SuperToad
New Member
Wasn't it suppose to happen to begin with?
Some stadium questions answered
- Thread starter Sweat Equity
- Start date
Wasn't it suppose to happen to begin with?
groundfrog
New Member
There were a lot of things that were supposed to happen to begin with. At one point, every seat was going to have a back, but as of last october, it had been scaled back to lower level and club seats. There was supposed to be a giant mural of Davey Obrien on the outside, but that got cut. There were supposed to be two video boards on either side of the meyer martin complex.
But little by little, costs creep up and you've got to cut back on something, or get more money. I doubt going to donors and saying "Hey, we appreciate your help, but concrete went up 15%, so we're going to need a little bit more outta you" would go over well. They've already made it clear they don't want to finance it with debt. So the only option is to pick out the stuff that can be cut without pissing off the donors. Someone decided that not having backs on the seats that will most likely be occupied by non-season ticket holders made more sense than eating the cost or cutting back somewhere else. My parents made the same kind of decisions when remodeling their kitchen- the cabinets wound up being more expensive than they planned, so they went with cheaper flooring and appliances to make up the difference.
tcumaniac
Full Member
Deep Purple
Full Member
Then apparently no major donor wanted it to happen, since they didn't offer to pay for it.
I don't intend this to be condescending, though I know it wll sound that way -- but people who've never done any major fundraising always seem to know more about it than those who actually do it. And people who don't have major resources to give always seem to know what those who do will give to.
I've been in major gift fundraising for 17 years. Frankly, I would hate to be assigned the task of persuading a major donor to create an endowment to perpetually keep the stadium seats freshly painted. That's a very low-percentage assignment because it's not attractive to major donors. Like persuading someone to give to a parking garage or a physical plant building.
The Campus Beatification Endowment (for the flowers) was a different deal. That was a big-time Disciples donor who originally gave the money completely undesignated, simply out of love for TCU. It was Chancellor Tucker who persuaded her to designate it for campus beautification -- and that was only because she was an avid gardener and flower enthusiast, so she had a natural interest in the cause. Those kinds of gifts are rare and they present a fairly unique opportunity. They don't come in very often. Most big donors have a pretty specific idea of what they want to give to.
If you can locate a major donor who has a natural interest in stadium seating-color maintenance, PM their name and I'll make sure the athletics fundraisers are all over it.
AEAfrog
Active Member
No feelings of condescension at all. We're basically on the same page. Would I like to see to purple seats? Yes. That said, I have no where near the resources to fund such an endeavor. If I did have that kind of cash, I can think of roughly a million different pursuits that I would fund before donating to the paint fund.
I do wonder about the possiblity of a donor program on a smaller scale, however. The stadium project has been supported almost entirely by large donors. Many fans of smaller means have asked if there is a way that they can make their own contributions. Maybe accepting smaller donations would allow the finer details of the stadium design to not be cut. Just a thought.
TCUhornedfrog93
Active Member
We could call it, the finer things club.....
GERGreg427
Member
They could make painting the bleachers a communityservice project for high school students, or even make it disciplinary actionsfor university students. That could save workers cost, and the paint can bedonated.
frogtwang
Active Member
Don't like the idea of making it a disciplinary punishment. Don't want someone disgruntled with a bunch of paint. Will end up looking sloppy.
I say leave the seats aluminum and wear the purple on your body.
froginaustin
Active Member
This.
And whatever kind of bleachers are put in will no doubt be replaced for the first time relatively early in the useful life of the building.
