(05-09-2023 12:54 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote: (05-06-2023 04:25 PM)Aztecgolfer Wrote: (05-06-2023 03:50 PM)quo vadis Wrote: (05-06-2023 03:30 PM)Aztecgolfer Wrote: (05-06-2023 02:42 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote: I read that article last month in which FSU's President was talking about flirtations with the big 12. It sure seemed to me that he was playing it up in order to solicit donations from the boosters.
They need money to renovate their football stadium and other venues. To do that, they have to go before the public and ask for taxes to be increased.
If so, IMO this is a non-starter. I think things have changed in Florida, it used to be that FSU and UF could each reach in to the tax till, each side agreeing to not oppose the other's cash-grab. But with the rise of other universities in the state, there is IMO less willingness by the peninsula to treat FSU as a natural national representative of the state.
Fortunately for them, IMO they do have boosters who seem to be able to raise very large sums of money when it is needed.
And I agree, it is needed. If I was the FSU president, I would push my boosters hard for a massive investment in what you mention, with the pitch that we need to tide ourselves over for the next 10 years, when we can start collecting much fatter SEC checks.
Our deal to develop the Mission Valley site did not involve any increases in taxes or student fees. It never would have been approved if it had. The university purchased the land for a bit over $90M when they had offered the Chargers a 99 year lease for $1/year to keep them here. It has actually been popular in town, given SDSU is paying over $50M to develop a river park and a new bridge over it. We do have bonds issued on the project but the stadium and development around it will cover those costs and generate a profit.
This is a very good point, and something that we hardly talk about here. San Diego lost their NFL team to LA. LA just got the Rams back a few years ago, too. Now it's a 2 NFL team city, while San Diego and its 3m people has 0, and it has football-loving fans thirsty for a team to support.
Once the Rams were moving back to LA we never had a chance to keep the Chargers and the NFL didn't want them to leave. We don't consider we "lost" them, they didn't want to be here. This is what was on the table for them.
1. A 99 year lease of the Mission Valley site AND Murphy Canyon practice facility at $1/year. SDSU bought the main property, not the practice site, for $90M+ though 34 acres of that go to a new city owned park that the university is funding to the tune of $40M. They are also paying between $10-$20M on the Fenton Parkway Bridge that the city has wanted for decades.
2. The city was looking to put up $350M to keep the chargers here.
3. The county was up for another $100M at least.
4. The NFL was going to give them two $200M low interest loans, one is normal.
5. Whatever SDSU would have been willing to pay.
That is more than $900M before the Chargers even open up their wallet.
Most here in SD have said good riddance to the Chargers and the Spani are persona non grata. Heck, they are a terrible tenant at Kronke's wonder palace up the road. I don't think Spanos is well liked among his peers nowadays. At some point, that team will end up in London or San Antonio but without the Spani as owners. San Diego has had its share of crappy owners, Klein and Spanos of the Chargers, Donald Sterling of the Clippers, Tom Werner of the Padres. Given the fact that LA considers San Diego as part of its market is is difficult to get an NHL or NBA franchise.
What we are getting is something that is going to put much more money back into the local economy, SDSU's current budget is over $1B annually and once the Innovation District and other development is finished that will climb significantly higher. It is also one reason, maybe the biggest, why we prefer the PAC over the B12, the academic and research growth we would see with a PAC membership. Every school in it has benefited from that association. From what I have heard, SDSU's presentation as to our research abilities and goals to the PAC presidents was impressive. In just one year our research went from $107M to $163M. In a county of 3.3M people there are only two research universities, UCSD and SDSU. Oh, it should be announced in the next couple of weeks that we are getting the MLS expansion team to play at Snapdragon.