possible to play in Klotsche Center?

[dutchpthr]

Sorry Jimmy i didn't mean to single you out in my post dont take it as that, i was not trying to lump all things Klotsche on you, it was just more of that when thinking of student groups you kinda come to mind fairly quickly is all! hope that you didnt think i was singling you out by any means

[PantherU]

No, of course not, there's just a lot more to this than student attendance.

[dutchpthr]

Apr 7, 2010 12:45:35 GMT -6 PantherU said:

No, of course not, there's just a lot more to this than student attendance.

oh without a doubt i agree totally there

[Pounce Needs Pals]

Apr 7, 2010 10:24:56 GMT -6 pantherdon said:

My wife and I might never have became season ticket holders if it had never left campus.

Me too, I 've only been to one KC game in my life.

[PantherU]

I would venture a guesstimation and say the experience at the Klotsche Center in 2010-11 would be a far cry from the experience in 2002-03.

This is what we did before that last season:

Beat Wisconsin in 93-94.
Beat NCAA Tourney teams from Green Bay.
Got whooped up on by Utah.
Got significantly better, but only just over .500 with Bo.

By Bruce's second season, there were no NCAA Tourney appearances, no Sweet 16's, no U.S. Bank building with "UWM" across the front.

In short, the biggest years of our history had yet to happen. How many people here were season-ticket holders before the move to the Cell? I bet not a lot. I'm also willing to bet that the reason you started buying season tickets was because the team was winning, not because you needed a more affordable sports option downtown.

The other day, I was in Duffy's office. There's a picture of the Klotsche Center, Panthers vs. Badgers. He said it was in Wisconsin's Final Four year. The picture depicts a raucous crowd with a student section separated from the court by about 4-5 feet. I'd like to see Marquette try and win at the Klotsche Center.

Let's distance ourselves from Marquette and the Bucks. We're a different product, so let's not try and pretend to be like that; we just look like a JV team playing next door.

[Rawls]

I started writing a post with a few small things Klotsche needed to be a better alternative to The Cell; more backed seats, better concessions, but they just kept popping up; lounge/rest area, easy parking, Goolsby's alternative. So in short, I'll say this - both places have their pros and cons, but NEITHER is sustainable for too much longer in their current state. We...NEED...a new on-campus arena. We can't keep justifying renting out The Cell when we could just as easily be bringing in money, but Klotsche still has some fairly...undesirable qualities. We aren't Marquette or the Bucks but still, let's make where ever we play better than the ARC or Gentile.

[panthersteve]

Personally as a very very long time season ticket holder, alum, former head of Black and Gold club, donor etc I am totally in favor of moving back to campus in a new arena or drastically renovated Klotsche...conversely,

A move back in its present state to the Klotsche would be very discouraging and depressing and I don't think I could stomach it. Unfortunately short of bulldozing the thing it has all the look of a Division III facility. A few tweaks is not going to change that. The portable stands at the end of the court with empty space behind, little kids running around jumping on stuff left over from the track team, the low ceiling, nets hanging down, lack of a decent scoreboard, one bathroom basically, running track underneath with stands splashed on top of it, no concessions basically, no other amenities unless you like looking at the cheesy plaques in the hall and the swimming pool... sure it is great for recruiting too!!!!! It is REALLY bad.. actually barely above high school...for me personally that would be the final straw. I would cancel my season tickets.

My concern is our university just seems to fumble everything and do it half ass...politics, whatever seem to get in the way. Witness a College of Freshwater Science still thrashing around and can not agree on a site, fumbling around a $10 mil donation from Joseph Zilber, who the heck knows what they are doing with the Columbia hospital site, still thrashing around on Innovation Center and no firm progress whatsover on a much needed athletic village and baseball facility.....sense Santiago is great at planning and theory but we need some strong decisive leadership to jam some things through in this community instead of thinking small, compromising. ...afraid this is what is going to happen to our new arena... makes all the sense in the world which is probably why it won't happen...that being said once some plans get put forward I wil be the first in line to lobby for it and show up at whatever public hearings and advocate strongly for it.

[PantherU]

I believe that if they move to the Klotsche Center temporarily, the move has to be coupled with the new arena.

Meaning, the new arena has to be announced and 100% on the way, not just "exploring options" because as Steve pointed out, a lot of people that would support a campus move would not support the Klotsche Center.

So to you, Steve, answer the question at the end of this scenario:

Over the summer, a press conference is held. The press conference has George Koonce, Carlos Santiago, Rob Jeter and members of an architectural firm. The university has contracted them to build a new, on-campus arena. Santiago talks about supporting athletics as part of the university's initiative to improve student life. Koonce and Jeter talk about the positive effects on the basketball team, and the direction we could go with it. The architectural firm answers some questions regarding size, structure, and past work. They say the project could be ready by the 2012-13 basketball season, 2013-14 at the latest.

At the presser, Koonce also says that to save money for the move and to keep the team competitive while the university makes its rather large commitment to athletics, the basketball team will play in the on-campus Klotsche Center to maximize revenue and cut many of the costs associated with playing downtown.

Would you cancel your season tickets then?

[Pounce Needs Pals]

No, I wouldn't because there would be a plan set in stone.

[panthersteve]

This would be awesome....would renew and volunteer to help sell season tickets in the community!!

[apaladino]

Here is an interesting read......keep in mind that this is high school!
highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1074494

[PantherU]

Yeah, I hate my life.

[uwmfutbol]

Apr 14, 2010 19:28:20 GMT -6 apaladino said:

Here is an interesting read......keep in mind that this is high school!
highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1074494

To quote The Onion: "Everything sucks bigger in Texas."

[PantherU]

We are in the stage of exploring the possibility. That is the official word from athletics.

That being said, as someone who does not receive a paycheck for athletics, we're in the same early stages that built the Kohl Center, the Al, and the Kress Center. The $25 fee for students was voted on expressly for two things: to build an on-campus arena and to retire the debt.

I believe, since I obviously can't pinpoint, we are at the stage of hiring an architectural firm to put together a plan; I would expect that some time in the late summer to early fall, that plan will be in hand - that's usually the time it takes for firms to get plans like that handled.

Here's a general deal that buildings usually go through:

The next step would be an early, lead gift phase. We'll need to identify lead gifts from donors for the facility. This is the process where we haven't announced anything, but we have put it to our donors and asked for their support moving forward. A common misconception is that lead gifts are the biggest numbers; true, those gifts are part of it. But lead gifts usually range from $1,000 all the way up to 5 or $10 million.

Universities elsewhere have benefits for those gifts. For instance, if you donated a certain 4-figure amount to our locker room project at the Pavilion, you got your name on a locker in the locker room. There are many things that can include the donor's name, with varying degrees of gifts to get the name on there. Here are some of them:

The Arena name
Entrance/Atrium
Concourse
Donor Suite (Panther Pit)
Locker Room
Coaches Offices
Video Rooms
Hall of Fame (taken)
Lockers
Media Room
Court (probably not in our case)

After the lead gift phase, they move to the announcement. We have X amount of dollars already supporting this project, and we'll be looking to solicit Y more dollars to complete it. By the time this phase has come, the arena is for sure being built. The scope of the project may depend on the announcement gift phase.

After the announcement, the school settles on a specific plan for the arena once they have a good idea of how many gifts and for how much they will have. Then comes ground breaking, construction, and 1 1/2 to 2 years down the road, opening night.

[uwmfutbol]

Sounds like it's really down the road, unfortunately. Oh well.