On campus football stadium at Tulane?

[Harvey]

Someone emailed me saying that Rick Dickson presented plans to the board at Tulane about an on campus football stadium. Roughly 30k seats. I am hearing that it was approved. At what level, I can't say. Funding? Guidelines? Time frame? No idea.

It will be on the current football practice field and all the land between riley center and wilson center (or some of it).

Proceed with caution, I can't speak to the absolute validity of the story, but that seems to be the news buzzing in a few Tulane circles.

[JOE in NO]

Maybe this will bring them a football team. Hey, it worked for the New Orleans Arena.

[NIH]

Mackel tweeted about it too, I think it would be a great addition. For one it would boost student interest by a huge margin for obvious reasons and it would a much easier sell to play in for recruits. I also think it would help recruit more students from the south as opposed to those from the north, lots of kids want the classic college experience and having a football team on campus, tailgates, etc. plays in to that.

[JOE in NO]

Minnesota built an campus stadium instead of continuing to play in the Metrodome, so it can work. I am not sure the support is there. How many people really care about Tulane football. I hate to sound cynical, but I don't see the interest anymore. Because there was once interest doesn't mean there is still interest, UNO can attest to that.

But I hope they build the stadium with appropriate financing, I hope Tulane rebuilds its football program, and then I hope Tulane can provide competition for LSU.

[Who Dat 3]

Tulane has the basbeball stadium on campus. They have a small/but crazy basketball arena (often considered a tough place to play when winning.....been a while now). They have the approval to start on the multi-purpose practice facility, volleyball/basketball (not sure if official announcement has been made).....and if the rumors are true about the football stadium, all of a sudden tulane athletics has good news for the first time in a while.

I wonder if Tulane will make an announcment of some sort in the future, since it is all over the place with rumors. When I first heard about this yesterday I was told, little chance about approval, so when I got a text at 9:30 last night saying it was approved I was shocked.

But this is Tulane, so we will see.

[say-what]

Playing on campus will be the best move Tulane can make to improve their football program. Great move if it gets built.

[NOLA Brah!]

that would be great for tulane. wonder if it will be an outside stadium or a multi-use complex.

[roturn]

Why don't they just re-model Tag Gormley. I heard alumni loved the homecoming atmosphere.

[say-what]

Why don't they just re-model Tag Gormley. I heard alumni loved the homecoming atmosphere.

Couple of problems with remodeling Tad Gormley.

1) It's a shared facility with local high schools
2) You can't eliminate the track because the local high schools also use that
3) You'd pretty much have to gut the entire place, build multiple locker rooms and then rebuild to code.

By the time you did all that, you'd have spent more than a new stadium and it would still be off campus.

Tulane, and the community at large, is better served with an on campus stadium.

[roturn]

I'll give you that. It would bring back some excitiment to Tulane and uptown. hell I might even go to a game. As long as it doesn't interfere with an LSU game...

[NIH]

CUSA teams are close to refusing to play in Tad Gormley.

[Unknown Poster]

Is there really enough land in between the baseball stadium and athletic complex and the Reilly Center? Granted they can fit a practice field in there but you can't forget the 30k seats, concessions, and parking (the big thing). Of course there is that parking lot adjacent to the dorms where Tulane Stadium used to be.

Good move if they can pull it off. Tulane will obviously never contend for a national title but Tommy Bowden proved they can certainly contend for a conference title and potentially better bowl invites.

[say-what]

It will be on the current football practice field and all the land between riley center and wilson center (or some of it).

Is there really enough land in between the baseball stadium and athletic complex and the Reilly Center?

Based on the above description, it sounds like they're going to eliminate the tennis courts and modular housing, if still there, and reconfigure - maybe put the filed on an angle and build stands over the Reily and Wilson Centers. This is a slightly post-katrina image, so you can see the space available.

[say-what]

Aaaaaaand Tulane denies the reports

http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf...there_are.html
Tulane officials on Friday denied an online report that the school is planning to build a football stadium at its Uptown campus.

The rivals.com Tulane site, The Wave Report, reported Friday that the athletic department was taking “initial steps to start the process of building an on-campus football stadium” that would seat 20,000-30,000 fans and be positioned close to the Wilson Center. A proposal for this stadium was made by the athletic department to the Board of Trustees, according to the report.

But the university squashed the notion Friday, issuing a statement reading: “Tulane University has no plans to build a football facility. While the idea is appealing to many fans and members of the Tulane community, the university has consistently maintained that there must be sufficient funds in hand in order to construct a stadium. That is not the case at this time.”

[Unknown Poster]

Too bad, they could have really benefit from one. A decent coach wouldn't hurt, either.

[West Coast Hornet]

Aaaaaaand Tulane denies the reports

http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf...there_are.html
Tulane officials on Friday denied an online report that the school is planning to build a football stadium at its Uptown campus.

The rivals.com Tulane site, The Wave Report, reported Friday that the athletic department was taking “initial steps to start the process of building an on-campus football stadium” that would seat 20,000-30,000 fans and be positioned close to the Wilson Center. A proposal for this stadium was made by the athletic department to the Board of Trustees, according to the report.

But the university squashed the notion Friday, issuing a statement reading: “Tulane University has no plans to build a football facility. While the idea is appealing to many fans and members of the Tulane community, the university has consistently maintained that there must be sufficient funds in hand in order to construct a stadium. That is not the case at this time.”

Not surprising since they just tried to kill the football program off only a few short years ago.

[Who Dat 3]

Tulane has to deny it right now. Tulane has a policy that is fairly new....They cannot announce a project or a plan until they have 50% or more funding in place. And they cannot initiate construction until funding is 100% place .... Or its very similar to these guidelines. So by their own rules they cant announce it.

This does not mean that the plans to move forward arent approved. I am told it has been approved to move forward.

Read the last paragraph of the release "funds in hand."

[Jetstorm]

Rumors continue to circulate on the Tulane board of a "big announcement," that was supposed to come last fall, that will supposedly come this spring, concerning a "huge sea change" in Tulane athletics, particularly the big revenue sports, football and men's basketball.

Supposedly, this "sea change" will speak not just to facilities plans (although that will be a big part of it), but of a comprehensive plan to put Tulane on a more competitive footing, to get better athletes into school and help them stay eligible once they get on campus, to get Tulane into better position for possible conference re-alignment in the future, and to make winning and winning BIG in football and basketball a top priority.

Basically, the long-overdue decision by the school to completely reverse the infamous "de-emphaisis" decision by Rufus Harris back in the 1950s, that culminated with Tulane withdrawing from the SEC in 1966.

Is it true? Will it really happen? Don't know. Stay tuned...

[Unknown Poster]

Lowering the academic standards? Or do you mean they'll re-join the SEC? Honestly, I think rejoining the SEC would be awful -- look how well its working out for Vanderbilt in terms of football. Always thought Tulane would be good in the Big East.

[stickman]

Lowering the academic standards? Or do you mean they'll re-join the SEC? Honestly, I think rejoining the SEC would be awful -- look how well its working out for Vanderbilt in terms of football. Always thought Tulane would be good in the Big East.

The SEC wouldn't take them back. I think the best Tulane has to hope for is a spot in a revamped Big East. Which, I guess has some chance considering region and television market is considered as much as anything these days. And that's one area where Tulane has a school like Southern Miss beat.

[NYKF Hornet]

Mackel tweeted about it too, I think it would be a great addition. For one it would boost student interest by a huge margin for obvious reasons and it would a much easier sell to play in for recruits. I also think it would help recruit more students from the south as opposed to those from the north, lots of kids want the classic college experience and having a football team on campus, tailgates, etc. plays in to that.

Well said. I would love to see this happen, the first step towards truly turning around that program is going to be an on campus stadium. They finally got a band up and running, that was embarrassing for a school the size of Tulane not having a marching band.

The Superdome use to be a good tool for Tulane in the recruiting game, those days are over. It's time they build a nice on campus stadium to better connect with the school and neighborhood. It won't happen overnight but having a stadium will change a lot of things for Tulane.

[Wingman]

New stadium rumors heated up again this afternoon on Kaare's show on WIST. Talk of an 80-100 million dollar stadium initiative being up for a vote soon. This would be an on campus, multi use stadium with a retractable roof.

[NYKF Hornet]

The SEC wouldn't take them back. I think the best Tulane has to hope for is a spot in a revamped Big East. Which, I guess has some chance considering region and television market is considered as much as anything these days. And that's one area where Tulane has a school like Southern Miss beat.

That's not necessarily true, although I don't see Tulane getting back into the SEC either. The SEC is not only going to look at football success, in fact any new teams that might be called up the SEC won't be based on being a football powerhouse as much as other factors like academics. Someone has to absorb the losses and you can bet that no current football factories are going to want to add even better teams.

I remember in the 90s there was a rumor the SEC was looking to expel Vandy and add another team. All kinds of teams were rumored to be moving to the SEC ... Vtech, Miami, FlSt, etc. Turns out it was just rumors, Silve actually came out and said the SEC would rather add better academic based schools over football powerhouses to round out the conference.

The Big East is probably Tulane's best bet for a move up because of the TV market, but mainly the SEC wants a base in the South.

Currently the Big 12, Big 10, and Pac 10 have openly said they have future plans for expansion (the time frame is unknown). I'm sure there are others but those are the conferences I know for a fact.

No matter what happens the first step for Tulane has to be an on campus stadium. Slowly but surely I wouldn't be surprised to see Tulane eventually move up one day but it won't be any time soon. Too many other factors need to be addressed.

[HornetsFanJeff]

Has anyone figured out were they would put the stadium. I still have a hard time seeing how they could fit any stadium on their campus without tearing down a lot of buildings.

[NYKF Hornet]

New stadium rumors heated up again this afternoon on Kaare's show on WIST. Talk of an 80-100 million dollar stadium initiative being up for a vote soon. This would be an on campus, multi use stadium with a retractable roof.

Retractable roof?

I can't help but think that the Minn U idea would be more feasible. Either way it's needed badly.