World-class UT Basketball arena will host Longhorns, benefit Austin community
The University of Texas at Austin (UT) and a group led by the Oak View Group (OVG) will build a world-class arena on campus that will be home to Texas Men's and Women's basketball games, graduations, concerts and other events. It is expected to be opened in 2021.
The innovative 35-year agreement between UT and ArenaCo — which includes OVG, Live Nation, C3 Presents and Matthew McConaughey — will be groundbreaking in college athletics and provide a public benefit for UT and the City of Austin for decades to come. The $338 million venue will be constructed on land fully owned by UT without using any university or public money.
The arena will be located on a current parking lot south of Mike A. Myers Stadium. It will replace the 41-year-old Frank C. Erwin Center, which will make way for the future expansion of the Dell Medical School. UT may be responsible for certain infrastructure improvements near the site to make it ready for construction.
Ok, you may ask... Why am I bringing this up? Texas isn't even in the ACC and we're talking basketball here. What's the big deal? Well, in my opinion, this has a lot to do with our future plans of Cassell. Why? Well, Texas is building this arena to downsize from their current arena with a seating capacity of 16,540, to this new one, with a capacity of 10,000.
This very well could be the signal of the end of the need for massive basketball venues, and the push for more intimate venues packed with fan amenities. Texas is downsizing by nearly half while being smack dab in the middle of Austin, a city that should allow them to seat more.
We already know that Whit has previously said he's working to figure out plans for the future of Cassell, with a major announcement expected before 2022. Keeping an eye on what is happening in Austin could provide us an interesting blueprint for how he might go. There is no need to go bigger, but there is a need to go nicer. And now we're seeing that some of the big boys with money to burn have the same mindset. Could be interesting.
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I live in Houston and all the local radio guys have been talking about this and love it. Mentality seems to be that the smaller courts give you more home advantage and that UT isnt a big enough basketball school to fill their 16k facility. Apparently they only packed it a few times back when they had Durant and a big time matchup.
The big limiter on this is can your fanbase support less seats with a higher price tag for each one.
I'd love for the Hokies to have Texas oil money
And McConaughey money, and Live Nation money, and not have to spend a penny on it...
I don't think we need to spend anywhere near that to make a great venue for us. I think we have the perfect bones and foundation in Cassell to make a great venue for the next 30-50 years. But it might need to be a bit of a teardown to build back up. JPJ Arena in Charlottesville, for comparison, only cost $131m, and this Texas venue is 3 times that price. Considering ours probably wouldn't need to be a complete new build, we could likely do ours for a fraction of the price.
Well everything is big in Texas, including price tags.
Inflation and the ever growing costs of construction have a lot to do with that as well. JPJ started construction in 2003, so the price tag would be a lot larger if built today.
Not trying to say it would be anywhere near the budget for the Texas stadium, but it would be much closer than alluded to above.
$131m in 2003 accounted for inflation would be $178m in 2018.
So Texas' stadium will be twice as expensive as JPJ, accounted for inflation
Did you use average inflation numbers, consumer based inflation numbers, or construction based numbers? Just curious, as I have seen industrial construction numbers double since 2003, but am in a niche part of the business.
That's not taking into account that steel, freight and skilled labor costs have risen tremendously recently.
Tremendously? How much, exactly?
No science or analysis on my part, but would estimate I have seen commercial construction prices increase 60 percent in the last 12 years.
Source: 12 years managing construction and estimating costs
That sounds about right. My brother also works in that industry, and that's in line with comments he's made.
I can't believe nobody has said this yet, but they're obviously doing this to attract Buzz.....
Dey gots da cash mahnee.
I think the general trend in stadiums/arena is focusing on the fan amenities and experience rather than getting more fans in the stands.
Ticket prices have skyrocketed, parking is a fortune, hotels, tail gating equipment, etc it all adds up. It's expensive to go to games. Last game I went to some guy spilled his beer and it splashed on my jacket, pants and shoes. Do people really want to pay $60+ for that? I can see all the angles, the replays and have a fully working kitchen (or food delivered) at my house. Arena's have to compete for me and my recliner is very comfy.
Wait, are you not LeBron James?
No, I'm the guy that wrote the bible.
technically, you translated and slightly altered the text of the bible.
Shhhhh that doesnt go over as well with the ladies.
Exactly. These reasons are shared by many, which is why it's tough to get people in seats. I told my dad over Christmas - if Virginia Tech was located geographically in the state where Charlottesville is, we'd be in a prime location to attract more fans to games. Think of it - Charlottesville would be 2 hours from DC, just over an hour from Richmond, and 2.5 from the beach. But because the majority of our alumni base is 3+ hours away, we have to focus on the fan experience. The Athletic Department sent an email to everyone who attended a game (or most everybody) asking how they could improve the fan experience. I think it is a good step. Will be interesting to see what the feedback was among the fan base.
Posting the best of the hatin' on threads on the jumbotronduring the game, duh.
So how does that investor group make their money back?
Tax dodge? Is this considered a charitable contribution? Athletic department leases it for games? Concert revenues?
There's got to be some angle on this that somehow screws the taxpayer and makes that investment group money. Whenever you see "innovative" and "finance" in the same sentence, watch out.
They have what, 14-16 home games a year? Leaves 350 days a year for concerts etc...
Exactly.
Part of the expense is probably setting it up so it doesn't look like a basketball court, and accounting for acoustics so they can use it as an on-campus concert center.
The finance group is definitely looking to make some money on this, and they've figured out how.
Um womens volleyball!
All schools are doing this. VT has Burruss and Squires, etc.. for concerts and other events, but an arena? Not really.
VSU built the new multipurpose center with multipurpose in mind. Richmond renovated Robin's Ctr with the intent to add additional events.
New designs also make it a lot easier to have these events.
On the flip side, we also built a separate basketball and wrestling building. Most new facilities have those amenities built into one building. Since that new building is new, a renovation is better suited for Cassell.
I'm specifically wondering about the privatization angle. Is it a donation, or a private facility on campus? Does that investment group now own a building on campus? Are they just really generous, or does it turn out the public is subsidizing a private investment by giving them campus real estate?
Details. I need details.
VT should do what Clemson did with littlejohn. Rebuild on the same footprint. Would require playing a year in Roanoke though.
Absolutely. I think they're using the word "renovation", so that must be what they're planning.
Yep! $63.5 gets you this:
From:
To:
Or what GT did with McCamish Pavilion - $45m
From:
To:
And that's ignoring the massive concourse/entryway renovations that are baked into things like this, let alone the additions and renovations of luxury suites or club level for the high rollers.
Right in this price point is where we'd probably be looking. $50m, give or take to the footprint of Cassell could be a huge massive improvement to what we have while keeping the same physical footprint on campus. No need to make the stadium any larger, but just renovate and expand upon what we already have to bring the existing facility to the new standards.
A year?
I'll believe that when I see it. Contractors just aren't going to get that done. See the new press box at the football field.
One missed season means a construction time from March of one year to November of the next year. So ~20 months total instead of 12.
Yep, and I'm saying they won't make it.
Anything is possible. Provided that you are willing to pay for it. Shorter schedules lead to higher costs.
VT will have a decision to make on what the value of being forced to play in Roanoke is.
SB Ballard is rebuilding the ODU stadium with it's name in 7 months. They are ahead by one month on the demolition.
Richmond renovated it's basketball arena over the course of 6 months AND kept it operational. Trying to get massive pieces of ductwork up to the suite level was, uh, fun.
I'm here for the Buzz to Texas comments
via GIPHY
I'm way ahead of you there...
http://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2015/april/1/buzz-williams-going-back-...
I'm convinced this is my biggest contribution to TKP
The faux ESPN link was extremely well executed.
That's $100million more than the Yum! Center (~$60million with inflation) and that place is hands down the nicest arena I've ever been in. This place better be incredible.
Given that watching the game on TV is better (purely from a watching the game standpoint) is better than watching in the stadium, this trend makes sense.
Blacksburg (or the entire NRV for that matter) doesn't have an impressive concert venue that can house modern frontline music acts. Even within the commonwealth, The Lyric and Burruss don't hold a candle to the other venues available (e.g. The National in RVA, NorVA in Norfolk, even the 9:30 Club in DC). You can make a case for the Moss Center but I don't think the intent was to hold modern, major concerts.
For Virginia Tech to take another big step as an institution, either Cassell needs a major overhaul or a new venue needs to emerge. One of the palpable, absolute advantages that UVa has over VT is the grandeur of JPJ which allows CVille to outpunch their weight class in terms of attracting popular music acts.
The amount of shows the national puts on even weekly is pretty damn astonishing. Why the university wouldn't shoot for a venue along those lines to serve the entire valley's musical ears is beyond me.
I saw Franz Ferdinand there earlier this year and even they commented on how nice The National was...I don't think it was lip service, I saw them at the 9:30 Club in DC and they made no such comment.
I've seen Blackberry Smoke (2016) and Whiskey Myers (this year) there and they both blew the doors off the place. A small enough venue to make it feel intimate, but big enough to make it rowdy.
Last time I was there the sound person was terrible. Had it way too loud. The acoustical nature of the place couldn't handle that volume.
But, then that been common at a lot of concerts I've been to in the last several years. Usually there person is back there with a damn set of headphones one, completely oblivious the the destructive interference going on in the space.
The BBS opener was insanely loud. Seriously was shaking our clothes it was so loud. But the BBS sound guy was far more on top of his shit...knocked it way down to an enjoyable decible.
SHAKA!!!!
This is why I didn't fault Shaka for leaving VCU. What he did for RVA was amazing but Texas athletics has a reach no one else in the country can match.
Not only did Richmond not fault him for leaving, but Shaka as a parting gift made mandatory matchups with VCU part of his contract. He's a class act.
That was part of his and every VCU coach since Jeff Capel left.