UAA blasting social media with “stadium renovation” articles...is this ill timing?

I haven't seen anyone else up in arms about it but you.

 

Never crossed my mind, really, but I’m not actively looking for something to bitch about.

 

Well his name is Stricklin.
And I have been calling for his ouster for years. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is a much needed project that doesn’t really have an NIL dependency and should be seen as good news. People are just understandably salty right now.

 

Yeah, this has been in the works for a long time and they just pick a designer and announce it.....timing has nothing to do with anything else going on

People on these boards have been losing their minds for years over the lack of amenities and comforts. Now it gets addressed and they lose their minds over the spend. No winning

 

We’re being so mean!

 

The twittertwats are in a constant state of losing it. Everything that happens right now is going to have a negative spin put on it, unfortunately.

 

While I don't disagree on a need for enhancements, I agree with others that the timing is pretty poor. If there were some initial renderings, even significantly more detail than we've been receiving over the last few years on this then it would have made a little more sense, but this was nothing more than announcing an architect was hired. Seemed like the timing was to try to change the narrative IMO.

 

Think about Nebraska’s timing. They lead the nation in one-score losses, haven’t been to a bowl in a decade, but at last check I haven’t seen much carping about their $450 million renovation.

 

You do realize the UAA cant spend on NIL...

 

The architect likely wants the pr too. They want people to know they landed this job.

 

While that is true why can’t the UAA “suggest” monies get directed to the “Gator collective”….

 

Because they aren’t going to cannibalize their own revenue. They need it for things like this.
The simple fact is that we don’t have the white whale like Miami had with Ruiz, or the 80 year desperation driving crazy donations like A&M had, or the win at all costs approach LSU and others have. The new world is made for the “more brains than sense” crowd. And that isn’t us (comparatively). There are schools that actually have almost equal donations between athletics and academics, we are like 5 or more to 1 for academics.
So we will always be on the map, but there aren’t going to be large swaths of land on it named after us.
I’ve tried to make this point here for years, the new rules mean we aren’t going to be a perennial power without a massive shift in mindset from the alumni. Til then we are a 9-3 type program with a decent coach.
Jmo.

 

We should take a poll to see how many seats they take out of The Swamp...

I hope it's minimal, and the stadium looks great afterwards.

 

If the brilliant minds that do the remodel turn it into some contemporary abstraction it will ruin everything. If they mess with the field section and 'bow out' the sides of the field, it will be like every other crappy stadium. We need two massive ultra high definition jumbo-trons. Higher end food options. Better bathrooms.

I'd like to see them close off the University Ave side of the stadium. There must be a way to add seats and close that in. Make the stadium louder. Gain some seats from the added cush seats that will eliminate others.

Not sure what the historical importance is in the old Florida Olympic pool, lurking in the shadow of the stadium. It's like having a pool in NYC in the upper east side between 40 story buildings. Add skyboxes on that side.

Recruit, recruit, NIL transfers, more $ and win.

Go Gators.

 

Where do you want to put the other jumbotron? Next to the existing? On top of the sunshine seats?

When is the last time you were at the stadium? There’s three levels of seats on the north side of the stadium, and that side has been bowled in for a long time. Are you talking about the two small gaps between the sunshine seats and the upper bowls on the east and west side? I’d be very interested in seeing any plans that could tie those structures together.

Removing the pool won’t help much. That’s only a section behind the east side of the stadium. The Florida gym which occupies the rest of that area has been declared a historical building. You can’t just say oh well, I don’t think it’s historical enough, let’s tear it down. The pool itself may actually be part of the historical gym, I’m not sure.

 

They better get it while they can because if other boosters think like me (and they do) you better win before calling me for a donation.

(2 emails and a phone call since Thanksgiving. They are working their tails off.)

 

Exactly. If we weren't doing the project, they would be bitching about that. In fact, there WAS a whole lot of bitching a few years back about how Foley was a cheapskate that caused us to fall behind in facilities and we were losing the "arms race" to our opponents, along with a whole bunch of recruits. Never mind that he was fiscally responsible and kept us from having mountains of debt like other universities. Bad, bad, Jeremy Foley!!! Bad!!

This project is much needed; the Swamp provides pretty mediocre facilities currently, and with attendance at games declining nationwide--which is well documented- the UAA needed to make changes in order to keep fans in the seats. Fans and boosters were demanding no less.

This project has been in the works for years, and I am having a hard time understanding why anyone would be upset because the UAA is providing information to the public about the progress.

 

So, when would be better timing? It's supposed to be a positive thing.

 

Caller ID, man. Caller ID.

 

If we were winning on the field, this is a good thing to most fans. Unfortunately, like I said above, there’s just going to be a negative spin put on everything right now. Doesn’t matter what it is or how great it is, they’re going to make it into a bad thing.