forums

Ruiz stadium update

rsa coral gables said:
how does a stadium at tropical provide home field advantage?
Click to expand...


I would say that it is "more than decibels" or "actual geography". It's the fact of how close to the field we ALL were in the Orange Bowl (and I'm not just talking about the front rows). The old OB had a 2:1 ratio of lower bowl to upper bowl, which got flipped to 1:2 in the original configuration of JRS/HRS.

And don't even get me started on the limitations that HRS has placed on fan signs, etc. We used to be able to hang multiple Brian Bosworth effigies from the upper deck, now the overly-officious Hard Rock staff takes that stuff away.

Go back to the thread where a bunch of us were talking about the top 8 or 10 games when we thought the Orange Bowl was going to collapse. The common thread in all of those games was that the Miami fans were able to express themselves in a way that was SO impactful. Notre Dame never wanted to play us again. F$U might very well have had multiple kicking failures because of our fans and our homefield advantage. There was a **** good reason why we won so many home games in a row.

So when you have fan proximity and hostility and a lot of yelling/screaming/insulting, you tend to get more of a "home field advantage". It isn't solely based on where the 50 yard line is located. It's about the stadium being able to channel and amp up our energy and rage and passion, and then focus all of that emotion to FVCK UP the other team.

THAT is home field advantage. Which we have never really had at HRS, no matter what the decibel meter tells you. A got-**** awning that "holds in the sound" doesn't suddenly give us home field advantage.

Kudos to the Hard Rock Bros who can get in and out of the parking lot in 5 minutes. But I've been to nearly every UM home game for 35 years, and there are fundamental differences between the OB and HRS. There just are.

But, hey, some folks really enjoy the **** out of those amenities.

I only care about one amenity...WINNING...
 
Advertisement
The maintenance/upkeep argument absolutely has merit in relation to discussing costs but is essentially completely without merit IF you're operating under the premise that we want to be and consider ourselves to be a top 50 national university with a big boy athletics program.

Worrying about the upkeep 10-15 years from now on a structure that you wouldn't have been liable for any construction costs on while assuming there will ALWAYS be some panacea location and AIrBnB type of relationship witb the Dolphins is 1000% more risky than just planning now to keep Ruiz's stadium "modern".

This seriously is laughable IF you are cognizant of the big boy money in CFB (that isn't ending anytime soon) AND have FINALLY understood the roi factor of BEING a big boy.

There is absolutely a fair debate to he had about Tropical Park vs HRS but worrying if the program and school will have money a decade from now is part of the loser's mentality that has set us back for 15+ years.
 
Last edited:
Rickd said:
The biggest reason for a stadium ... UM's own stadium ... is the long term security of a high quality venue for UM. Like somebody pointed out earlier ... Ross is 80 years old and UM provides little financial impact on the overall Hardrock Stadium business. He has been good to UM. Will a new owner? Nobody knows. Having "their own" 60,000 - 65,000 stadium with a decent amount of parking, a stadium built FOR football, with high quality amenities, would be an outstanding plus for the PROGRAM and for UM. I drive 275 miles each way and generally get a hotel for the night of game day. So, I will just leave an hour earlier, and drive 300 miles, to ensure getting there early enough to get a parking space. Hope it happens ... love my Club Seats at Hard Rock ... hope they DO HAVE Club seats at UM Stadium. Chance of it actually happening? No idea .. 20%? Higher?
Click to expand...
There would definitely be value to UM owning its own stadium but I'm 98% sure that Ruiz and co isn't going to be spending $750M+ and then gifting the stadium to UM, so UM will still just be tenants .... tenants with possibly a better relationship (Ruiz and UM) but tenants still none-the-less.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
I would say that it is "more than decibels" or "actual geography". It's the fact of how close to the field we ALL were in the Orange Bowl (and I'm not just talking about the front rows). The old OB had a 2:1 ratio of lower bowl to upper bowl, which got flipped to 1:2 in the original configuration of JRS/HRS.

And don't even get me started on the limitations that HRS has placed on fan signs, etc. We used to be able to hang multiple Brian Bosworth effigies from the upper deck, now the overly-officious Hard Rock staff takes that stuff away.

Go back to the thread where a bunch of us were talking about the top 8 or 10 games when we thought the Orange Bowl was going to collapse. The common thread in all of those games was that the Miami fans were able to express themselves in a way that was SO impactful. Notre Dame never wanted to play us again. F$U might very well have had multiple kicking failures because of our fans and our homefield advantage. There was a **** good reason why we won so many home games in a row.

So when you have fan proximity and hostility and a lot of yelling/screaming/insulting, you tend to get more of a "home field advantage". It isn't solely based on where the 50 yard line is located. It's about the stadium being able to channel and amp up our energy and rage and passion, and then focus all of that emotion to FVCK UP the other team.

THAT is home field advantage. Which we have never really had at HRS, no matter what the decibel meter tells you. A got-**** awning that "holds in the sound" doesn't suddenly give us home field advantage.

Kudos to the Hard Rock Bros who can get in and out of the parking lot in 5 minutes. But I've been to nearly every UM home game for 35 years, and there are fundamental differences between the OB and HRS. There just are.

But, hey, some folks really enjoy the **** out of those amenities.

I only care about one amenity...WINNING...
Click to expand...
Lol you aren’t putting that sign up ob2 either. This isn’t the 80s. Times have changed
 
ssvir said:
There would definitely be value to UM owning its own stadium but I'm 98% sure that Ruiz and co isn't going to be spending $750M+ and then gifting the stadium to UM, so UM will still just be tenants .... tenants with possibly a better relationship (Ruiz and UM) but tenants still none-the-less.
Click to expand...
i'll place that 98% at 100% and agree that it appears (emphasis on appears) that UM will be a tenant, unless UM contributes equity of some sort. but let's see.
 
Advertisement
Tad Footeball said:
The maintenance/upkeep argument absolutely has merit in relation to discussing costs but is essentially completely without merit IF you're operating under the premise that we want to be and consider ourselves to be top 50 national university with a big boy athletics program.

Worrying about the upkeep 10-15 years from now on a structure that you wouldn't have been liable for any construction costs on while assuming there will ALWAYS be some panacea location and AIrBnB type of relationship witb the Dolphins is 1000% more risky than just planning now to keep Ruiz's stadium "modern".

This seriously is laughable IF you are cognizant of the big boy money in CFB (that isn't ending anytime soon) AND have FINALLY understood the roi factor of BEING a big boy.

There is absolutely a fair debate to he had about Tropical Park vs HRS but worrying if the program and school will have money a decade from now is part of the loser's mentality that has set us back for 15+ years.
Click to expand...
Definitely some merit to your statements but there are also plenty of big time schools that have spent money on stadium improvements and then been in major financial distress shortly thereafter (ie: Tenn and FSU come to mind immediately).

The old saying of "if you can fly it, float it, or **** it .... its better to rent than buy" applies here in my opinion but "opinions are like ******** ... everybody's got one".
 
Cryptical Envelopment said:
The USC renovations (especially the loge boxes, new club seats and new 1923 club) created a ton of corporate (game day AND non-game day) revenue opportunities, private event revenue opportunities (meeting space, weddings, etc) and paid sponsorship/branding rights/naming rights for said spaces. Not to mention that the improved stadium will help increase direct and ancillary game-day revenues because the fan experience (new seats, cup holders, more leg room, improved concessions, wifi and improved tech) will be better. I know they sold the plaza and press box naming rights, and didn't United Airlines buy the overall naming rights? United Airlines field @ LA Coliseum or whatever?

Personally I see a pretty clear path to re-coup and long-term profitable revenue streams. The NASCAR money alone will pay a nice chunk of the note.
Click to expand...

Here’s what I don’t get; USC is a premiere University, can we all agree upon that? USC is also one of the more profitable Universities in the nation. The running joke out here under former leadership was that SC was the Scrooge of CFB b/c they had more $$ than God & spent like a peasant.

SC have been wanting control of The Coliseum for over 20 yrs, at least. Many thought SC was in charge of The Coliseum b/c SC paraphernalia is all around. This $350m (which was actually $90m over the proposed budget) was thoroughly vetted by The AD, The Board of Regents, & Boosters. They chose to go this route b/c they had bigger plans for the entire usage of The Coliseum & the adjacent properties. That’s y from both internal & external sources continue to say “another source of revenue stream.”

As it stands, The Coliseum is constantly having events there now, as a result. No where did I even remotely suggest Miami pay that type of money, nor is that even apart of the equation. The whole point was “if” we get our own stadium “how” we can further benefit as an operating partner. The State did not require SC to pay $350m; it was actually $70m by 2023 to have The Coliseum refreshed for its Centennial Anniversary. SC decided to fully remodel it b/c they already had a vision for it to be a source of revenue outside of game day.

I’m not understanding the plight or argument in this; is that not why Ross invested $500m to renovate HRS, to make the Stadium more attractive to ancillary events as another source of revenue?
 
hoops156 said:
Lol you aren’t putting that sign up ob2 either. This isn’t the 80s. Times have changed
Click to expand...


We'll see. The issue is not "the rules", it has always been the (over) enforcement of rules.

You're not supposed to drink underage, but it happened, except for that bad year in the late 80s when Florida was sending in ATF agents to use those pH sticks to test what people were drinking. A bunch of my fellow classmates took a conviction on that back in the day.
 
ssvir said:
Definitely some merit to your statements but there are also plenty of big time schools that have spent money on stadium improvements and then been in major financial distress shortly thereafter (ie: Tenn and FSU come to mind immediately).

The old saying of "if you can fly it, float it, or **** it .... its better to rent than buy" applies here in my opinion but "opinions are like ******** ... everybody's got one".
Click to expand...
Absolutely. I just think in this instance it's a more advantageous position than the large albeit public institutions you referenced in that we'd be starting with something brand new and could plan well in advance for potential fiscal contributions/responsibilities with it. That 10-15 yr lead-up also should* coincide with the program being successful on the field and a cash cow off.

I alluded to it but we're also treating Tropical Park as a hypothetical with potential negative financial aspects while only living in the present and assuming a constant with HRS/the Dolphins/Stephen Ross. We have zero guarantees that the Dolphins (probably under new ownership) wouldn't try to rape us in future leases with them if they view us as freeloaders in a cash flush CFB landscape. So what's the scenario then? To pay a large amount of rent and hope that HRS is kept modern when we could've just planned well in advance to allot money to make sure that happens at a facility 3 miles from campus built/controlled by an alum/booster?
 
Advertisement
i dont know anything about the USC/Coliseum deal, but if USC is a private university, is it governed by the state-run Board of Regents? or do you mean the USC Board of Trustees?
 
ssvir said:
Definitely some merit to your statements but there are also plenty of big time schools that have spent money on stadium improvements and then been in major financial distress shortly thereafter (ie: Tenn and FSU come to mind immediately).

The old saying of "if you can fly it, float it, or **** it .... its better to rent than buy" applies here in my opinion but "opinions are like ******** ... everybody's got one".
Click to expand...

I call that financial agility, it’s just a made up term, but that’s how I look at it. There is definitely merit in the argument that it’s better to be financially strong and “agile“ in terms of your obligations, as opposed to the situation that FSU find itself in, for example.

Being tied down to an ongoing and onerous financial obligation can sometime create an almost unresolvable quagmire if economic conditions deteriorate.

These are just generalizations, but it applies to any situation or financial agreement that the University makes in the future.

I will say this, and make no mistake about it, assuming that something goes forward, rather than the throw-it-at-the-wall situation we’re in now with the stadium, anyone that doesn’t think that Ruiz is going to be sitting on one side of the negotiating table and the University on the other side of the negotiating table, is fooling themselves.
 
Advertisement
hoops156 said:
They’ll just take some money from uncle jesse and aunt Becky to pay for more renos
Click to expand...
I WILL NOT have you disparaging the fine student-athletes of USC's women's rowing team!

Miami could just increase Shalala's brilliant plan if we need an additional influx of cash. Admit even moarrrr Saudi & Chinese nationals at 100% sticker price. I mean this strategy probably hurts long-term alumni giving rates and general connection to the school but it's cash money now!

LIV Field at LifeWallet Park? Get MBS AND the Soffers to throw in on those naming rights.
 
Advertisement
ssvir said:
There would definitely be value to UM owning its own stadium but I'm 98% sure that Ruiz and co isn't going to be spending $750M+ and then gifting the stadium to UM, so UM will still just be tenants .... tenants with possibly a better relationship (Ruiz and UM) but tenants still none-the-less.
Click to expand...
Understood 1000% ... the OB was not "owned" by UM either. Ownership aside, the stadium is being DESIGNED as a football stadium for the primary tenant, the University of Miami. It would be the LONG TERM home of UM Football and eliminates the doubt of what might happen with HR down the road.
 
OriginalCanesCanesCanes said:
In the end it always becomes an ROI exercise.
Click to expand...
That's just not true. Obscenely rich people do obscene things with their money, absent any care about financial probity/efficiency, all the time.

I understand the skepticism - and recognize that it'd probably take around a billion to get this done right - but there is nothing stopping Ruiz from proving to all of us that he is, indeed, a benevolent god.

And, Life Wallet Stadium hosting Super Bowl LXXV could put a sizeable dent in that ROI hole. Yanevano.
 
Ajcane8 said:
That's just not true. Obscenely rich people do obscene things with their money, absent any care about financial probity/efficiency, all the time.

I understand the skepticism - and recognize that it'd probably take around a billion to get this done right - but there is nothing stopping Ruiz from proving to all of us that he is, indeed, a benevolent god.

And, Life Wallet Stadium hosting Super Bowl LXXV could put a sizeable dent in that ROI hole. Yanevano.
Click to expand...
Super Bowl is a non starter. They are held in a stadium used by the corresponding NFL team.
 
Advertisement
Back
Top