UH Athletic Director Dave Maggard just posted this.. it seems pretty relevant. http://uhcougars.cstv.com/ot/maggard-blog.html November 15, 2006 Many have asked about plans for expansion and improvements at Robertson Stadium and whether the Dynamo will contribute to the project. Withsome frequency I have also been asked what we gained financially from the Dynamo games being here at Robertson this past year. I have had an assessment done on both Robertson and Hofheinz for possible expansion, and of course the possibility of replacing both venues from the ground up. Either option is expensive and at present we do not have a donor or donors who have committed to a new facility nor improvement and expansion. Some of our alumni have indicated they understand the Dynamo wishes to put $15-20 million in Robertson Stadium upgrades. I recently initiated a meeting with Oliver Luck of the Dynamo, and we had a very good and cordial discussion regarding possibilities for improvements on Robertson Stadium and the role the Dynamo might play in partnering with University of Houston on a sharing of costs with a long-term agreement. To date there are no commitments from the Dynamo to pay for upgrades to Robertson, nor to extend the contract. Our contractual arrangement with the Dynamo is for two more years. I expressed more than a willingness to explore all kinds of possibilities that would be BENEFICIAL TO THE DYNAMO AS WELL AS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON. It is no secret, as it has been mentioned in the press, the ownership of the Dynamo has been trying to sell the franchise well before they arrived in Houston. Ownership is also interested in finding a municipality or county that will pay for a new stadium, or at least subsidize the project to a large extent. Our current financial arrangement with the Dynamo is as follow: We receive 20% of concessions. The Dynamo also receives 20%. We receive 50% of net parking. Dynamo receives the same. I negotiated a front-end payment of $1.7 million dollars. With those dollars we purchased a new video/scoreboard for $1.4 million. We also installed a new lighting system at Robertson for $800k. This was a total expenditure of $2.2 million dollars. We also made some improvements to all of our fields for several thousand dollars. THE ARRANGEMENT WITH DYNAMO HAS BEEN A WIN-WIN. THE UNIVERSITY AND THE DYNAMO HAVE BOTH BENEFITTED.. WE CONTINUE TO EXPLORE FUNDING METHODS FOR MAKING MPROVEMENTS AND UPGRADES TO ROBERTSON. WE ALL RECOGNIZE THE NEED AND, WE ARE MOVING IN A VERY POSITIVE DIRECTION AND YET NOT READY TO SET AN ABSOLUTE TIMELINE. YOU WILL BE INTERESTED TO KNOW THAT WE HAVE CURRENTLY HAVE UNDERWAY A PROJECT TO COMPLETELY RENOVATE OUR STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING CENTER---THE TOTAL COST IS $500K. WE HAVE RAISED $250K TO DATE AND A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT HAS BEEN COMPLETED ON THIS VERY IMPORTANT PROJECT. Dave Maggard
^ It's kind of hard to tell from that letter if Maggard is getting a little pissy with the Dynamo or if he's just trying to make his point. Why would the Dynamo commit to anything long term with UH without knowing if a SSS is possible? It doesn't make financial sense for them to pour millions into renovations if they aren't going to be there past their current agreement. If nothing else comes up in that time, I would assume that they will do something to extend it. But the Dynamo need their own place to be finacially viable. The need a place that isn't covered with UH colors and logos. They especially need a field that doesn't have football lines. I remember playing on that in high school and it can be a bit confusing...especially if you haven't done it before.
What you all are forgetting also is that with the Dynamo playing at someone else's field they cannot control their own schedule. They're forced to work around UH's schedule.
That's a good point, we had a 4-5 week road trip because of renovations that were being done at Robertson and had to play an open cup game at the Carl Lewis track. Overall the road trip wasn't too bad though since it was in August/September and they got to play in cooler locations those weeks.
Imploding that dump Hofheinz would do wonders for the Cougs basketball program. UH has the potential to have fantastic sports programs all around, but the facilities in their current state present a major road block.
I say a build a stadium near Kehman Boardwalk. That would be great. Right neat the water. Talk about nice scenery and lot of places to eat & drink.
Exactly. They wouldn't get a crowd if they gave tickets away being that far out of Houston. If they are trying to revitilize downtown like they say they are, they should stick it close to downtown. of course im a bit biased
If you know an rich folks who would like to drop several million on the school like John Moores, then tell the you think the schools basketball arena is a dump. Until then, I don't think the school can afford a new one.
Pizza Hut Park ended up in Frisco after a lot of attempts all over the place. With all the suburbs competing against each other for these sporting facilities and the city of Dallas usually putting in no effort at all, it's always more likely that a stadium will end up in a suburb than in the city proper (heck, if the current mayor was the mayor a few year earlier, the Mavs and Stars would probably be in Grapevine). Pizza Hut Park almost ended up in McKinney, for example. Houston doesn't seem to have that same problem, and I think they'll end up with a better spot whenever they get it done (assuming they do). Of course, I live in Collin County, so going to Frisco is significantly easier for me than going to downtown Dallas or Fair Park.
