Ask the AD -- October Edition
10/30/2008 | 12:00:00 | General
Oct. 30, 2008
This is the latest installment of our monthly feature called, "Ask the AD." If you have questions for Saluki Director of Athletics Mario Moccia, feel free to submit them by e-mail.
E-Mail a question to Mario Moccia
My question for you is about the new name for our football conference. I see it listed as the "Missouri ValleyFootballConference". Why the inclusion of the sport name? When Coach Lowery takes his Dawgs on the road to Creighton, it's for a Missouri Valley Conference game, not a "MVBC" game. Is the football conference somehow separate from the rest of the Missouri Valley Conference sports, which all just go by "MVC"?
The word football is included because it is not part of the Missouri Valley Conference (i.e. the 10 members that make up the MVC). The Missouri Valley Football Conference is a stand-alone conference, which rebranded its name this year from the Gateway Conference. This was done in part to take advantage of the positive exposure received by the Missouri Valley Conference. The two conferences, Missouri Valley Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference are separate entities, although league staff members work cooperatively in the same office.
I've noticed with a lot of other college sports programs, the teams will go over to the band and student section and celebrate a win with them and sing the fight song. Why don't the Saluki basketball or football teams do this? I think it would motivate the student section and get them to actually learn the words to 'Go Southern Go."
Good question. This is something that coaches usually incorporate into their programs from the beginning of their tenure or are part of long-standing traditions (University of Texas comes to mind). I'll mention this to the coaches to see if they would consider this. I know that the football program sings the fight song in the locker room after each win, and versus the University of Northern Iowa, the team actually piled back outside to sing in front of the fans, and it was very well received.
I applaud the design of the new football stadium. Removing the track, enclosing the field, and adding a REAL press box and suites give it a big-time feel and will surely create even more of a home field advantage. However, it feels a bit like we are a family of four who just bought a brand new four-seater car knowing the wife is pregnant with twins. The luster of a new stadium, the anticipated continued success of the program, and the university's drive to increase enrollment are sure to push the limits of a 15,000 seat stadium sometime in the near future. What considerations were taken into account in the design for expansion and should that become necessary, what would a "Phase II" look like?
Very good question. Bottom line is that the stadium size came down to money. One of the most difficult things about this project is that we are doing three pretty big pieces for a total of $83 million. This dollar amount is about what they spent on the new JQH arena at Missouri State, and even less than what Saint Louis spent on Chafitz Arena. We had to make tough decisions on what we could cut from the project and still get what we needed. We still haven't broken the 15,000 attendance mark but got close this year at the UNI game. On the bright side, we are being told by our construction manager that it is a very favorable bidding period, which could allow us to have a few more seats in the football stadium. Also, the stadium is being built modularly, which would allow us to add a second deck without major issues, if the need ever presented itself (this would be the Phase II you describe). It was modeled after the University of Central Florida, if you care to look it up on-line. Finally, the sport of football still has a lot of complimentary and severely discounted tickets. Unlike with basketball, where most patrons are paying the face value of the ticket, we are still in the mode of discounting tickets to draw a crowd to football. A smaller venue will allow us to have a bit more price integrity in the sport of football as well. For the fans, it is going to be a significant upgrade with concessions, restrooms and overall seating, which will increase the value of the ticket as well.
When the new football stadium is built will there be hand rails for people to use when they walk up and down the stairs?I ask this question because, I know of several older alumni and retired SIU employees who sometimes have a problem with their balance when they walk up the stairs in our current stadium. I know that they could find seats that are located in the lower sections, but they prefer to sit up higher so they can get a better view of the game.
Yes, I confirmed with our lead architect, John Eyler from 360 Architecture, that we will have hand rails in our new football stadium. The seats in the first row of the new stadium will be raised approximately five feet higher than they currently are in McAndrew Stadium and will be about 40 feet closer to the field than at McAndrew, so it will be a very intimate environment as well as much easier for fans to navigate around.
Will the berm in the new football stadium have the school logo painted into the grass like the M at Mizzou? When a logo is painted in the grass, it seems to give the stadium a more finished look.
Ironically, that massive amount of dirt that just showed up a few days ago and is visible from Route 51 is going to make up the berm at the new football stadium. The M on the grass berm at Mizzou are actually painted rocks and it was a long standing tradition for many years for the incoming freshman to paint these prior to the season starting. I am sure we will do something on the berm to give it some personality but also maximize the ability of people to sit there on game day. I have been told by many that sitting on a rock for 3 hours is a very uncomfortable proposition.
We have been to the last four homecoming weekends, three of them the weather made it difficult to sit through an entire game. Is there a reason we are committed to an early October date for Homecoming? Is a November date out of the question? If it is, could we possibly move the game to a night time start?
Actually, the Department of Athletics has a very small say in what game and time are selected for homecoming. An individual on campus, Don Castle who is the Assistant Director of the Student Center, seems to be the point person for many different interests (Alumni Association, Foundation, Student Affairs, etc...). The two biggest events are Family Weekend and Homecoming. We haven't set next year's game in stone, but it seems like there may be religious holidays on both the September 19 and 26 games, so Family Weekend and Homecoming would perhaps fall on October 10 and October 24, respectively. Due to weather concerns, this would be about as late in the calendar as they would like to go. In addition, the game time is ultimately set by television. If there is no TV component, I am told they prefer an afternoon start to allow folks who attend the parade to go to the game immediately after the pre-game alumni tent festivities. We do have a representative on this committee, Mark Gazdik, our assistant AD for marketing, who is able to voice our concerns.
In August I posed a question asking about Amtrak or charter bus service fromChicago (and St Louis) to SIU for football and/or basketball games. In yourreply, you mentioned that distance from the downtown train station would present aproblem. Might we as a long-range solution, enter into a joint feasibilitystudy with city of Carbondale, AMTRAK, and other interested parties to movetrain and bus stations closer to campus. This move would not only betterserve alumni and other fans wanting to attend athletic events, but studentswho take train to points north to visit home or other destinations.
Thanks for your question. I asked the Mayor of Carbondale, Brad Cole, if he could weigh in on this question, as he would be the expert, and he replied with this answer:
We are looking at building an inter-modal transportation center that would include the train, bus service and private taxi dispatch, but that will be a long time in the making. The location of the train station is in part determined by the availability of track space to house the train while loading and unloading.... it cannot block streets that cross the tracks. In this case, it is very well situated in its current location. Also, if we were to move the station further south (closer to campus) we would have to relocate businesses to make way for the new station. This would be quite costly.
We will continue to look at what can be done in this area, as I think train service is a very underutilized mode of transportation for our northern fans.
Does the department have any plans to assess season-ticket holders a fee for Saluki Way? Is it possible for fans to donate monthly/quarterly to Saluki Way through automatic payment, so that donors don't have tot write checks?
No plans like this are in the works at the present time. Anyone can make any size donation to Saluki Way, and yes, it will count toward their point total. Internally, we are beginning to discuss some of the ways to fund the building project in addition to the individuals that make a major gift to Saluki Way (categorized by the Foundation and Athletics as a minimum of $25,000 payable over 5 years). One possible model would be to build into the overall cost a "one time per-seat construction fee". Several schools have done this, and we used this model at Missouri when seating people in the new arena. If an individual makes a gift to Saluki Way, they also must make their SASF contribution and pay for their tickets. For the individuals not making a Saluki Way gift, we might implement a small "per seat construction fee" payable over a 3 year period of time. Now this could be as small as $100 per seat, but it would be on top of any SASF or ticket cost. In effect it would be a way of ensuring added revenue to pay the $83M total project cost. We haven't decided to implement this, nor have we planned it, but it is relatively standard in new building reseating projects. In effect, it ensures that everyone participates and assists making this project a reality and is also on a sliding scale, based on how good the ticket location is.
I do not foresee a surcharge to the tickets, but it could take place in lieu of the program I mentioned above. We are going to be considering this and see how the fundraising comes along, which would affect any possible plan we look to implement.
Several years ago there was a great oddity in the schedule where SIUtook onWestern Kentuckyat McAndrew in the afternoon (and won), thenat the Arenathat evening (and won). I was lucky enough to be in Carbondale for that weekend and would probably rank it right up there as one of the most enjoyable weekends I've ever had.My question is, has there been any effort in creating another "double header" day similar to the one vs the Hilltoppers? I remember talking to many of the Hilltopper fans in the Student Center between games and it sounded like they were having a great trip (despite the outcomes) and liked the idea as well.
With schedules being so difficult to put together, I believe this happened to be more blind luck than planning. If the situation ever did present itself (let's say with SEMO), I think it would be great for fans of both institutions to experience. I'll keep an eye on the possibility, but it would be more of a long shot.
It seems like Saluki Way construction is moving very slowly. When will we start seeing major construction and earth moving events?
As they say, ask and ye shall receive. I was just as surprised as anyone to see that massive amount of dirt when I returned from St. Louis. I know nothing every goes as fast as we would like, and we have many more hoops to jump through as a University. At the present time, I would encourage you to look at our website to see some of the massive work being done west of Abe Martin Field. There is heavy equipment all over, and they are moving massive amounts of earth to build the new rec play fields. As soon as this is completed, you will see significant work take place on the new football site in March. The rec fields are so inaccessible to most people, that I asked for photos to be posted on the site, so our fans can see we are actually making significant progress. We just opened three bid packages of a total of 40 for this project, so we are certainly on our way -- just not sprinting out of the gate. This project is a marathon not a sprint, for sure.
Will the problems with the economy and the credit markets have any effect on the progress of the football stadium and Arena renovations?
Certainly, potential donors pause when their portfolios are down. Athletics, in general, is more recession-proof than many other things, but we are very aware of the economy. On a positive note, we had an all-time high football crowd a few weeks ago, and have already broken the all-time high of season-ticket sales for men's basketball. The way we have structured Saluki Way giving is that it can be paid over a five-year period of time, in any increment, so if the markets are down and you still want to make a $50,000 commitment, we won't ask for $10,000 in year one. You can do $2,000 in year one, $2,000 in year two and the balance of the $46,000 would need to be paid over the next three years. In addition, these gifts are most likely 100 percent tax deductable (must check with your own tax advisor), so there are some other benefits as well.
