STrib: Big gift to be revealed for new U ballpark

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Cool. Any idea how much they are going to cover? I know that the press conference is coming later but I guess I'm impatient.
 

No $$ amount, I hear this was a long time coming, but the U wanted them to commit money to other fundraising causes such as Tubby's practice facility, etc. The Pohlads wanted the money only to go to the baseball program, so they had to figure that out. This has happened in the past, The baseball squad had raised some money from private donors who did not want to be named, only for the U to step in and say that they needed to know who, so they could try to raise some funds for other stadiums, boat houses, etc.
 


I like the sound of the "Joe Mauer Hitting Facility." I think that could impress a few recuits.
 

you would think a Winfield, Molitor, Mauer fundraising drive could bring in some $.
 

i'm pretty sure Mauer will give a gift for the stadium but i don't think it will come with much fanfare, just not his style. the talk about the gift from mauer would include something to be named after grandpa Jake. Mauer's best friend is former Gopher outfielder Tony Leesman.
 




Impressive

Nice looking college ballpark planned for Purdue. Hopefully when it's all said and done we'll see Siebert look pretty similar. It is pretty impressive to see the investments made in baseball in the conference in the past five to ten years. New ballparks at Penn State and Ohio State, renovations at UM and MSU and plans for new facilities as MN, Purdue, and Indiana. Baseball is so much about the feel of the game, and I personally know that I'll spend more time watching Gopher baseball in the future at a great facility than I would at rundown Siebert or the Dome.

MNBoiler....on a related note, I just want to say how impressed I've been with Morgan Burke and Purdue's approach to facilities in the past ten years. They did a nice job with Ross-Ade and I love the approach to the Mackey Arena project. Take a great performance facility and build the necessary modern amenities around it. I hope that's what we can accomplish with Williams Arena at some point soon. This latest project in West Lafayette once again shows the willingness of that administration to invest where necessary.
 

HHH_Gopher said:
Nice looking college ballpark planned for Purdue. Hopefully when it's all said and done we'll see Siebert look pretty similar. It is pretty impressive to see the investments made in baseball in the conference in the past five to ten years. New ballparks at Penn State and Ohio State, renovations at UM and MSU and plans for new facilities as MN, Purdue, and Indiana. Baseball is so much about the feel of the game, and I personally know that I'll spend more time watching Gopher baseball in the future at a great facility than I would at rundown Siebert or the Dome.

MNBoiler....on a related note, I just want to say how impressed I've been with Morgan Burke and Purdue's approach to facilities in the past ten years. They did a nice job with Ross-Ade and I love the approach to the Mackey Arena project. Take a great performance facility and build the necessary modern amenities around it. I hope that's what we can accomplish with Williams Arena at some point soon. This latest project in West Lafayette once again shows the willingness of that administration to invest where necessary.
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Thanks, right know Burke seems to be on a kick to try and build a second deck across from the pressbox on Ross-Ade. There are some mixed feelings about that within the Purdue fan community but the general idea seems to be that it is a good idea only if they tear down the south end zone seating. The one thing I really don't like about the Ross-Ade press box is that is SOOOOO tall(if you have been to Ross-Ade will understand) otherwise it seems really nice. And honestly it one of my overall favorite parts of of TCF Bank Stadium the low profile of the press box.

Most Purdue fans will tell you the Mackey project is great but I have few reservation. One being the reduction in capacity. The other being that this is once in a 30 year project and if it messed up it will set back the program 30 years facility wise. By that I mean it might not be the right choice for the longterm(30-50 years) success of Purdue basketball.

Most of the willingness is coming from Burke honestly. Purdue athletics is completely self supported meaning NO tax dollars, NO money from the university budget, and NO student fee. The set up has its advantages and drawbacks but it works well for Purdue.

Now if Burke can get a stupid ice rink built we would really have something-Purdue/West Lafayette/Lafayette is the only B10 school/town/metro area with OUT an indoor ice rink. I would think it would be that hard to get done with 150,000 in the area.
 

mnboiler said:
Now if Burke can get a stupid ice rink built we would really have something-Purdue/West Lafayette/Lafayette is the only B10 school/town/metro area with OUT an indoor ice rink. I would think it would be that hard to get done with 150,000 in the area.
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When people talk about someday a big ten hockey conference, schools like Penn State and even sometimes Illinois get thrown around as possible markets for college hockey. Is this even anything that gets talked about with Purdue? Or is there really no market for hockey at Purdue?
 

MrGopher said:
When people talk about someday a big ten hockey conference, schools like Penn State and even sometimes Illinois get thrown around as possible markets for college hockey. Is this even anything that gets talked about with Purdue? Or is there really no market for hockey at Purdue?
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Right now Purdue has a club hockey team that has to travel about a hour to practice and play games, although they are currently suspended for alcohol issues. A few years ago on the way back from a practice a van the team was traveling crashed and a freshmen from the Twin Cities died, Chanhassen I think. There was a push for a rink then but it has since died as it lacks support from upper level administration.

The biggest challenge for Purdue to come up with a respectable hockey team is the fact that Purdue is located in Indiana. The same thing for wrestling team. With basketball being king here the state is NOT going to be able to produce enough talent to field a high level team. To get the talent needed Purdue would have to recuit mostly Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and hope to pick up the players that don't go to the big school.

Personally I think Purdue could build a 3000-5000 seat hockey rink and fill it most games. I also think there would be enough other stuff happening on the ice to have it in use most of the time(high school teams, free skating, figure skating, etc). The question would become how to finance the thing. How much would come from Purdue, Lafayette, West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, the local school district, etc. for both building cost and continuing costs. Overall I wouldn't look for Purdue to add a varsity hockey team anytime soon.

A little OT but I am personally not against a B10 hockey conference but I really like the idea of using the B10 as a base then add a few premier name teams to make THE hockey conference. Think of it
1. Minnesota
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan
4. Michigan State
5. Ohio State
6. North Dakota
7. Norte Dame
8. Denver/CC
I know MSU-Mankato, St. Cloud State, etc would get the short end of the stick but it would be great for Gopher and big time college hockey.
 



I assume the stadium will be named "Seibert Field", but "Seibert-Anderson Field" sounds pretty good too...
 

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