i think we need a standalone "corbett renovation fundraising campaign". i don't have a lot of money but i'd be the first to contribute what i could if it happened. the aggie club and victory club should continue doing what they do. but a corbett renovation fundraising campaign could be solely earmarked for that purpose alone and i think our alumni would be willing to donate funds.
remember, you may have heard this first from oleschoolaggie!
we're a year or two away from having the second or third worse basketball facility in the meac! (not to mention how we'll rank against all d1 schools) and if we don't act soon, we'll fall further and further behind our meac competition. in my opinion, only scsu and bcu will have worse basketball facilities than ours.
if carolina can "completely" renovate carmichael auditorium just for women's basketball and at the same time modernize and maintain the dean dome, the least we could do is renovate our "primary" basketball facility.
keep up or fall further behind! v-state is looking to build a brand new 7,500 seat on campus arena, about the same size as the one wssu is looking to build if memory serves me correctly. both famu and coppin will be opening new arenas soon. for those who don't believe facilities matter in terms of recruiting, check out what v-state's basketball coach says (in the article below) the new facility will do for his recruiting...
New convocation center planned at Virginia StateProject could be a sign of school's Division I hopes
By RALPH N. PAULK
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Virginia State University plans to build a $70 million, 7,500-seat on-campus convocation center that it hopes will expand its money-making potential and change the landscape of its athletics program.
The project, which is not expected to start for three or four years, will enable Virginia State to bid for state high school basketball tournaments; NCAA and conference postseason tournaments; and high school graduation ceremonies.
The Virginia General Assembly approved legislation in April that authorizes nearly $1.5 billion in bond financing for building projects at state colleges and facilities during the next two years.
Virginia State will receive $44 million. The Chesterfield County School Board voted June 24 to provide $175,000, giving the school system the option of switching its graduation ceremonies to the new VSU venue.
"There's no question we will compete with VCU and the Siegel Center for events," said Tom Reed, VSU's director of university relations. "We will try to attract regional tournaments and state tournaments as an economic driver.
"We expect to develop significant parking, which means we won't have some of the [parking] issues that downtown has right now. We plan on using this to raise our profile, so we will actively pursue those opportunities."
Virginia State is negotiating the purchase of adjacent properties to build the convocation center near Daniel Gym.
The university, which held its graduations at the Richmond Coliseum the past two years, expects to provide $19 million toward the projected cost. That equates to an annual debt service of $1.4 million, according to an October 2006 feasibility report conducted by Washington-based Brailsford & Dunlavey.
In addition, university officials hope to generate $10 million by exploring partnerships with the county and surrounding cities, including Petersburg, Colonial Heights and Hopewell.
Virginia State expects to offset part of the cost by staging 105 to 132 events a year -- including concerts, boat shows, trade shows, conventions and religious events -- that could raise nearly $500,000 annually during the first five years after its completion.
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Virginia Commonwealth University hosts about 400 events each year at the Siegel Center, said Tim Lampe, director of the Siegel Center. Only about 50 involve home games for the Rams' athletic teams.
Other events include high school graduations; college graduations; boys and girls high school basketball and volleyball tournaments; AAU tournaments; cheerleading competitions; basketball and volleyball camps; robotics competitions; and concerts.
"We try to bring in events that will strengthen the university," Lampe said. "We're geared toward bringing youth to the Siegel Center. The events become secondary. When you get into state basketball, you're drawing families from all over the state."
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VSU's proposed project has launched speculation that the school might consider a jump from Division II to Division I once the NCAA lifts a four-year moratorium that was imposed last August and expires before the 2012-13 academic year.
Athletic Director Peggy Davis didn't address a potential move to Division I. But in a statement, she said: "The proposed convocation center will mark a new era in VSU athletics. Once completed, it will be the largest basketball arena in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and comparable to any Division I venue in the nation. Just as important, it also marks growth and progress at Virginia State University. It's a very exciting time for Trojan athletics."
The convocation center gives VSU the option of moving the Freedom Classic -- its annual holiday basketball showdown with CIAA rival Virginia Union University -- to its Ettrick campus.
"We've been playing at the Richmond Coliseum, but we'll have a facility with the size that enables us to play Virginia Union at home," VSU men's basketball coach Anthony Collins said.
"There's no doubt this will elevate our recruiting to another level when you bring a kid on your campus and you present that [convocation center] to him. It would impact men's and women's basketball more than anything else."
Reed and Collins acknowledged that VSU could follow the lead of former CIAA brethren Hampton, Norfolk State, North Carolina Central and Winston-Salem, all of which bolted for Division I. The NCAA considers facilities when reviewing applicants for Division I membership.
"For me to say this is a plan to move from Division II to Division I is premature," Reed said. "Where we are as a university in respect to fundraising, it would take significant increase in revenue to make it worth our while."
. . .
University officials consider the CIAA a good fit. But they have noticed that other Virginia schools with comparable enrollment, such as Longwood University, have moved to Division I.
VSU's enrollment is about 5,000. Longwood's is about 4,500.
"It's no secret that some of our alumni would like to see [the move to Division I] happen," Reed said. "But it's a matter of whether we have our financial house in order. It's a prudent track that our president has made not to make that jump just to make that jump.
"We're not going to drown ourselves in red ink just to say we are a Division I school."
CIAA Commissioner Leon Kerry hopes a new convocation center doesn't signal VSU's Division I aspirations.
"If they get permission to do it, they probably won't be able to play until 2018," Kerry said. "But a lot of things can happen between now and then. Of course, we would hate to lose a school like Virginia State. They have excellent facilities, so it may be the next logical choice for them -- or maybe it won't."