Friday, March 1, 2013

JSU wants a new toy

Yes, Jackson State University wants to build a 50,000 seat domed stadium. The Clarion-Ledger reports:

"(JSU president Carolyn Meyers) said to think big and we have thought big,” Hoard said. “We’re pleased to move forward with the plans for JSU’s new domed stadium.”

Hoard said the project has already received endorsements from the mayor, the Jackson Chamber of Commerce, the Visitor’s Bureau, city council, the county commisioners and others. Hoard also reported that the house had passed a bill that would see $75 million would be allocated to JSU for the project.

The project’s overall cost of $200 million, Hoard said, would be met, in part, by the use of “13 or 14 different options” to fund the stadium.

Among those options are Personal Seat Licenses, Skybox rentals, new market tax credits that could generate between “$30 and $60 million,” and a share of the state’s amusement tax, which Hoard said is projected “to produce between $40 and $50 million over the next 20 years.”

As for possible tuition increases for students, Hoard said students would vote on such decisions. He also referenced stadium naming rights.

“There’s about 13 or 14 various streams that can add up to $320 million, so we have options,” Hoard said. “If something doesn’t work out, we can go another direction
.”

Bad idea. Stadiums are built when the current ones are overflowing with fans and there are waiting lists for tickets. JSU fielded a fairly decent team over the last few years and still averaged below 25,000 per game. Such is the height of government insanity: when no one comes to your stadium, build a bigger stadium. The current trend in college athletics is for boosters to fund new sports facilities, not stick the state with the tab. Then there is the matter of a downtown arena, the possible renovations of the coliseum, and other possibilities. There will not be any funding for this stadium. The legislature will not approve the bonds to fund this pipedream. The alumni will probably sit on their wallets. This project is going no where.

What would the Kingfish like to see? A nice arena built next to the one-lake downtown. Nice and scenic, a showcase for the city. Not something trapped inside a concrete jungle.

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't worry any other needed funds to complete this project. Kenny Stokes has a way of making things happen without paying the bills.

Anonymous said...

Everyone is complaining about the size. Big freaking deal! Let 'em building a 100,000 seat domed stadium and make a Super Bowl bid...as long as they pay for the whole thing with private money.

Anonymous said...

Awesome! This sounds like a great idea. I see no flaws at all in this plan for a new 50,000-seat domed stadium in Jackson. I challenge anyone reading this article to come up with any better way to spend tax dollars in Jackson than this. I challenge you -- come on, do it...do it...do it...

Anonymous said...

Checking facts?

Current location seats 60,000 but is less than half full on gameday?

Current location not sooo bad on crime?

Crime in and around new location?????

Big time concerts are coming to that location and bring with it locals from the metro area?

Just asking?

Anonymous said...

If it gets them out of Veterans, have at it....

Anonymous said...

I think they should put John Burwell in charge as project manager. We need someone with a proven record of accomplishment in the driver's seat.

Anonymous said...

Surprised Kingfish is a week or more behind the curve on this one. Won't get through the legislature. Clarion is all over this one.

Anonymous said...

Have the MBA students @ Millsaps collected all the evidence on this yet? Can't move forward without their blessing.

Anonymous said...

I'm still waiting for the TREMENDOUS techy-techy outcome from their aquistion from the old Allstate buiding! That was gonna be a Rib-Eye Steak on the JSU Grill ya'll! Since then, I've not heard a peep about anything relating to JSU and that juicy Allstate facility. I know that Allstate made out like a fat-rat out of that whole deal, and very little has been said in the afterwake, but still...please connect the dots.

Anonymous said...

2012 Attendance Numbers for JSU Home Games:

Southern U. 20,713
Prairie View 6,566
MVSU 10,000
Alabama A&M 8,445
Alcorn 30,000

Avg. 15,145

Yeah, I guess they really need a 50,000 seat dome arena. I'll miss seeing the vultures eat tailgating scraps on Mondays after home games.

Anonymous said...

Where's the Power Point?!

Won't this be a huge plus for attracting convention type business?

Anonymous said...

No need to be rude and crude 6:22. But, the only way you'd know that is if you were down there fighting with the vultures for a chicken bone. Fess up!.

Anonymous said...

And UMC will foot the bulk of the bill by buying Memorial from JSU.

Anonymous said...

Save room for Amway! This could change everything.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/sports/2013/02/7987921/madoff-ravaged-mets-enter-stadium-deal-amway

Shadowfax said...

I've never been to a JSU tailgating but would love to. All tailgating is fun. All tailgating is valuable. As long as folks are reasonably-well behaved, enjoy themselves and others and get to share recipes and see folks not seen for awhile, the day has been well spent. Unless you stay in a bad mood, there's no such thing as a 'bad day tailgating'.

Charlie Ali said...

NCAA basketball is a better sport, but the area of college sports is a mire. Higher education will be under pressure in the future as the college degree loses clout, learning goes online, high school quality sours, and traditional college enrollments drop. Sports is seen as the marketing tool or an avenue for disadvantaged students. Sports is a profit center in only a few cases.

Anonymous said...

At least they will keep all the bullets contained inside the dome.

Anonymous said...

4:38 the Alcorn game was in Lorman. Therefore avg is lower.

Anonymous said...

10:30 said, ". Sports is a profit center in only a few cases." Tell that to Florida, Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, UCLA, Michigan, Oregon and about 20 other schools.

Sports is not intended as a 'profit center', but college football floats the boat of many a school.

Anonymous said...

The sad fact is, this is typical of "leadership" in African-American institutions. Specifically, I mean buying in to ideas long after the winners have won and just before the bubble bursts. Higher Ed is about to collapse under the weight of its own inefficiency. More specifically, the winners of the college sports arms race were long ago decided and none are in the FCS. So of course now is the time JSU wants to double down on taxpayer funded luxury goods.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they should put it in Madison? It would be entertaining to see Queen Mary have an absolute COW over that.

Anonymous said...

It's only by the Grace of God and a measure of pure luck that Ayers did not require it.

Anonymous said...

is this the expansion into Madison that has been in the news---now that is funny--Queen Mary was bust a gut!!! too damn funny.

All I have to say is if the alumni and supporters can pay for it--go for it! No red cent from taxpayers!

Is Farish Street Open For Business Yet? said...

I think it's a great idea. The dome will be the centerpiece of a west Jackson renaissance. Next door will be a 50,000 square foot mall with space for 100 merchants. A four star hotel will adjoin, as will space for residential units.

BB King's will open a restaurant in the arcade area, next to the monorail station which will connect JSU with Metrocenter, Westland Plaza and Hawkins Field.

Moving sidewalks will carry students from the new, state-of-the-art dormitory to various areas of the campus, and environmentally friendly hoverbuses will shuttle tailgaters to Farish Street after the game for a night of dancing in one of the district's seventeen blues clubs.

In the final phase, Universal Studios will open a satellite of their Orlando theme park on Gallatin Street, next to the new basketball arena, built to house Jackson's new NBA franchise.

How can you not want to see such wonderful things? Do you hate Jackson that much? Are you so blinded by racism that you refuse to support Jackson's future?

noel said...

50,000 seats? That's enough for err'body left in Jackson!

Anonymous said...

Maybe all the haters are headed to church and come home with a renewed spirit of brotherhood and common purpose. And Ben will stop posting vile comebacks.

Anonymous said...

The article says that JSU says the Legislature has approved $75 million in bonds for this. Surely not?

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

Inane and indicative are two words that come to mind.

Anonymous said...

Killed in committee 10:25.

Anonymous said...

50,000 seats. 15,000 average attendance. Am I missing something???

Anonymous said...

If the UMMC pays for it, that will be make my point. College alumni run things in this state. They find a way to perpetuate their sports teams, institutions, and self-image. The state as a whole is the loser to that low level of political organization. College teams play way too many games to really have a positive academic purpose. Thirty basketball and over a dozen football games is overkill.

Anonymous said...

3:00 PM; I can't decide if you're an idiot or just tootin' a doobie. Who are you to decide what's 'too many games' or what level of games have 'a positive academic purpose'.

Have you ever thought about making sense or do you just ramble on? "College alumni run things in this state"? Really! Come in from pooper-scooper duty in the back yard and have some warmed-over pizza. Lay out a matching tie and try to get two socks that are close to resembling each other for the morrow.

Anonymous said...

3:59, its apparent that NCAA is a racket and will gladly take over university life if you will let them. Google 'NCAA scandal', sir.

Aristotle said scholars should not work, they should be devoted to learning. Playing basketball or football for half the year is working. Sports is not a proper academic subject though it has been given that status.

When the university was created in Europe in the Middle Ages it was attached to a cathedral and hence the name, college, as the faculty were also religious officers and the only learned men around.

Colleges are private clubs heavily subsidized by public monies. The public is being cheated by higher ed the same way high schools do...unless you are on the gravy train. In our state one could call our universities 'tribes' which is a lowly form of organization and does not benefit the state as a whole. A university is a ideal academy that benefits a very broad territory perhaps larger than a state. We have no university in Mississippi worthy of the name.

Anonymous said...

The University of Miss has a fine teaching hospital that is a regional and state institution so credit them. They have only an few basketball and softball clubs.

Col Reb said...

Hehe he hahahahahaha, Jackson State Dome - hahahahahaha!

Anonymous said...

I keep thinking.....JSU Doomed Dome.

Anonymous said...

@5:32; yep, doobie it is.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone remember if the current stadium was gifted to JSU or did they purchase it?

Reason I ask--if it was gifted to the college and the college doesn't want it anymore and wants a new one, are they going to gift it to UMMC so they can have parking?

and I agree--assenine to build a new one--not needed, and taxpayers shuold not be on the hook for it either.

Anonymous said...

@12:38, so it died in committee? According to JSU's spokesman, it passed the House. That's kind of an important thing to get wrong.

Anonymous said...

JSU has conveniently forgotten that in the contract with the state of Mississippi, the title to the stadium and land reverts back to UMMC in the event that JSU gets its own stadium. All this noise about selling the property or developing it by JSU is just that. Noise.

Anonymous said...

Something this absurd and only 40, um 41 comments???

Anonymous said...

Hot off the press from the Jackson Free Pravda:

"The most glaring number in the study is the reported contributions from private donors to the JSU athletic program from 2006 to 2011: $0. By comparison, conference rival Alcorn State University reported $150,448 in contributions over that time period. The University of Mississippi reported about $37.2 million and Mississippi State reported about $29.7 million."

Yes ZERO. NADA. ZIP. NOT A GD PENNY. JSU had NO private contributions. Asking for faith in a bodacious, silly, ridiculous project with NO "at home" faith makes you shake your head in amazement.

Anonymous said...

@March 2, 2013 at 8:43 PM: ROTFLMAO! That was comedy gold there!

Anonymous said...

But 5:50 PM those are exactly the type of taxpayer funded boondoggles they do in Jackson.



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