The part about facilities is a great topic of conversation, and I appreciate what Chip did gathering this anonymous input. These are important voices, but there are other voices who'd say different things. There are no cut-and-dried answers to these questions. There are obviously some deep divides in opinion here. A couple of my favorite lines from Star Trek:
SPOCK: Has it occurred to you that there's a certain inefficiency in constantly questioning me on things you've already made up your mind about?
KIRK: It gives me emotional security.
In another episode...KIRK (to Helen Noel): One of the advantages of being a Captain, Doctor, is being able to ask for advice without necessarily having to take it.
There are all kinds of people with all kinds of ideas, some better than others. It pays to listen to everyone, but as I sometimes joke about the project I'm leading right now: if I ask 30 people for their input, I'm likely to get 40 opinions. At the end of the day, you can't focus-group your way through decisions of this sort. They require robust input but, more importantly, vision and bold leadership.
A few thoughts:
- As much as I mourned the loss of Memorial Stadium and still feel bad about its destruction, I feel like we ended up in a really good place, even though we had to wander in the wilderness like the Israelites to get there. It's hard to imagine still playing in the old stadium. It would have had to be stripped down to the outside walls and completely reinvented.
- I think the original designers and builders of Williams would be surprised that we're still using it as a competition venue to this day. I don't even think that was its originally envisioned function. We've gotten a lot of mileage out of that building.
- Williams Arena is a mixed bag, as I've written about before. I absolutely LOVE watching games there, but the fan experience is lacking in a lot of key ways.
- It's now over 25 years since Williams' last renovation. You have to keep renewing a place like that or it does become outmoded. If plans aren't being made for its next renewal, there should be.
- This community has a mixed history of historic preservation and getting use out of old facilities. We've torn down a lot of great stuff, but when we set our minds to preservation, we've done a pretty dang good job of it. Don't look now, but the international airport in its current conception is over 60 years old, and say what you want about it, but it's better than ever because we've kept working on it. I think of it the same way I think of Dodger Stadium: a midcentury gem that I hope is never demolished.
- Speaking of Dodger Stadium, it's the third oldest venue in MLB (!). Is Royals Stadium the fourth? Assembly Hall in Bloomington is a half century old this year. It and Royals Stadium are stunningly beautiful and functional reflections of their age, and like Dodger Stadium I hope they can be made to last forever.
I'm personally OK with either keeping Williams rolling or replacing it. Either way, whatever you do, it needs to be first class with an emphasis on optimizing both the fan and player experience and not losing what makes the existing situation unique, distinctive and special. When you talk about what you have to sell to fans and recruits, I personally think that trying to sell what everyone else has is inherently difficult. Different is good.
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