Dean Johnson suggests we can build practice facility before money is raised

per Shooter:

At the recent University of Minnesota Board of Regents meeting, during which athletics director Norwood Teague presented a $190 million plan to upgrade Gophers facilities, there was no funding mechanism submitted other than trying to raise the money through donors. The athletics department is doing a feasibility study to determine whether donors will be able to pay for the mammoth upgrades.

"We know it's not tuition money; we know it's not state money," regents vice chairman Dean Johnson said this week. "It's got to be privately funded at this point in time. I'd say the overall plan was received, absent money, quite well. It made logical sense.

"There's one glaring difference between funding a stadium and a (practice facility for) basketball and hockey. Essentially this is for practice and preparation. This ain't the junior prom -- this is practice for the prom."

Johnson figures fundraising can be done piecemeal.

"You can start new construction -- how far you get along will be dependent upon the resource," he said. "If people look at their land, it's one thing -- if they look at a structure that's starting to take shape, maybe it's a little easier to get the checkbook out.

"The other thing is that a trip to the Rose Bowl certainly would help our efforts. And I'm not talking just with the fan bus -- I'm talking with the team."

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_23685409/shooter-now-john-harris-treats-3m-championship-like

Go Gophers!!

I read that to mean certain buildings/areas can be constructed as money is raised - i.e., if you have raised $25MM, maybe you go ahead with building the basketball practice facility... as opposed to no construction being done until $190MM is raised.

This is what I would expect, especially since it's nuts to believe private donors are going to be shell out $190MM unless a small group comes through with about $150MM by themselves.

The key in the quotes for me was..."We know it's not tuition money; we know it's not state money. It's got to be privately funded at this point in time."

And that's got to change if they want to actually get things done. The U should allocate existing revenues.. then maybe add on or re-allocate a student fee as well.

Regents vice chairman Dean Johnson said this week, "I'd say the overall plan was received, absent money, quite well." In other words, he said, "people love the plan, it's just that it was missing the most important part!"

Did the board approve the feasibility study?

Gopher Warrior said:

I read that to mean certain buildings/areas can be constructed as money is raised - i.e., if you have raised $25MM, maybe you go ahead with building the basketball practice facility... as opposed to no construction being done until $190MM is raised.

This is what I would expect, especially since it's nuts to believe private donors are going to be shell out $190MM unless a small group comes through with about $150MM by themselves.

The key in the quotes for me was..."We know it's not tuition money; we know it's not state money. It's got to be privately funded at this point in time."

And that's got to change if they want to actually get things done. The U should allocate existing revenues.. then maybe add on or re-allocate a student fee as well.

Regents vice chairman Dean Johnson said this week, "I'd say the overall plan was received, absent money, quite well." In other words, he said, "people love the plan, it's just that it was missing the most important part!"

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I'd be surprised if they have to raise 100% on the dollar for each component of the plan to be built. Not unlike a large capital campaign at a church. A $5 million expansion of a church is raised via donations. However only a fraction of that needs to be raised up front before private sector funding gets the project built. The campaign helps repay the note/funding mechanism in short order. High net worth donors don't want to liquidate investments overnight to donate. Not much different with this project. They get pledges for a good chunck and some actual cash in hand, with enough momentum, should be able to get project built before all $25 million is raised. This would be good news for a facility sooner v later. Lots of unknowns though (is there momentum behind scenes).

Rouser said:

I'd be surprised if they have to raise 100% on the dollar for each component of the plan to be built. Not unlike a large capital campaign at a church. A $5 million expansion of a church is raised via donations. However only a fraction of that needs to be raised up front before private sector funding gets the project built. The campaign helps repay the note/funding mechanism in short order. High net worth donors don't want to liquidate investments overnight to donate. Not much different with this project. They get pledges for a good chuck and some actual cash in hand, with enough momentum, should be able to get project built before all $25 million is raised. This would be good news for a facility sooner v later. Lots of unknowns though (is there momentum behind scenes).

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It makes total sense to have a master plan like this. But, you also have to take some risks and some baby steps toward the goal. In my view they should absolutely take some small initial funding and start with a basketball facility soon. If the idea is good and means something to success than the execution of that idea should build success and be something to build the rest of the plan on. If we keep waiting and waiting for big money, nothing will happen and the programs that need to lead success- football and basketball will continue to have a difficult time.

Yep - agreed Rouser and bga1. I think you can accomplish a basketball practice facility if you get a lead donor of say $5MM or more and then go out publicly and say, "hey, we've got a nice start, let's get $X more so we can start construction of the basketball practice facility... this is part of the large plan, but it's a priority and can be done as soon as we have the funding."

Now you need to find a lead donor(s) or admit it's a need and just build it with whatever funding source you can convince people to accept.

I think what's unfortunate (besides the $190MM figure being ludicrous) is that at the board meeting and afterward with media Teague didn't have any plans or renderings of a basketball practice facility and seemed to have little idea of what projects would take priority. Ideally you would have done something to get people excited and focused on the practice facility but that didn't happen.

Really, from an outside view it appeared to me as if the Regents, Kahler and/or others said to Teague.. "look, your annual presentation to the board is in early July... it's been a year and they still don't have anything on the master plan you've been talking about.. they are asking questions, the public is wondering what's up with the delay, etc.. you need to address it somehow at this meeting"... and what got whipped up was the $190MM with no stated priorities, no rational thinking on feasibility, no renderings or plans... they need to _really_ roll things out presentation wise at some point.

I was in Nebraska this summer, the Cornhusker facilities are amazing! I can see why a kid would choose Nebraska over our facilities. We need to do something. Student-Athletes don't recieve money, they might as well enjoy the fruits of their labor when they can.

Gopher Warrior said:

no renderings or plans...

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False.

Gopher Warrior said:

Teague didn't have any plans or renderings of a basketball practice facility

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Not factual.

http://www.gophersports.com/view.gal?id=144297

katze019 said:

False.

Not factual.

http://www.gophersports.com/view.gal?id=144297

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Notice the huge 'conceptual image only'? It's a concept. Not a rendering or image of an actual planned facility. If you go to the screen that leads you into the picture you linked (http://www.gophersports.com/genrel/071013aae.html) you'll see "Please note that these are not renderings or proposed designs, but concept images only."

Not a rendering. Not a planned building design. Just a concept. "Uhh, we want a basketball facility. Uhh, it's a need... uhh, here's a picture of what it might look like when we try to design it."

Gopher Warrior said:

Notice the huge 'conceptual image only'? It's a concept. Not a rendering or image of an actual planned facility. If you go to the screen that leads you into the picture you linked (http://www.gophersports.com/genrel/071013aae.html) you'll see "Please note that these are not renderings or proposed designs, but concept images only."

Not a rendering. Not a planned building design. Just a concept. "Uhh, we want a basketball facility. Uhh, it's a need... uhh, here's a picture of what it might look like when we try to design it."

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I don't think you have any idea what a rendering is... because that certainly is a rendering. To get to that level there is a very detailed 2D layout plan. I'm not sure why you would expect anything but a concep plan at this point. That absurd.

There are many levels/% of DD phase (which there are pretty well into) followed by constructions documents.

This is how it works, you are clueless at this topic.

katze019 said:

I don't think you have any idea what a rendering is... because that certainly is a rendering. To get to that level there is a very detailed 2D layout plan. I'm not sure why you would expect anything but a concep plan at this point. That absurd.

There are many levels/% of DD phase (which there (sic) are pretty well into) followed by constructions documents.

This is how it works, you are clueless at this topic.

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If they are that into it, why not show renderings? I understand a rendering to be images/animations of a proposed design. That's the point here, my man - they didn't share a proposed design. What they shared were "not renderings or proposed designs" - their words, not mine.

They shared images of ideas... not renderings or proposed designs. I realize they may look like a rendering of their plans to you, but the U explicitly stated that they are not.

Gopher Warrior said:

If they are that into it, why not show renderings?

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You clearly have no idea what you are talking about or the phases of design.

That is a conceptual rendering, part of design development. You are throwing out terms you don't understand.

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The proposed facilities plan seeks to improve the student-athlete experience, will change the future of Gopher Athletics, allow the university to attract and retain talented staff and will seamlessly connect athletics facilities to the university and its neighborhoods.

http://www.gophersports.com/genrel/071013aae.html