You do realize there are far more people and companies who would contribute to a football stadium rather than volleyball, right? Maybe a football stadium is a bad idea but this travesty that is volleyball arena funding has nothing to do with it. Heather knew no one was donating to it. That's why she got Gallagher to sign off on funding it with bonds. Then when Gabel took over she hated that and probably told Heather to start raising money for it or she's out.
Heather dug a hole she could not fill
- Thread starter OmarMarino
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You do realize there are far more people and companies who would contribute to a football stadium rather than volleyball, right? Maybe a football stadium is a bad idea but this travesty that is volleyball arena funding has nothing to do with it. Heather knew no one was donating to it. That's why she got Gallagher to sign off on funding it with bonds. Then when Gabel took over she hated that and probably told Heather to start raising money for it or she's out.
all these rich pitt football fans, sitting on their wallets waiting to give it all away for a new stadium. They are huge fans but wont donate to the fotball program or NIL affiliated shells but they'll open up their bank accounts if we want a 700 million dollar stadium in oakland?
No, gonna be honest, i didnt know such a demographic existed. news to me.
Won’t be an issue
His rationale changes -
First it was firing SP- still didn’t attend
Then it was needing script logo- still won’t attend
Then it was the old colors - still won’t attend .
Club seats are very affordable at pitt .
They wont and they also wont .
Why would companies pay for a stadium when they can buy advertising a helluva lot cheaper seen by way more people twice a week ?
Holy shit
Why didn’t people and companies foot the bill for the current stadium ?
Little RMU raised $50 million for their basketball arena. Don't tell me that Pitt couldn't raise exponentially more than the $12 million Heather raised for the volleyball arena if they decided to build a football stadium. Just a guess here but I would say Pitt would be able to raise at least $200 million for a football stadium. Now, would it be worth it to debt finance the other half billion or so? I dont know. But they are debt financing $230 million for volleyball soooo....
This post just reeks of 1998
It seems to me.....that if indeed there are donors willing to pony up a couple hundred mill for a new stadium, these cats are serious about Pitt being big time football
And yet at the same time, we are woefully behind in NIL funding.
Seems to me either there is a head scratching disconnect among these whales, or islander panther is clueless.
As for Heather, I think there was a common thread between her and Todd Graham.
Both were aware of Pitt’s traditions, history and reputation when they landed here. It was only when they went to work that they realized Pitt's commitment was fleeting.....
I often think its quite remarkable that Walt won the BE, Wanny won 10 games, PN has an ACC title and we are currently sniffing the 12 team tourney.....given how abysmal our donor base really is.
Both were aware of Pitt’s traditions, history and reputation when they landed here. It was only when they went to work that they realized Pitt's commitment was fleeting.....
I often think its quite remarkable that Walt won the BE, Wanny won 10 games, PN has an ACC title and we are currently sniffing the 12 team tourney.....given how abysmal our donor base really is.
The only thing that was clueless and ultimate counterproductive was Heather Lyke’s schizophrenic position on NIL… you want to moan about Pitt’s NIL position, then start with her.
I keep reading these post and thinking that if there really are Pitt donors ready and willing to donate somewhere north of a half a billion dollars to Pitt athletics, but they have been holding all that money in reserve for literally decades now, that those people are just about the most pathetic people around.
The one, and probably only, way Pitt could ever get the kind of money it would take to build a stadium in Oakland (including all the expenses that would entail, not just for the base stadium) would be for Pitt to become a long term success in football. Which perhaps Pitt could do, if those people holding on to their money tighter than Scrooge McDuck had been using that all along to improve the program.
Of course the irony of that is that if we did have such a program, the need to move from a 68,000 seat stadium into a 45,000 seat stadium on campus would completely disappear. Quite the conundrum.
How much money do you think has been spent at this point? Probably most of it, I'd assume but I wonder if it would be better to just tear it down if we can save $100 million. I mean those teams actually do already have an adequate home venue.
The structural steel and exterior cladding is substantially complete.
Most, if not all, of the supplies and materials required to complete construction have been purchased and are staged for installation.
Contract monies for contractors are probably 75% spent.
Using these estimates based upon observations and previous project management experience, about $200 million of the purported $240 million price tag have been spent.
The issue with Lyke was not athletic performance, it was financial. Taking on VHs without having nearly enough of the funding brought in from outside the athletic budget and not being where she should be with NIL (Admittedly that does have a corelation to athletic performance.
But, on Gabel's end, she is trying to clean up the budget, and you have to imagine on of the top line items they are looking for in a new AD is somehow who can bring in more outside money for the VH project.
I would assume Ghalager shares some of this blame for allowing the victory heights project to begin without having the funds/donations/naming rights done in advance.
As if she was the person who approved the plans for Victory Heights...
Pitt needs add a position work along side the AD. Especially if they feel there needs to be more attention to find raising and NIL.
Is Thomas Tull a Pitt fan yet? If not, then what the heck are they doing. Start throwing him tickets, VIP invites, whatever... to any sport that he likes. FB, BB, VB, whatever. Get his ass on campus or to the games.
Some Pitt fans. “Our facilities suck, Pitt is cheap, Pitt needs to spend money before I give!!!”
Pitt: Upgrades all facilities, gives competitive coaches pay across the board, invests without donors stepping up
Some Pitt fans: “why are you spending money!!! Why did you upgrade facilities, why did you spend that on coaches!! I’m not donating!!”
It’s never going to change. We are what we are.
Pitt: Upgrades all facilities, gives competitive coaches pay across the board, invests without donors stepping up
Some Pitt fans: “why are you spending money!!! Why did you upgrade facilities, why did you spend that on coaches!! I’m not donating!!”
It’s never going to change. We are what we are.
This, and only this. The only thing that Pitt has plenty of, when it comes to athletic donors, is excuses. People who live in the on-campus stadium fantasy world do a lot of complaining and little more.
This will offend people but nobody cares about volleyball. OK, due to the extreme success we are having, which wouldn't be sustainable under a different coach, our attendance has been good so there ARE people interested in buying a very cheap ticket to see extreme winning. But none of these people were clamoring for a new arena. You people cant blame Pitt donors for not funding an arena for non-revenue sports. We dont care about those sports.
No worries and no offense taken......but you really should speak about things you know something about. Pitt put 12,000 fans in the Pete a few weeks ago against Penn State and there will be 12,000 more next week against Louisville. Oh yeh....I forgot....it was because the tickets are so cheap.
From Youth to the Pros, Volleyball Is Surging in the U.S.
It is hard to not notice volleyball’s skyward trajectory. The sport is on fire, says USA Volleyball's CEO.
www.sportico.com
No worries and no offense taken......but you really should speak about things you know something about. Pitt put 12,000 fans in the Pete a few weeks ago against Penn State and there will be 12,000 more next week against Louisville. Oh yeh....I forgot....it was because the tickets are so cheap.
From Youth to the Pros, Volleyball Is Surging in the U.S.
It is hard to not notice volleyball’s skyward trajectory. The sport is on fire, says USA Volleyball's CEO.
Its because of 2 things:
1. Extreme winning. Pitt has a Top 5 Volleyball PROGRAM and is a NC contender every year. This isnt sustainable under a different HC.
2. Cheap tickets. The program probably loses more money than any other non-revenue sport due to coaching salaries and recruiting budgets. They dont sell enough tickets to come close to making up for this.
If Fisher left and Pitt went back to being a .500 program, there will be 350 people in attendance.
Keep chasing that unicorn. The rest of us will live in reality.
Thinking a rich steeler fan who has an ownership piece , is going to care at all about Pitt is silly .
A billionaire doesn’t need freebies
There is already someone running NIL
A billionaire doesn’t need freebies
why ?
There is already someone running NIL
You want to marinade in the negative sauce of “Pitt fans suck and Pitt fans are cheap”, be my guest. That’s a clueless take. You can’t be taken seriously.
Please share how the lack of serious NIL money isn't just the fans being cheap. Please explain how having many unfunded football scholarships is clueless. Please provide some insight on the active, behind the scenes, efforts to build that on-campus stadium. Less than 50k people showed up to watch Pitt's best start since Dan Marino was QB and you want me to believe that I can't be taken seriously when I say Pitt fans are just full of excuses.
And if he leaves and they go back to winning 70% of games, the new arena will be a morgue. We can agree on that.
Are you having conversations in your mind because you haven't presented any information other than one unfounded claim and a bunch of insults.
No but you do you boo. You hate that volleyball is popular and just gaining more traction. Stay mad.
I haven’t insulted you once but you did insult me. My statements about the stadium have been documented on this board earlier.
No worries and no offense taken......but you really should speak about things you know something about. Pitt put 12,000 fans in the Pete a few weeks ago against Penn State and there will be 12,000 more next week against Louisville. Oh yeh....I forgot....it was because the tickets are so cheap.
From Youth to the Pros, Volleyball Is Surging in the U.S.
It is hard to not notice volleyball’s skyward trajectory. The sport is on fire, says USA Volleyball's CEO.
So you want to ban SMF?
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