Dome Stadium...... (Birmingham: motel, tenant, school)

[Tourian]

It isn't a forgone conclusion that UAB is going to pay for the whole thing. But they were considering building a stadium on the southside for their team. Why not pool their money with Birmingham and get more then what they could with just their own money?

Or are you saying they should cancel UAB football now, and not spend any more money on it?

Continuing to play at Legion Field is not doing the program justice.

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by Tourian

It isn't a forgone conclusion that UAB is going to pay for the whole thing. But they were considering building a stadium on the southside for their team. Why not pool their money with Birmingham and get more then what they could with just their own money?

Or are you saying they should cancel UAB football now, and not spend any more money on it?

Continuing to play at Legion Field is not doing the program justice.

Meh, I deleted the post you are referring to because I thought it didn't really add anything but another rant. But you caught me, so I'll repost:

I think having fun with being a football fan is fine. But when I can't help it when I see schools in school districts starving for money, with understaffed schools, underpaid employees, and insufficient basic supplies that feel the need to build nice stadiums. Actually this goes for schools at all levels. Mark my words: many departments in UAB are going to start have to make difficult choices regarding things like personnel. Putting money into shiny new stadiums is a total lack of appropriate priorities.
I never even attended a school that had a football stadium until I came here. I went to two undergraduate institutions and neither even had a football team, despite being ranked as some of the better in the nation. Focusing on building shiny new things as a primary focus displays a lack of imagination and ignoring the human capital and welfare factors, which is what modern schools, and even cities should really be about. This is a bit off-topic, but I do think its relevant to the dome, and to how many school districts like to focus on material items, such as stadiums and laptops, rather than what actually goes on inside of buildings, institutions, and social structures.

[bluebeard]

I'm not necessarily saying they should or shouldn't cancel the football program entirely. But they shouldn't put a lot of resources in it.
I think that college is already unaffordable. While some well-known sports programs may be self-supporting or even money making as a whole, most are a financial albatross. Universities have been ignoring financial costs in order to lure more students. There are reasons for this that are not necessarily due to university-level influences, so I'm not going to blame any individual institution. However, college should not be an expensive 4-6 year playground for the relatively well-off. That's great for those who can afford it. But for most people that either can't attend due to financial reasons or go deep in debt for it, cost is a barrier. The priorities of a college should be education. Funds should be places accordingly. I was lucky because I had a really good community college, but most of these are substandard.

[Rightly Divided]

Originally Posted by Tourian

What would it matter if we did? By your own admission you'd be too scared to go.

I didn't say downtown B'ham but out in the safer surrounding areas.

Of course it will never happen back downtown but if it did they would have already made it safe. You see to land such events you must clean up the place and make it safe. I have avoided that area for about 20 years now. Has it changed any? Homeless still under the highway?

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by Rightly Divided

You see to land such events you must clean up the place and make it safe. I have avoided that area for about 20 years now. Has it changed any? Homeless still under the highway?

Yeah, it already happened. Its safe.
Downtown Birmingham safe as Mt. Brook or Vestavia (Comeback Town) | AL.com

As for homeless, they won't hurt you. Many of the most vibrant and safe cities nationwide have a lot of homeless people. Show me where it was found that homeless people are more dangerous than non-homeless. Victims of crime, yes. Perpetrators of violent crime? Not sure...
If they are not around cities, where it is easier to access resources, where should they be? I suppose pushed away until they are drowned in the ocean or something.

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by bluebeard

Meh, I deleted the post you are referring to because I thought it didn't really add anything but another rant. But you caught me, so I'll repost.

Ha ha, thanks.

Originally Posted by bluebeard

I'm not necessarily saying they should or shouldn't cancel the football program entirely. But they shouldn't put a lot of resources in it.
I think that college is already unaffordable. While some well-known sports programs may be self-supporting or even money making as a whole, most are a financial albatross. Universities have been ignoring financial costs in order to lure more students. There are reasons for this that are not necessarily due to university-level influences, so I'm not going to blame any individual institution. However, college should not be an expensive 4-6 year playground for the relatively well-off. That's great for those who can afford it. But for most people that either can't attend due to financial reasons or go deep in debt for it, cost is a barrier. The priorities of a college should be education. Funds should be places accordingly. I was lucky because I had a really good community college, but most of these are substandard.

I think you are on to something, but it is outside the scope of this thread. We've created two bubbles in this country by whatever administration (not pointing at either side) saying, EVERY AMERICAN BUY A HOUSE. EVERY AMERICAN GO TO COLLEGE. All the student loans, all the crazy mortgages pushed prices higher and higher until we are where we're at now.

But for the here and now, I can't see anything but financial responsibility if Birmingham were to ask UAB to be a tenant and throw, let's say, 100M in for a portion of the multi use facility instead of using that same amount of money to build their own stadium on the Southside. Plus Birmingham gets to stop using Legion Field for the Classic and the Bowl and make those already lucrative events more lucrative by putting all those people on the street in Uptown. Right up under all those city-funded restaurants and hotels. Everybody wins. Birmingham gets to save some money. UAB gets more for their money, and we get a facility that will draw more income for the events we currently have and bring in more.

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by Rightly Divided

I didn't say downtown B'ham but out in the safer surrounding areas.

Of course it will never happen back downtown but if it did they would have already made it safe. You see to land such events you must clean up the place and make it safe. I have avoided that area for about 20 years now. Has it changed any? Homeless still under the highway?

Your questions are trite and disingenuous. No one here is fooled into thinking you are sincere or seeking real answers. Just keep avoiding it, or go down there and look for yourself.

[Rightly Divided]

Originally Posted by Tourian

Your questions are trite and disingenuous. No one here is fooled into thinking you are sincere or seeking real answers. Just keep avoiding it, or go down there and look for yourself.

We can discuss it tomorrow.

[steveklein]

Originally Posted by Tourian

Ha ha, thanks.



I think you are on to something, but it is outside the scope of this thread. We've created two bubbles in this country by whatever administration (not pointing at either side) saying, EVERY AMERICAN BUY A HOUSE. EVERY AMERICAN GO TO COLLEGE. All the student loans, all the crazy mortgages pushed prices higher and higher until we are where we're at now.

But for the here and now, I can't see anything but financial responsibility if Birmingham were to ask UAB to be a tenant and throw, let's say, 100M in for a portion of the multi use facility instead of using that same amount of money to build their own stadium on the Southside. Plus Birmingham gets to stop using Legion Field for the Classic and the Bowl and make those already lucrative events more lucrative by putting all those people on the street in Uptown. Right up under all those city-funded restaurants and hotels. Everybody wins. Birmingham gets to save some money. UAB gets more for their money, and we get a facility that will draw more income for the events we currently have and bring in more.

This. I understand the desire for UAB to have an on campus stadium, but it would just make so much more sense to place a multi-use facility that could serve as both UAB's stadium as well as world-class convention space at or near the BJCC. Maybe at the end of it's life cycle 40 or 50 years from now UAB as an athletic power and Birmingham as an economic power could justify separate facilities, but right now they don't. It seems borderline if either project would be a success... but a joint effort where costs could be split and all (or at least the vast majority) of the benefits realized, I think it could tip the scale.

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by steveklein

This. I understand the desire for UAB to have an on campus stadium, but it would just make so much more sense to place a multi-use facility that could serve as both UAB's stadium as well as world-class convention space at or near the BJCC. Maybe at the end of it's life cycle 40 or 50 years from now UAB as an athletic power and Birmingham as an economic power could justify separate facilities, but right now they don't. It seems borderline if either project would be a success... but a joint effort where costs could be split and all (or at least the vast majority) of the benefits realized, I think it could tip the scale.

If those are the options (2 separate new facilities or one single new multi-use facility) then of course I will go with the single new multi-use facility... I'm not sure why we are limited to those choices though.