GMU: Where Construction is Tradition

[MasonFanatic]

I think if there was support for a change like this, then the administration would consider it. I emailed Brad Edwards my idea. I hope some of you do to.

vcu's Basketball Development Center is 60,000 square feet.
Indiana's Cook Hall (from your link) is 67,000 square feet.
The RAC is 150,000 square feet.

What possible use could the basketball program have for all that space, aside from adding a lot of unnecessary facilities costs to the basketball budget?

 

[GMUgemini]

I think if there was support for a change like this, then the administration would consider it. I emailed Brad Edwards my idea. I hope some of you do to.

No, they wouldn't, because then they'd have to build another physical education building. You do realize that it's an academic building as well as the place for intramural sports, and the place where the volleyball teams play their matches, right?

I have no idea why you have a problem with a dedicated practice facility as an add-on to this building as opposed to, say, an add-on to EBA, or why you think giving 150,000 square feet of space to 13 athletes is a good idea.

 

[MasonSAE4]

http://www.nj.com/rutgersbasketball...all_practice_facilities_that_will_blow_r.html

Give the team the RAC. Basketball recruiting is an arms race. Even if we give them the RAC, there will still be better bigger practice facilities out there.

I know what your going to say; the program doesn't need it. Well the students don't need 5 gyms.

Aquatic center
Skyline
RAC
Freedom center- I know it's in PWC but still.
The edge obstacle course- if your lucky enough.
Numerous fields, tennis courts, volleyball courts, outdoor basketball.

JMU doesn't have this many options. I doubt many schools have this many options for students. Mason did just fine before the RAC they will do just fine without it. Give it to the basketball team.

JMU has half as many students as Mason. Also, the pre-RAC period was also the pre-final four period with a lot less students. No, you can't count the Freedom Center or The Edge, that's super unrealistic to think someones gonna catch a shuttle to PW to workout. All three gyms on campus are constantly packed. Getting on a squat rack or even a bench can be a huge pain in the a**. An additional gym would absolutely be needed if the RAC was turned over. If we have to construct another building regardless, I'd rather build a custom facility for basketball to fit their needs.

And again, you would have to relocate a ton of staff positions that have offices in there. Mason Rec uses a lot more of that building than you would think. The whole thing would cause a logistical nightmare at a time when Mason is trying to lower its debt burden.

 

[EXpatriot13]

I think if there was support for a change like this, then the administration would consider it. I emailed Brad Edwards my idea. I hope some of you do to.

Fully support you sharing your ideas, but you're acting like the AD isn't trying to build a dedicated facility for the team already. I don't know the exact square footage, but I'd imagine the new basketball only addition, plus the Cage Gym would be approx. 50 - 60,000 sqft - is that not enough? That would put it on par (size wise) with almost every facility you keep bringing up. One thing I agree on, is that the inside of it needs to be decked out with all the bells and whistles.

 

[GMUgemini]

Fully support you sharing your ideas, but you're acting like the AD isn't trying to build a dedicated facility for the team already. I don't know the exact square footage, but I'd imagine the new basketball only addition, plus the Cage Gym would be approx. 50 - 60,000 sqft - is that not enough? That would put it on par (size wise) with almost every facility you keep bringing up. One thing I agree on, is that the inside of it needs to be decked out with all the bells and whistles.

The addition is going to be 14,500 square feet plus whatever the cage gym is square footage wise.

The academic support center is going to be 7,000 square feet.

 

[Falco]

vcu's Basketball Development Center is 60,000 square feet.
Indiana's Cook Hall (from your link) is 67,000 square feet.
The RAC is 150,000 square feet.

What possible use could the basketball program have for all that space, aside from adding a lot of unnecessary facilities costs to the basketball budget?

Recruiting top players and you named two schools. Did you see WVU practice facility

 

[EXpatriot13]

The addition is going to be 14,500 square feet plus whatever the cage gym is square footage wise.

The academic support center is going to be 7,000 square feet.

Ha, okay so maybe I was off by about 20k. Think the point still remains the same though.

 

[EXpatriot13]

Recruiting top players and you named two schools. Did you see WVU practice facility

Duke's is 56,000 sqft...we can keep doing this all day. It's pointless.

 

[MasonFanatic]

Recruiting top players and you named two schools. Did you see WVU practice facility

Yeah. It's 64,000 square feet. Your point?

 

[EXpatriot13]

When it's all said and done Mason's will be approx. 40,000 sqft. Deck it out with all the bells and whistles and it'll appease any recruit who walks in the door. Enough of this.

 

[Patriot8]

Recruiting top players and you named two schools. Did you see WVU practice facility

I thought you didn't care about what other schools do?

 

[MasonSAE4]

A stand alone facility would be better but at the end of the day we've proved that we don't have the fundraising might for that. We raised 10k yesterday, which is way less than 1% of the project. At this point we need to accept a 40k square foot facility that's added to the RAC, and hope that the thing is decked out with the latest and greatest stuff.

 

[Falco]

JMU has half as many students as Mason. Also, the pre-RAC period was also the pre-final four period with a lot less students. No, you can't count the Freedom Center or The Edge, that's super unrealistic to think someones gonna catch a shuttle to PW to workout. All three gyms on campus are constantly packed. Getting on a squat rack or even a bench can be a huge pain in the a**. An additional gym would absolutely be needed if the RAC was turned over. If we have to construct another building regardless, I'd rather build a custom facility for basketball to fit their needs.

And again, you would have to relocate a ton of staff positions that have offices in there. Mason Rec uses a lot more of that building than you would think. The whole thing would cause a logistical nightmare at a time when Mason is trying to lower its debt burden.

You are actually helping me prove my point, by saying that was "Pre final 4". The final 4 is what built Mason. We need to invest in what works. Athletics is a good investment if you are willing to do what is necessary.

2011 article.

Facilities
Capital outlay spending at Mason has grown from $40 million in 2006 to a present-day total of $160 million. Currently, Mason boasts 168 buildings; in 2006, it had 140. Among the nearly 30 buildings that have opened at Mason in the past five years are the Mason Inn Conference Center and Hotel, Research I and the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building on the Fairfax Campus; Founders Hall on the Arlington Campus; and the Hylton Performing Arts Center and the Biomedical Research Laboratory on the Prince William Campus. The Masonvale community of 155 townhomes was built to provide faculty and staff housing adjacent to the Fairfax Campus.

Budget and Fundraising
In 2006, Mason’s operating budget totaled $528 million. That figure is now up to $887 million. Mason raised $20 million in gifts in 2006. This figure is now up to $51 million. Five years ago, Mason had 13,150 donors. In 2011, the number is 14,678.

**And I think it is quiet a stretch to say JMU is half the size of Mason. We both have roughly 20k undergrads. Mason has a lot more post graduate students. Yes many live on campus but I would venture to guess most don't.**

 

[GMUgemini]

The Final Four didn't build Mason, it gave Mason a temporary boost in exposure and publicity. That's gone.

Giving the basketball team a massive building that's not built for or dedicated to basketball makes zero sense to anyone but you. Please stop suggesting it.

The RAC, while renovated post-Final Four, was renovated not because of the Final Four, but because it needed it.

The cage gym will be given over to the basketball team this summer as a 24/7 dedicate practice facility and Edwards is now trying to build something that's twice as big as what was originally proposed by TOC post-Final Four. Get on board. This is what's happening.

 

[MasonFanatic]

You are actually helping me prove my point, by saying that was "Pre final 4". The final 4 is what built Mason. We need to invest in what works. Athletics is a good investment if you are willing to do what is necessary.

Where exactly do you think Mason could get the money for a massive investment in athletics? We can't take it from tuition (not legally, anyway). The state legislature won't let us raise student fees. Last I heard, parking services is still losing money. Most alumni gifts to the university are earmarked for a particular purpose (e.g. the Alumni Association scholarship fund). The AD is already doing everything they can to get corporate donors. As a young university, we don't have the usually number of retired multimillionaire alumni we can call upon. So where do they get the money from?

 

[Mason2005]

All this talk about the practice gym, why can't they break ground on it already. The caption on that one page says we are at 499 million fundraised. $15M of it can't be used right now or is it for 20 new parking decks?

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[Falco]

Where exactly do you think Mason could get the money for a massive investment in athletics? We can't take it from tuition (not legally, anyway). The state legislature won't let us raise student fees. Last I heard, parking services is still losing money. Most alumni gifts to the university are earmarked for a particular purpose (e.g. the Alumni Association scholarship fund). The AD is already doing everything they can to get corporate donors. As a young university, we don't have the usually number of retired multimillionaire alumni we can call upon. So where do they get the money from?

Capital outlay spending at Mason has grown from $40 million in 2006 to a present-day total of $160 million. Currently, Mason boasts 168 buildings; in 2006, it had 140. Among the nearly 30 buildings that have opened at Mason in the past five years are the Mason Inn Conference Center and Hotel, Research I and the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building on the Fairfax Campus; Founders Hall on the Arlington Campus; and the Hylton Performing Arts Center and the Biomedical Research Laboratory on the Prince William Campus. The Masonvale community of 155 townhomes was built to provide faculty and staff housing adjacent to the Fairfax Campus.

-- We have money for everything else....
They built a useless hotel, useless 155 townhomes.
Invest in what has been proven to work. Mason basketball when successful will bring in money, why didn't they reinvest when they could.

 

[GMUgemini]

All this talk about the practice gym, why can't they break ground on it already. The caption on that one page says we are at 499 million fundraised. $15M of it can't be used right now or is it for 20 new parking decks?

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Athletics funding is always siloed.

 

[MasonFanatic]

Capital outlay spending at Mason has grown from $40 million in 2006 to a present-day total of $160 million. Currently, Mason boasts 168 buildings; in 2006, it had 140. Among the nearly 30 buildings that have opened at Mason in the past five years are the Mason Inn Conference Center and Hotel, Research I and the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building on the Fairfax Campus; Founders Hall on the Arlington Campus; and the Hylton Performing Arts Center and the Biomedical Research Laboratory on the Prince William Campus. The Masonvale community of 155 townhomes was built to provide faculty and staff housing adjacent to the Fairfax Campus.

-- We have money for everything else....
They built a useless hotel, useless 155 townhomes.
Invest in what has been proven to work. Mason basketball when successful will bring in money, why didn't they reinvest when they could.

Maybe you should talk to your state legislators about that. Capital funding come from the state (mostly). Yet my understanding is we couldn't even get the state to fund the baseball stadium renovation (less than $5M).

 

[GMUgemini]

Capital outlay spending at Mason has grown from $40 million in 2006 to a present-day total of $160 million. Currently, Mason boasts 168 buildings; in 2006, it had 140. Among the nearly 30 buildings that have opened at Mason in the past five years are the Mason Inn Conference Center and Hotel, Research I and the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building on the Fairfax Campus; Founders Hall on the Arlington Campus; and the Hylton Performing Arts Center and the Biomedical Research Laboratory on the Prince William Campus. The Masonvale community of 155 townhomes was built to provide faculty and staff housing adjacent to the Fairfax Campus.

-- We have money for everything else....
They built a useless hotel, useless 155 townhomes.
Invest in what has been proven to work. Mason basketball when successful will bring in money, why didn't they reinvest when they could.

Virginia State Legislature gave us a lot of money to build those useless buildings. They won't do the same for a dedicated practice facility. Some of the other academic buildings were also due to big gifts from the people whose names are on them: ($10 million from Ernst and Sarah Volgenau, $5 million from Long and Kimmy Nyugen)