This is how you run a Capital Campaign

[buff4bcs1985]

paging Mike Bohn and Matt Biggers
http://kylefield.com/

:wow:

 

[prime teets]

that place is gonna be ****ing enormous.

 

[whatthebuff]

No beer garden and no rooftop pool. Looks pretty lame to me.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

Want. Want. Want. I have a few aggie fans, and they are not going to shut up about this one. This is absolutely huge for them. I understand CU football culture would never support something on that scale, but some renovations and improvements to folsom and a practice facility? C'Mon mike, get it done


North of 102,000 seats making A&M the largest stadium

Huge luxury suites/lounge

Huge interactive museum/concourse

Keeping the students where they belong/have been

Considering all aspects of the game day environment and incorporating everything

Keeping 12 special seats empty as a memorial to the bonfire victim.

Everything is included

 

[Lt.Col.FrankSlade]

Comparing CU to Texas A&M sounds like a futile effort to me.

 

[prime teets]

Want. Want. Want. I have a few aggie fans, and they are not going to shut up about this one. This is absolutely huge for them. I understand CU football culture would never support something on that scale, but some renovations and improvements to folsom and a practice facility? C'Mon mike, get it done


North of 102,000 seats making A&M the largest stadium

Huge luxury suites/lounge

Huge interactive museum/concourse

Keeping the students where they belong/have been

Considering all aspects of the game day environment and incorporating everything

Keeping 12 special seats empty as a memorial to the bonfire victim.

Everything is included

did your aggie friends tell you that?

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

did your aggie friends tell you that?

should have specified, biggest in the SEC

 

[Buffnik]

Tennessee's Neyland officially seats 102,455. Knowing the way folks in Texas are, I expect they decided to go to at least 102,456.

 

[Deleted member 807]

Petro dollars.

 

[buff4bcs1985]

Oh I'm not even talking about the renovations (although they are spectacular) I'm talking about the website, the video the overall polish of the campaign... if CU wants the money to roll... a slick website/presentation will help

 

[slider]

Oh I'm not talking about the renovations (although they are spectacular) I'm talking about the website, the video the overall polish of the campaign... if CU wants the money to roll... a slick website/presentation will help

CU=Small-time

 

[Deleted member 807]

How much will the project cost and how will it be funded?

The total cost of Kyle Field Redevelopment is $450 million. 51 percent will be funded by annual seat licenses, 27 percent will be funded by Kyle Field Campaign gifts, 17 percent will be funded by Texas A&M students and 5 percent will be funded by the local government agencies.

Hell will freeze over before students and local government agencies are called upon to contribute nearly $100 million for a Folsom overhaul.

 

[CUFan]

Oh I'm not even talking about the renovations (although they are spectacular) I'm talking about the website, the video the overall polish of the campaign... if CU wants the money to roll... a slick website/presentation will help

Any sort of decent communication on the plans (website or whatever) and any sort of decent coordination would help. And you HAVE to get small and large donors involved. We have no designs/culture for fostering ongoing donations from everyone (small and large). Unless you actively pay close attention to what the AD is trying to do, which is clearly not a large crowd, you have no idea what's going on up there and you get all your information from the Henderson's of the world. I know people think the fact they are showing us plans means there is commitment, but I'm not that encouraged. Commitment would include an entire department that is capable of running a coordinated capital and ongoing donation campaign. I've written this before, but my high school (heck even my elementary school) puts CU athletics to shame in this department.

 

[NashBuff]

That is what Bohn should have been doing all that time. A website with a vision for Folsom Field would have been great and gotten more people excited and it should have a section where people could donate towards the cause.

 

[Lt.Col.FrankSlade]

CU's website has been a joke for years now.

It is amazing to me that they can have a pretty good audio/visual team (their production of the spring practices was pretty good, really) but their web design team is terrible.

 

[TDbuff]

CU=Small-time

There's got to be another reason though. They have a video department that just put out 3 high production quality promotional videos that somehow made spring football look exciting. So if the CU AD has shown the ability to put out some pretty cool stuff, why aren't they putting those capabilities towards the facilities project? I can't imagine the idea hasn't occurred to them. They have the internet, they see what A&M's doing as well as other schools.

I just figure there's got to be a logical reason behind this "quiet" strategy they've employed. It might be bad logic, but I can't imagine they're just sitting on their hands, doing nothing, just because.

 

[CUFan]

Oh, you mean, like the ENTIRE CU FOUNDATION, which already exists as the 501(c)3 non-profit, fund-raising arm of the University, has lots of employees, has nice offices over on Walnut Street in east Boulder, has a branch already devoted to CU Athletics and has successfully raised close to a billion dollars for the academic side of CU in their last major campaign?

That kind of "entire department" ???

Well now, Bunky, why aren't your complaints and suggestions aimed over there toward the Walnut Street Gang, THAT "entire department" ?? Its their job!!!

Bohn's job is trying to run the Athletic Dept., you know: plan travel, schedule, balance a budget, contract with coachs, concessionaires and deal with the press.

I see no reason why you wouldn't demand it from the AD and the University. I'm not going to bash the CU Foundation, since they have been very effective at raising money for academics. Hopefully now they are increasing their focus on athletics. Nonetheless, shouldn't an effective AD be/have been fighting for these resources (from the Foundation and University)? I suspect the AD probably has and it has been falling on deaf ears. So I like to believe the University and AD share the blame.

 

[Buffnik]

I see no reason why you wouldn't demand it from the AD and the University. I'm not going to bash the CU Foundation, since they have been very effective at raising money for academics. Hopefully now they are increasing their focus on athletics. Nonetheless, shouldn't an effective AD be/have been fighting for these resources (from the Foundation and University)? I suspect the AD probably has and it has been falling on deaf ears. So I like to believe the University and AD share the blame.

The leadership has to come from the university president. Benson has admittedly been focused on fundraising for things other than athletics. He has said that he is now focusing efforts in this direction. I'm interested in seeing how it plays out. If we get our facilities plans funded, then it's not just hot air from him.

 

[Johnny Juzang]

Illinois just got $60 million to rename assembly hall the State Farm Arena or whatever. I wonder what Coors is paying.

 

[CUFan]

The leadership has to come from the university president. Benson has admittedly been focused on fundraising for things other than athletics. He has said that he is now focusing efforts in this direction. I'm interested in seeing how it plays out. If we get our facilities plans funded, then it's not just hot air from him.

Exactly. Also, exactly why I am not going to put blame on the CU Foundation. Furthermore, my frustration is showing. Benson did say his focus is on athletics now, so I will pipe down from now on and let it play out. I apologize.

 

[Wyo Buff]

Entirely different culture and market. Almost like two separate countries. About the only similiarity is that both schools nominally play American Football. One in a place where the game is strongly rooted in a tradition going back generations within families and communities. The other in a place that does not have that tradition or culture. If you built that in Boulder, it would sit half-empty even in the best years. The carrying-cost alone would be ridiculous. Every Aggie I know (and I know many) wear their ring with pride and are still very tuned in to their University. Other than the guys I played with and you guys on this site, I really do not know any Buff alumns who give more than a passing crap about athletics. Its not wrong, its just different. We are definitely better suited to the PAC 12.

 

[azbuff]

So you work for the Foundation, eh? Well, I WILL put the blame on them. I've spent a large portion of time with Foundation types and can tell you, that unless they with the Ath. Dept. portion of the Foundation, the rest look down their noses at the AD!

If I've heard it once, I've heard it about a thousand times from that quarter that, "The Ath. Dept.'s and the football/basketball program's success has nothing to do with CU's fund-raising ability!" i.e. all those free commercials and national TV exposure through games, means exactly nothing to the Foundation employees; their attitude is they are above all that and can't be bothered with that! Its called "institutional bias". Thus, Bohn can't make them do anything other ask they provide liasons and a very limited number of employees. Benson can also ask or bring political pressure to bear, but the Foundation is its own entitiy, answering to neither the AD or the Prez.

Reading your posts is like listening to Skip Bayless. Intentionally abrasive. Give it a rest, man. It is the AD's job to raise funds for athletics. If you feel he isn't doing it right, direct the attention that way.

 

[seattlebuff]

Entirely different culture and market. Almost like two separate countries. About the only similiarity is that both schools nominally play American Football. One in a place where the game is strongly rooted in a tradition going back generations within families and communities. The other in a place that does not have that tradition or culture. If you built that in Boulder, it would sit half-empty even in the best years. The carrying-cost alone would be ridiculous. Every Aggie I know (and I know many) wear their ring with pride and are still very tuned in to their University. Other than the guys I played with and you guys on this site, I really do not know any Buff alumns who give more than a passing crap about athletics. Its not wrong, its just different. We are definitely better suited to the PAC 12.

You nailed it. I could not agree more. I have 5-6 uncles and about 15 cousins that went to A&M, I spent some time partying there, I've been to 4 games there between 1980-2005. I can tell you from a traditional, football culture perspective, CU is WAY more akin to most FCS schools than A&M or most other SEC schools. The football team defines College Station, mainly because there's not much else to do there besides hunt and fish. And the Army corps (HUGE at A&M) is intertwined with the program. Hell, until 1999, they built a pep-rally bonfire so damn big it collapsed and killed like a dozen people. By contrast, we march our pep band down Pearl Street while about 50 people politely applaud. I was at CU during our absolute peak from 1991-95 and we still paled in comparison to the normal level of enthusiasm for your average Ole Miss-Georgia game.

Just like the results we're looking for on the field, we have to aim much lower (at least for the next 5-10 years) when it comes to alumni engagement, facilities, donations, etc.

 

[NashBuff]

Entirely different culture and market. Almost like two separate countries. About the only similiarity is that both schools nominally play American Football. One in a place where the game is strongly rooted in a tradition going back generations within families and communities. The other in a place that does not have that tradition or culture. If you built that in Boulder, it would sit half-empty even in the best years. The carrying-cost alone would be ridiculous. Every Aggie I know (and I know many) wear their ring with pride and are still very tuned in to their University. Other than the guys I played with and you guys on this site, I really do not know any Buff alumns who give more than a passing crap about athletics. Its not wrong, its just different. We are definitely better suited to the PAC 12.

Ndakomg Suh gave back to Nebraska as soon as he was drafted and he gave like $2 million. When did we have any ex-Buff player give back like that? The fans are getting a lot of blame in this situation but how about the alumni that played football at CU?

Good point though.

 

[FLounder]

Ndakomg Suh gave back to Nebraska as soon as he was drafted and he gave like $2 million. When did we have any ex-Buff player give back like that? The fans are getting a lot of blame in this situation but how about the alumni that played football at CU?

Good point though.

I haven't seen any buffs go in the top 10 in a while. So not really. Not a good point.

 

[TDbuff]

Ndakomg Suh gave back to Nebraska as soon as he was drafted and he gave like $2 million. When did we have any ex-Buff player give back like that? The fans are getting a lot of blame in this situation but how about the alumni that played football at CU?

Good point though.

Maybe the CU football alums need to be giving more, or at least some instead of none(if that's the case).

But guys like Suh, Adrian Peterson, donating big money to their schools is just a portion of their endorsement deals. CU really hasn't anybody make big, superstar money. They've had long careers, some pro bowls here and there, but Kordell is probably the most famous, and I'm not sure he ever landed a huge contract.

Chauncey's the one donating lately, and that's great that he's been generous, but he can do that because he has 15 years of NBA level money. He's probably made the most money by far out of any of our sports alumni.

 

[dio]

CU's website has been a joke for years now.

It is amazing to me that they can have a pretty good audio/visual team (their production of the spring practices was pretty good, really) but their web design team is terrible.

I'm sure they have a designer (maybe one) - but the CU website is just a stock layout/functionality that they probably purchased. I've seen it all over the place with other colleges

 

[azbuff]

I'm sure they have a designer (maybe one) - but the CU website is just a stock layout/functionality that they probably purchased. I've seen it all over the place with other colleges

Yep, run by Neustar, I believe.

 

[tante]

I'm sure they have a designer (maybe one) - but the CU website is just a stock layout/functionality that they probably purchased. I've seen it all over the place with other colleges

The CU AD is cheap and clueless. I have actually worked with them in the past.

 

[TDbuff]

When Brian Howell at the BDC was tweeting out Bohn's comments at the press roundtable yesterday, I asked Brian to ask Bohn if they had any plans for a facilities promo video similar to A&M's. Brian replied with this quote from Bohn: "Yes along with the entire sustained excellence plan".