that 850KOA mentioned Colorado State University...

[Hoser]

he sounded optimistic but the price tag on the stadium keeps going up.

they might have to get some bake sales going. 35K for 20 years does not sound like a reasonable goal for CSU.

[RambleOn]

I think the real news is that 850KOA mentioned Colorado State University...

No argument there. CSU has received so much mileage out of this stadium debate that they should do it on principal alone. People are coming out of the woodworks on both sides of the issue to make their voices heard. Kind of an "any news is good news" type of deal if you ask me. At least we've got leadership that is willing to make some waves and not accept status quo.

[jimjam]

they might have to get some bake sales going. 35K for 20 years does not sound like a reasonable goal for CSU.

Why not?
In a brand new state-of-the-art stadium right on campus near the poulation center of a 142,000 town? Granted, CSU needs to be winning but 35,000 is very do-able. 10 years ago we averaged 30,000 at Hughes no problem.

[pokebball]

Just heard him say that CSU had to sell 80% of the tickets to every game in the new stadium just to cover the financing. Somewhere around 35k tickets each game.

35k is certainly doable for 1/2 the games each year. You throw in the early OOC games vs the cupcakes, the bad weather games, the game after Thanksgiving when school is out, I can't possibly see a 35k average. Just can't see it.

[HR_Poke]

Why not?
In a brand new state-of-the-art stadium right on campus near the poulation center of a 142,000 town? Granted, CSU needs to be winning but 35,000 is very do-able. 10 years ago we averaged 30,000 at Hughes no problem.

Personally I think you guys are putting the cart before the horse on this one. I think a new on campus stadium should be more of a long term plan and you should focus on winning now and putting buts in the seats at Hughes. I would be very warry of building a stadium and the team not producing then the University is stuck with servicing that much debt out of it's budget. Look at UC Davis, it happened to them....

[pokebball]

Why not?
In a brand new state-of-the-art stadium right on campus near the poulation center of a 142,000 town? Granted, CSU needs to be winning but 35,000 is very do-able. 10 years ago we averaged 30,000 at Hughes no problem.

I think you'll have a few games well below 35,000, meaning other games will have to be well above 35,000. Good luck with that.

[RambleOn]

Personally I think you guys are putting the cart before the horse on this one. I think a new on campus stadium should be more of a long term plan and you should focus on winning now and putting buts in the seats at Hughes. I would be very warry of building a stadium and the team not producing then the University is stuck with servicing that much debt out of it's budget. Look at UC Davis, it happened to them....

I think that's what Jim McElwain was hired to do.

The other thing to realize is that this is only going to happen if we have somewhere between $135-$150M in hand before the first shovel of dirt is turned. That kind of cash can only be produced by a few boosters. Ultimately, it will be their decision whether this thing happens or not.

[jimjam]

I think you'll have a few games well below 35,000, meaning other games will have to be well above 35,000. Good luck with that.

As I said, CSU has to right the cart. 35,000 for a losing team is not gonna happen I dont care where we play.
Trust me though, If this gets built (and I believe it will) it only helps Wyoming.

[pokebball]

As I said, CSU has to right the cart. 35,000 for a losing team is not gonna happen I dont care where we play.
Trust me though, If this gets built (and I believe it will) it only helps Wyoming.

I'm not against it at all. I think it's great for you and all of us if it does happen. My only point is if it requires a 35,000 average attend. to pay for it, that is probably going to be tough to meet. Is the bonding to build revenue bonds?

[HR_Poke]

I think that's what Jim McElwain was hired to do.

The other thing to realize is that this is only going to happen if we have somewhere between $135-$150M in hand before the first shovel of dirt is turned. That kind of cash can only be produced by a few boosters. Ultimately, it will be their decision whether this thing happens or not.

It just seemed like they wanted to start this project right away before the team got any better. Stating they wanted it open for games by 2014 seems a bit premature.

[HR_Poke]

As I said, CSU has to right the cart. 35,000 for a losing team is not gonna happen I dont care where we play.
Trust me though, If this gets built (and I believe it will) it only helps Wyoming.

I agree it does help UW. I just don't want to see you guys end up with a huge burden on the University or students.

[wyoforlife]

As I said, CSU has to right the cart. 35,000 for a losing team is not gonna happen I dont care where we play.
Trust me though, If this gets built (and I believe it will) it only helps Wyoming.

That's very true, I want to see CSU improve, and I want to see an on campus stadium. The improvements in the Fort stimulate any improvement in Laramie, can't let the sheep one up us! You just need a product worth viewing, I think you'll get there, just won't happen over night...look at the decade it took to climb out of the Koenning era, hope it doesn't take you that long.

[RambleOn]

It just seemed like they wanted to start this project right away before the team got any better. Stating they wanted it open for games by 2014 seems a bit premature.

IMO, the biggest benefit to the new stadium has absolutely nothing to do with football. Its the additional uses that this facility offer, school related functions (i.e. graduations), concerts, community gatherings, other sporting events, etc., that Hughes can't because of its location. All of these other uses have revenue generation potential. Hughes is strictly a 6x/year facility sitting on 180 acres of land. When you combine that with "new" revenue generating potential that it can offer through premium seating and school sponsored tailgate parties, its clear to me that if a good chunk of cash is in hand prior to groundbreaking, it makes a ton of sense even for a program that has been down as long as CSU has. The key is the cash in hand, however. I would never suggest that CSU finance 100% of this project.

[HR_Poke]

IMO, the biggest benefit to the new stadium has absolutely nothing to do with football. Its the additional uses that this facility offer, school related functions (i.e. graduations), concerts, community gatherings, other sporting events, etc., that Hughes can't because of its location. All of these other uses have revenue generation potential. Hughes is strictly a 6x/year facility sitting on 180 acres of land. When you combine that with "new" revenue generating potential that it can offer through premium seating and school sponsored tailgate parties, its clear to me that if a good chunk of cash is in hand prior to groundbreaking, it makes a ton of sense even for a program that has been down as long as CSU has. The key is the cash in hand, however. I would never suggest that CSU finance 100% of this project.

Yeah but the tricky part about that is there is no guarantee when or how many non football functions would come in. You can really only count on 6 times a year. They are talking about financing 65%, as a fan I would be more comfortable if they got that number below 50%

[RambleOn]

Yeah but the tricky part about that is there is no guarantee when or how many non football functions would come in. You can really only count on 6 times a year. They are talking about financing 65%, as a fan I would be more comfortable if they got that number below 50%

That's true. At this point, they aren't projecting a significant boost in non-football revenue, but that's not to say that there won't be one. That's just a conservative projection at this point.

I'm not sure where you are getting the 65% financing from? Everything I've seen, has said that they want to have between $135-$150M (54-60%) in hand before getting started. They would then finance the remaining $100-$115M.

[HR_Poke]

That's true. At this point, they aren't projecting a significant boost in non-football revenue, but that's not to say that there won't be one. That's just a conservative projection at this point.

I'm not sure where you are getting the 65% financing from? Everything I've seen, has said that they want to have between $135-$150M (54-60%) in hand before getting started. They would then finance the remaining $100-$115M.

He said on the radio yesterday that the bank expects at least 35% down to finance it. He also said he would like to have 125 million down atleast but that they could finance it with 35% down as well.