RI State Funding and URI Facilities

[hrstrat57]

Personally I’d rather have a women’s team as well as the men’s.

Agree. URI women’s club team should also be promoted.

[Blue Man]

Wow, its embarrassing that the Board of Trustees of the school need a video to show the extent of degraded facilities. Shocking to (appear to) be so completely disengaged from the campus facilities.... or Thor is trying to completely embarrass them? I would imagine that a trustee would have been to a football game or two over the last five years?

Do you think Thorr is going it alone and trying to "embarrass" the board? Or do you think the new president is making a public plea for the misinformed masses of people who will cry any time state funding is used *gasp* on the state university? The reason things are in such disrepair is that no one in state government or any position of power has ever seen them. It's a 40 min drive from the state house to Meade.

The old president didn't allow anything negative to ever be shown about what was happening at URI unless it fit his narrow agenda. Athletics didn't fit in that.

Any trustee that's been to a game in the last 5 years has either been in the president's box or in the new stands. I've been to plenty of games in the last 5 years - I can't tell you the last time I saw the west stands.

[Blue Man]

I never said hockey would be a big money maker - man it is tough to have a logical conversation these days.
I also was not talking SPECIFICALLY about URI, but in general.

Since my premise was that it is likely easier in the Northeast US for a hockey program to be financially self-sustaining, the logical thing is to cut football at Northeast Universities where it loses money.
As 72 says (a rare time where I agree with him) - if you cut football, you not only cut a money loser, you are also now eliminating a large number of men's scholarships.
This not only means you do not need to fund a woman's hockey team, but you can probably cut several other women's teams to even up the scholarships.

Mind you, this is purely a financial exercise.

I like the offseason because I'm away from the board and then I loop in and see all of this hilarity. It's just a lot to digest at once.

So...the purely financial exercise model is kinda pointless because somewhere between 7-12% of athletics programs are profitable. The one's that are would be your usual suspects; massive FBS programs with minimal pro teams in the area to take eyeballs from fans, and controlling rights to their own media entities. Most sports that are capable of turning a profit on a random year (basketball and football), are still going to subsidize all of the sports that don't.

With this weird argument that some people latch onto about football - you do realize that one D1 buy game per year basically funds the whole program? That the expenses of football are relatively smaller than most of what athletics has to spend money on? That the university as a whole benefits more by being able to sell sponsors on the fact that we have football? That we get better deals with Adidas by having football? That football's size provides title IX protection to several women's teams and by proxy allows more of the budget to be allocated to athletics overall?

Do you think about the additional opportunities it gives to students who want to work in sports journalism, marketing, athletic training, coaching, game day operations, etc? What about marching band? Are 4000 people coming out to a parking lot to see them play? Do you understand the impact that has on our educational curriculum meant to give our students the tools to contribute to society?

23,000+ fans came and spent a saturday over 5 weekends on the Kingston campus last fall. Why would you ever willingly give that up? Or worse, why would you advocate to give that up?

Some of these takes are so amazing that I feel like people have to intentionally turn off your brain and ignore every shred of common sense and actively refuse to look into the details about this subject to continue to have these grossly misinformed and hilariously tragic incorrect opinions on the subject.

The idea that cutting athletics programs makes us somehow better is a wild take for someone on a message board dedicated to said athletics programs. It's even tougher to get funding for less sports when there is less of the student population participating in them.

Collegiate athletics is not a business. It's community and alumni outreach. It gives more alums a reason to donate back to the university. It gives more alums a way to connect with their alma mater. This is like arguing for your company to forego charitable donations because there's no profit there. The impact of collegiate athletics on attracting new out of state tuition and spending is incalculable. I can't believe we have to keep explaining this to supposed fans of collegiate athletics. This feels like the comment section of a projo article where a couple of 87 year olds are pissed that URI had the audacity to repair a building with state money.

The idea that "hey we have a D1 hockey program, it's easy to be a national champion and turn a profit" is um....special.

Like ignore the fact that Boss is basically a high school/muni rink more equipped for mites and beer league than a college environment. Boss is over 20 years old. No chairbacks, no video board. Seating on 3 sides. A single snack bar.

So D1 players being recruited by BC, BU, Northeastern - are just going to come and play in a high school rink with zero tradition and a club hockey fan base? Like do you think because URI has hockey the top recruits are going to come to a place with zero facilities? Practice, training, or otherwise?

Some of the opinions on here are magical. Definitely not in the realm of reality, but magic nonetheless. I hope having these opinions on finances gives someone the gumption to click a link in my signature and start throwing money around like they do their opinions.

[OBRAM]

Well said Blueman.

[jcru]

BM, you had me at one FBS buy game funds the entire program.

Then went out to give 10 more outstanding points.

[jcru]

My personal point is, psychologically, what does that do to the university? It would be like the ultimate demotion. "Too small to compete".

I feel like, URI should do what South Dakota State did and keep it there, pinned at that level, until one day able to make the leap to the next.

And that is not out of reach.

[jcru]

I feel like with this coach, URI can maintain that level, with those 7-8 win seasons, flirting with the playoffs, and at some point breaking through.

And also, if they keep that up, at some point they are going to have one of those 10 win break out years that will really turn heads, with a deep playoff run.

[Blue Man]

And I guess to further this point - I'm an advocate for us to add D1 hockey. I'd love to see us build a legit D1 hockey arena.

I just understand the realities, how hard it is, what it would realistically take, and I don't think it should mean we have to get rid of programs to make it happen.

I'd rather see us have a football stadium, stocked NIL pool for basketball, and have those programs grow to the point where we can organically afford hockey.

This argument is like when kids that can barely take care of a pet ask for another pet. Let's get our shit together before we start adding more things to take care of.

[ramster]

Here is a Hockey thread

viewtopic.php?t=7720

[ramster]

This was an article about URI Football. Explains a lot about cost of program and where Thorr stands on Football at URI


Key quotes from the article:

Thorr Bjorn, the director of athletics, has heard the call to drop football since he took the job eight years ago but has not wavered in his support.
“My opinion has not changed. Football is very important,” he said when I spoke to him at the end of August. Football brings people to the Kingston campus five or six times a season for events that would not be held were it not for the sport. Last year, despite a one-win season, home attendance was good, he said. In addition, football contributes to the diversity of the student population in Kingston. Are those benefits worth the cost? Bjorn says yes.
Nevertheless, Bjorn and the URI administration are committed to football. A big reason that critics usually fail to comprehend is that football costs the university about $500,000. That’s all. You see, the football operating budget is about $1.3 million, and the athletic department raises about $800,000 of that total. This year the projections are $200,000 from donations and $150,000 from ticket sales. Syracuse paid a $400,000 guarantee. That’s right, the Rams collected $400,000 to travel to upstate New York to get whipped. Next year URI will head to Kansas for $500,000 and in 2017 to Eastern Michigan for $400,000. Boston College and UConn are future guarantee games.
What about scholarships, you ask? URI awards the equivalent of 58 full scholarships worth about $2.3 million to football players, Bjorn said. He agreed that even without a football program, the university would probably use that money for financial aid, unless it wanted to reduce expenses or enrollment.
So, for an outlay of $500,000 from the institution, URI gets a home opener, Family Day, Armed Forces Day, Homecoming, Saturdays are potential crowd pleasers. This year is also the 30th anniversary of the 1985 Yankee Conference championship, the 100th meeting of URI and Brown and the first meeting of URI and Harvard.

As has been mentioned by some posters, many of the Basketball Boosters are also Boosters for the Football Program. They have season tickets to both sports. Boosters for Football do not want to see Football dropped.

https://thepublicsradio.org/post/after- ... t#stream/0


Football Facilities Thread....
viewtopic.php?t=3873&start=150

[ramster]

Wow, its embarrassing that the Board of Trustees of the school need a video to show the extent of degraded facilities. Shocking to (appear to) be so completely disengaged from the campus facilities.... or Thor is trying to completely embarrass them? I would imagine that a trustee would have been to a football game or two over the last five years?

Do you think Thorr is going it alone and trying to "embarrass" the board? Or do you think the new president is making a public plea for the misinformed masses of people who will cry any time state funding is used *gasp* on the state university? The reason things are in such disrepair is that no one in state government or any position of power has ever seen them. It's a 40 min drive from the state house to Meade.

The old president didn't allow anything negative to ever be shown about what was happening at URI unless it fit his narrow agenda. Athletics didn't fit in that.

Any trustee that's been to a game in the last 5 years has either been in the president's box or in the new stands. I've been to plenty of games in the last 5 years - I can't tell you the last time I saw the west stands.

Do you mean East Stands?

Pictures of work underway for East Stands

[ramster]

More East Stands

[ramster]

Keaney Entrance work wrapping up

[Blue Man]

As has been mentioned by some posters, many of the Basketball Boosters are also Boosters for the Football Program. They have season tickets to both sports. Boosters for Football do not want to see Football dropped.

The article is fairly on point - albeit very old, and football is in a much different place now. Considering most of the D1 buy games we play in are competitive and we've had chances to beat Pitt, UConn, VaTech, and Central Michigan in recent memory.

But I care most about this point you mention. Boosters for basketball are also boosters for football. Which is the crux of the issue here.

Most of the whining and naysaying about football - or really anything to do with URI athletics - comes from people who aren't boosters of any kind. And I don't mean the Tom Ryan or Stefan Soloviev "name a building" sized donations. I mean like $20 a month. Anything.

A lot of opinions about what's wrong, but never any dollars to help "fix it" - just endless complaints.

Maybe if more people donated like they complained, we'd have zero issues with facilities or funding, and D1 hockey would happen. Just a thought.

[RF1]

More East Stands

These would appear to be the footings for the new stairways mentioned earlier in this thread:

It's been going on for some time. Maybe since December or thereabouts??

Work has started on the Meade Field East stands. Cement truck spotted yesterday

Anymore detail to this?
Are they using cement to strengthen up the stands?
Are they adding a new ADA ramp to get up to the stands?

I know they mentioned “ fire code “ and not enough of exits.

They are putting stairwells on each side of the East stands so they don't have to tarp off the top sections

[Jdrums#3]

Appreciate the pictures Ramster and RF1. Thanks.

[adam914]

Hopefully this will help lead to some positive momentum on facility upgrades.

[Blue Man]

Hopefully this will help lead to some positive momentum on facility upgrades.

This is the whole point. The lawmakers never came down here for this. For the few who love to talk about how great Dave Dooley was - he couldn’t have been worse for athletics.

It wasn’t a priority for him, he didn’t want anyone to know how bad the facilities were and he flatly refused to ask for state funding. That’s why these are the first pics you’ve ever seen of state reps seeing what’s happening.

Didn’t stop him from being seen and gladhanding everyone at sporting events though.

[RF1]

Yesterday's General Assembly Visitors

RI Rep Scott Slater (Providence) - Bryant alumnus
RI Rep William O'Brien (N Prov) - RIC alumnus (also attended FIU, PC, and URI)

[rhodyblue12]

Just when I thought I was out, they sucked back into the hockey fiasco.

Read the whole thread, Blue Man. I was adamantly NOT talking about URI specifically WRT football.
More, that it would be easier to be financially successful in hockey than football in the Northeast United States (BC is an exception).
I never said that we could win a national championship in hockey, you made that up entirely to support your view.
I don't want football cut, I go to most games. It started as a hypothetical and people took it personal.

Again, tough to have a reasonable conversation here without folks jumping ugly.
The fact that so many liked your response without one person pointing out the flaws in your assumptions shows they did not read the thread either.

Good bye, all.

[bigappleram]

Just when I thought I was out, they sucked back into the hockey fiasco.

Read the whole thread, Blue Man. I was adamantly NOT talking about URI specifically WRT football.
More, that it would be easier to be financially successful in hockey than football in the Northeast United States (BC is an exception).
I never said that we could win a national championship in hockey, you made that up entirely to support your view.
I don't want football cut, I go to most games. It started as a hypothetical and people took it personal.

Again, tough to have a reasonable conversation here without folks jumping ugly.
The fact that so many liked your response without one person pointing out the flaws in your assumptions shows they did not read the thread either.

Good bye, all.

But university athletic programs don't exist to make a profit. Sorta makes any other points about the issue moot.

[Rhody15]

Just when I thought I was out, they sucked back into the hockey fiasco.

Read the whole thread, Blue Man. I was adamantly NOT talking about URI specifically WRT football.
More, that it would be easier to be financially successful in hockey than football in the Northeast United States (BC is an exception).
I never said that we could win a national championship in hockey, you made that up entirely to support your view.
I don't want football cut, I go to most games. It started as a hypothetical and people took it personal.

Again, tough to have a reasonable conversation here without folks jumping ugly.
The fact that so many liked your response without one person pointing out the flaws in your assumptions shows they did not read the thread either.

Good bye, all.

Someone here said (don't know who) that hockey would be competing for national titles within 5 years.

Blue Man didn't make that up.

[RJRam]

Although it is a huge stretch to predict a national title in 5 years, there has always been a huge pool of talented hockey players in this area.

[Billyboy78]

Just when I thought I was out, they sucked back into the hockey fiasco.

Read the whole thread, Blue Man. I was adamantly NOT talking about URI specifically WRT football.
More, that it would be easier to be financially successful in hockey than football in the Northeast United States (BC is an exception).
I never said that we could win a national championship in hockey, you made that up entirely to support your view.
I don't want football cut, I go to most games. It started as a hypothetical and people took it personal.

Again, tough to have a reasonable conversation here without folks jumping ugly.
The fact that so many liked your response without one person pointing out the flaws in your assumptions shows they did not read the thread either.

Good bye, all.

Someone here said (don't know who) that hockey would be competing for national titles within 5 years.

Blue Man didn't make that up.

I'm not the one who said within 5 years, but I said we'd probably have a better chance to win a national title in that sport more than any other, because there only 60 some division 1 teams and if a school like Quinnipiac can win a national title, why couldn't we once the program was established? I also don't think we're ever going to have a division 1 team, so we can keep dreaming.

[RhowdyRam02]

Hopefully this will help lead to some positive momentum on facility upgrades.

This is the whole point. The lawmakers never came down here for this. For the few who love to talk about how great Dave Dooley was - he couldn’t have been worse for athletics.

It wasn’t a priority for him, he didn’t want anyone to know how bad the facilities were and he flatly refused to ask for state funding. That’s why these are the first pics you’ve ever seen of state reps seeing what’s happening.

Didn’t stop him from being seen and gladhanding everyone at sporting events though.

It wasn't a priority for him because he had to rebuild the campus after decades of neglect. There's no way we could be going after athletic facilities if the academic building upgrades weren't completed first, to say nothing of it having no chance of going through if we were still under the Board of Governors instead of a favorable Board of Trustees that Dooley set up for whoever came after him

[RhowdyRam02]

Hopefully this will help lead to some positive momentum on facility upgrades.

Spoke with my House rep this weekend asking about the project. Seems like Meade and the track are still in good shape, but a lot can change between now and June 16th. One thing to watch out for, it looks like part of the debt ceiling negotiation nationally is looking to reclaim unspent Covid money that went out. If that goes through does RI lose a bunch of money, and if so does that put this project on the chopping block? These next three weeks are officially squeaky bum time for this project

[RhowdyRam02]

As has been mentioned by some posters, many of the Basketball Boosters are also Boosters for the Football Program. They have season tickets to both sports. Boosters for Football do not want to see Football dropped.

The article is fairly on point - albeit very old, and football is in a much different place now. Considering most of the D1 buy games we play in are competitive and we've had chances to beat Pitt, UConn, VaTech, and Central Michigan in recent memory.

But I care most about this point you mention. Boosters for basketball are also boosters for football. Which is the crux of the issue here.

Most of the whining and naysaying about football - or really anything to do with URI athletics - comes from people who aren't boosters of any kind. And I don't mean the Tom Ryan or Stefan Soloviev "name a building" sized donations. I mean like $20 a month. Anything.

A lot of opinions about what's wrong, but never any dollars to help "fix it" - just endless complaints.

Maybe if more people donated like they complained, we'd have zero issues with facilities or funding, and D1 hockey would happen. Just a thought.

One thing to point out, no other program has had to do what hockey has gone through. The university builds those teams facilities, we make hockey build their own. So Henry Mackal donated to build a hockey rink. When he died, the University said screw a hockey rink, we'll build an indoor track facility, and misappropriated the donated funds. Then Bradford Boss stepped up and got an arena built. But now that's not good enough to people and we need more (even though we can be competitive at certain levels as is) or we don't get hockey. Hockey boosters have donated enough for two viable college hockey ice rinks and are still told that's enough. We'd be down to men's and women's basketball alone if any other sports had to go through what hockey fans at this school have had to go through

[RhowdyRam02]

Bond items passed under Dooley:

2010 = $61 million chemistry building
2014 = $125 million engineering building
2016 = $25.5 million Bliss Hall renovation and $20 million for URI innovation campuses with private partners
2018 = $45 million for the Narragansett Bay Campus
2021 = $57.3 million for the Fine Arts Center

That's $328.8 million in bond items voted on in 12 years by a population not exactly known for supporting good ol' state U.

So that's just the ballot items, that doesn't even get into the massive improvements in facilities and grounds that happened under Dooley's watch that were funded outside of ballot measures. It also doesn't get into the fact that Dooley getting a URI Board of Trustees through and getting us away from the Board of Governors was an absolute masterstroke that makes literally all the fun dessert shit that President Parlange is trying to get through now even remotely possible. If we're under the Board of Governors this is ABSOLUTELY NOT a discussion, these projects would be DOA before they even got to the Governor for consideration. It doesn't take into account the improved academics and profile of students admitted into the University. And it doesn't take into account that President Parlange might not even be here if not for the improvements on campus, specifically the first bond measure in 2018 for the Narragansett Bay Campus and the groundwork laid for the $100 million NBC bond in the 2022 election. Anyone that's heard President Parlange speak even once has heard him talk about the blue economy. If previous improvements and planned upgrades in the pipeline weren't in place, we're not nearly as attractive a place for him. If none of these things happen, students and faculty are rightfully so screaming bloody murder about the deplorable conditions of the facilities everyone uses so that athletic facilities can be upgraded.

The University is significantly better than it was in July 2009 and you can thank one David M. Dooley for that. If he was too busy fixing other areas of campus to do what you wanted in athletics, sorry, but this is a University not a North American professional sports franchise or a European athletic club. If you're saying it's about time someone did something, you can thank one David M. Dooley laying the groundwork over 12 years that is allowing President Parlange to be here in the first place and run off of that groundwork. After the ineffectual presidency of Robert Carothers, Dooley didn't have that same luxury. Anybody bitching and moaning about David Dooley sounds like a simpleton at best, a raving lunatic at worst, but someone with no clue what they're talking about no matter what

[scituateram]

Wow. I’ve been reading posts on this board since the Projo days and had to chirp in as that was a great take.

Living out west for years and coming back to campus seeing the engineering building alone made me pause in thinking that “real” money had to be raised to get that done.

[section(105)]

I think history will look very favorably upon the David Dooley was able to accomplish regarding the list above. And it should.

[NYGFan_Section208]

I think history will look very favorably upon the David Dooley was able to accomplish regarding the list above. And it should.

Plus, Dools was always cool to us at the A10 or NCAAT

[RF1]

Did the South County Bike Trail yesterday. Given parking is scare by the Kingston Train Station, I decided to start on campus since there would be plenty of parking with school out. Parked by Flagg Road and went by Meade (this section was not fenced and gated off this day). It appears that not much has been done on the additional East Stands stairways since Ramster posted the photos of the new footings some two weeks ago. Looks like some steel for the stairs may however be on site. Lots of activity was going on in the Beck Field area as prep for the RI Special Olympics this weekend had started. Several tents going up by Boss for an athletes village.

Would be nice if something was done with the former International Scholar Athlete Institute grounds. It is looking rather shabby. A 2018 Projo piece indicates that URI owns the property and hoped to repurpose. looks like nothing has been done in those five years. One of the buildings there was never even fully completed. What is it with uncompleted structures at URI? Work was started on the Greek Amphitheater behind the Fine Arts Center some 15 years ago and stopped. If the goal was to create Greek ruins, it was accomplished.

[hrstrat57]

I’ve said it many times on the forums, do yourself a favor if you’ve not been on campus in 20 yrs or so and take a visit and walk around the academic areas. The changes and improvements will blow your mind. A lot of credit to Dooley.

Aside from Boss Arena and the RC the athletic facilities are run down, clearly a Parlange focus for resolution.

[4Diffs]

Bond items passed under Dooley:

2010 = $61 million chemistry building
2014 = $125 million engineering building
2016 = $25.5 million Bliss Hall renovation and $20 million for URI innovation campuses with private partners
2018 = $45 million for the Narragansett Bay Campus
2021 = $57.3 million for the Fine Arts Center

That's $328.8 million in bond items voted on in 12 years by a population not exactly known for supporting good ol' state U.

So that's just the ballot items, that doesn't even get into the massive improvements in facilities and grounds that happened under Dooley's watch that were funded outside of ballot measures. It also doesn't get into the fact that Dooley getting a URI Board of Trustees through and getting us away from the Board of Governors was an absolute masterstroke that makes literally all the fun dessert shit that President Parlange is trying to get through now even remotely possible. If we're under the Board of Governors this is ABSOLUTELY NOT a discussion, these projects would be DOA before they even got to the Governor for consideration. It doesn't take into account the improved academics and profile of students admitted into the University. And it doesn't take into account that President Parlange might not even be here if not for the improvements on campus, specifically the first bond measure in 2018 for the Narragansett Bay Campus and the groundwork laid for the $100 million NBC bond in the 2022 election. Anyone that's heard President Parlange speak even once has heard him talk about the blue economy. If previous improvements and planned upgrades in the pipeline weren't in place, we're not nearly as attractive a place for him. If none of these things happen, students and faculty are rightfully so screaming bloody murder about the deplorable conditions of the facilities everyone uses so that athletic facilities can be upgraded.

The University is significantly better than it was in July 2009 and you can thank one David M. Dooley for that. If he was too busy fixing other areas of campus to do what you wanted in athletics, sorry, but this is a University not a North American professional sports franchise or a European athletic club. If you're saying it's about time someone did something, you can thank one David M. Dooley laying the groundwork over 12 years that is allowing President Parlange to be here in the first place and run off of that groundwork. After the ineffectual presidency of Robert Carothers, Dooley didn't have that same luxury. Anybody bitching and moaning about David Dooley sounds like a simpleton at best, a raving lunatic at worst, but someone with no clue what they're talking about no matter what

This is a nice summary of what Dooley accomplished and it is very impressive. Thanks for sharing. The most important thing he did as you mentioned, and I think this will bear fruit going forward, is advocating for and accomplishing a Board of Trustees for just URI. The old system was archaic and was fright with infighting about this school and that school, the old what about me. It is about time they have a board who advocates only for URI, will be easier to get things done and have a consistent message going forward.

I liken the Dooley and Parlange situation to a house. Dooley had to deal with foundation/structural issues and had to take care of those first before he could worry about the kitchen and bath renovation and adding a fourth bedroom. Dooley spent his time and focus on making the academic buildings on campus the priority which is what he should have done and removing the hand cuffs that were put on the University by the board of governors. He did both of those. Now the new president comes in and the foundation of the house is sound, now he can look at other items that have fallen into disrepair. And good for him to do this. Now many of these items just happen to be the outdated athletic facilities.

If I was a betting man, I think the 43.3 million is what will pass this year, I doubt they get the extra 28.3 million the school is advocating for. It will be great if they do and I hope they do, just do not expect it. If this is what happens, where does the other 10.8 million dollars needed for the Meade renovation and the outdoor track come from? Will that just be reallocated from the existing URI budget? The state is only offering to fund 80% of these costs and wants the school to fund the other 20%. Anybody know?

[NYGFan_Section208]

Did the South County Bike Trail yesterday. Given parking is scare by the Kingston Train Station, I decided to start on campus since there would be plenty of parking with school out. Parked by Flagg Road and went by Meade (this section was not fenced and gated off this day). It appears that not much has been done on the additional East Stands stairways since Ramster posted the photos of the new footings some two weeks ago. Looks like some steel for the stairs may however be on site. Lots of activity was going on in the Beck Field area as prep for the RI Special Olympics this weekend had started. Several tents going up by Boss for an athletes village.

Would be nice if something was done with the former International Scholar Athlete Institute grounds. It is looking rather shabby. A 2018 Projo piece indicates that URI owns the property and hoped to repurpose. looks like nothing has been done in those five years. One of the buildings there was never even fully completed. What is it with uncompleted structures at URI? Work was started on the Greek Amphitheater behind the Fine Arts Center some 15 years ago and stopped. If the goal was to create Greek ruins, it was accomplished.

ISAI building needs to be repurposed into a grocery store, with a packy in one corner.

[RhowdyRam02]

Bond items passed under Dooley:

2010 = $61 million chemistry building
2014 = $125 million engineering building
2016 = $25.5 million Bliss Hall renovation and $20 million for URI innovation campuses with private partners
2018 = $45 million for the Narragansett Bay Campus
2021 = $57.3 million for the Fine Arts Center

That's $328.8 million in bond items voted on in 12 years by a population not exactly known for supporting good ol' state U.

So that's just the ballot items, that doesn't even get into the massive improvements in facilities and grounds that happened under Dooley's watch that were funded outside of ballot measures. It also doesn't get into the fact that Dooley getting a URI Board of Trustees through and getting us away from the Board of Governors was an absolute masterstroke that makes literally all the fun dessert shit that President Parlange is trying to get through now even remotely possible. If we're under the Board of Governors this is ABSOLUTELY NOT a discussion, these projects would be DOA before they even got to the Governor for consideration. It doesn't take into account the improved academics and profile of students admitted into the University. And it doesn't take into account that President Parlange might not even be here if not for the improvements on campus, specifically the first bond measure in 2018 for the Narragansett Bay Campus and the groundwork laid for the $100 million NBC bond in the 2022 election. Anyone that's heard President Parlange speak even once has heard him talk about the blue economy. If previous improvements and planned upgrades in the pipeline weren't in place, we're not nearly as attractive a place for him. If none of these things happen, students and faculty are rightfully so screaming bloody murder about the deplorable conditions of the facilities everyone uses so that athletic facilities can be upgraded.

The University is significantly better than it was in July 2009 and you can thank one David M. Dooley for that. If he was too busy fixing other areas of campus to do what you wanted in athletics, sorry, but this is a University not a North American professional sports franchise or a European athletic club. If you're saying it's about time someone did something, you can thank one David M. Dooley laying the groundwork over 12 years that is allowing President Parlange to be here in the first place and run off of that groundwork. After the ineffectual presidency of Robert Carothers, Dooley didn't have that same luxury. Anybody bitching and moaning about David Dooley sounds like a simpleton at best, a raving lunatic at worst, but someone with no clue what they're talking about no matter what

This is a nice summary of what Dooley accomplished and it is very impressive. Thanks for sharing. The most important thing he did as you mentioned, and I think this will bear fruit going forward, is advocating for and accomplishing a Board of Trustees for just URI. The old system was archaic and was fright with infighting about this school and that school, the old what about me. It is about time they have a board who advocates only for URI, will be easier to get things done and have a consistent message going forward.

I liken the Dooley and Parlange situation to a house. Dooley had to deal with foundation/structural issues and had to take care of those first before he could worry about the kitchen and bath renovation and adding a fourth bedroom. Dooley spent his time and focus on making the academic buildings on campus the priority which is what he should have done and removing the hand cuffs that were put on the University by the board of governors. He did both of those. Now the new president comes in and the foundation of the house is sound, now he can look at other items that have fallen into disrepair. And good for him to do this. Now many of these items just happen to be the outdated athletic facilities.

If I was a betting man, I think the 43.3 million is what will pass this year, I doubt they get the extra 28.3 million the school is advocating for. It will be great if they do and I hope they do, just do not expect it. If this is what happens, where does the other 10.8 million dollars needed for the Meade renovation and the outdoor track come from? Will that just be reallocated from the existing URI budget? The state is only offering to fund 80% of these costs and wants the school to fund the other 20%. Anybody know?

No idea where the URI $10.8 million in funds would come from. If this was the Carothers/Petro era that would have me concerned. With our current administration and Board of Trustees I'm confident we already have a solid plan in place if not a good chunk of that funding secured

[4Diffs]

"No idea where the URI $10.8 million in funds would come from. If this was the Carothers/Petro era that would have me concerned. With our current administration and Board of Trustees I'm confident we already have a solid plan in place if not a good chunk of that funding secured"

I agree with you that they have a plan to fund this 10.8 million dollars. If not from the current operating budget, I am sure they have some other funding mechanism lined up.

[Obadiah]

I think there is lack of differentiation between the URI budget and capital investment, two different subjects. Capital investment can come from three sources 1) general obligation bonds which need voter approval. 2) revenue bonds which requires a legislative initiative and approval (the approach used to build Ryan), 3) Asset Protection program requires legislative action. This subject is totally different from budgetary amount given annually to URI. It is this source of funds and the amounts granted that makes URI on a per capita basis one of worst funded public institutions in the country. This impacts all aspects of URI operation including Athletics. It is this item which Parlange is trying to significantly change and we need to look at the State budget for the coming fiscal year once approved to see if Parlange succeeds.

[section(105)]

Heard today at the URI Golden Grads Weekend, at a Fine Arts Tour, the 8-9% state funding for URI ranks URI above Mississippi at the bottom. Ouch

[RhowdyRam02]

So after the Governor proposed $43.3 million from the state over three years in his budget to renovate Meade and the Slade track complex, it appears the legislature has come back with $28.3 million over two years in their budget for an "athletics complex" that came out yesterday. (Page 41 of following PDF)

http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Bill ... /H5200.pdf

A. Congratulations on the General Assembly yet again shitting on the state University. I don't know what the record is for consecutive years for one legislative body shitting on their state flagship University is, but RI definitely holds that record.
B. I bet they think we should be grateful for these crumbs they threw our way while they were running a surplus. But they chopped off more than a third of what the Governor proposed. Again, just an embarrassment of a General Assembly.
C. I really have no idea what this means for us going forward.

It appears that renovating the unsafe East Meade stands is off the table. The $28 million would still leave $14 million that the University would need to fund that project alone and I don't see where that could be considered a "complex".

If we follow the Governor's proposal where the state kicks in 80% and the University does the other 20%, this means we're funding about $35.4 million worth of athletics upgrades. I'm not really seeing a combination of these projects that gets to $35.4 million.

If the state funding is all we're using and we're not kicking in University funding than the bottom 4 projects on the top image should all be funded, which is great that they're being done as they're all necessary projects, but it leaves the facility for your 2nd most visible sport unsafe and noncompetitive and it leaves your outdoor track condemned for 30 years when pretty much every city and town has their own outdoor track and field facility. And honestly, at $42 million for Meade if we're not getting the state to fund a state facility I don't know what the future holds for that stadium and our football program.

I can't wait to see what this means for us going forward

[hrstrat57]

All of the money will need to go to Meade if football is to continue revival. I see us dropping down a level otherwise.

Sad.

[KingstonLane]

So after the Governor proposed $43.3 million from the state over three years in his budget to renovate Meade and the Slade track complex, it appears the legislature has come back with $28.3 million over two years in their budget for an "athletics complex" that came out yesterday. (Page 41 of following PDF)

http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Bill ... /H5200.pdf

A. Congratulations on the General Assembly yet again shitting on the state University. I don't know what the record is for consecutive years for one legislative body shitting on their state flagship University is, but RI definitely holds that record.
B. I bet they think we should be grateful for these crumbs they threw our way while they were running a surplus. But they chopped off more than a third of what the Governor proposed. Again, just an embarrassment of a General Assembly.
C. I really have no idea what this means for us going forward.

It appears that renovating the unsafe East Meade stands is off the table. The $28 million would still leave $14 million that the University would need to fund that project alone and I don't see where that could be considered a "complex".

If we follow the Governor's proposal where the state kicks in 80% and the University does the other 20%, this means we're funding about $35.4 million worth of athletics upgrades. I'm not really seeing a combination of these projects that gets to $35.4 million.

If the state funding is all we're using and we're not kicking in University funding than the bottom 4 projects on the top image should all be funded, which is great that they're being done as they're all necessary projects, but it leaves the facility for your 2nd most visible sport unsafe and noncompetitive and it leaves your outdoor track condemned for 30 years when pretty much every city and town has their own outdoor track and field facility. And honestly, at $42 million for Meade if we're not getting the state to fund a state facility I don't know what the future holds for that stadium and our football program.

I can't wait to see what this means for us going forward

A lot to unpack here, and a bummer overall.

Don’t know if this is a hot take, but my personal opinion is every available dollar should be spent on Football + Basketball to get them up to par.

If there’s leftover $ after that, you can do the other things. Not sure there’s any marginal gain of upgrading or soccer or softball fields for example

[RhowdyRam02]

Honestly I'm not sure that's really a hot take. You have to take care of those three programs first. I just don't see where what's in the budget takes care of Meade. And if not now, when does Meade get fixed? How long does it have left?

It's so insulting that the state only kicked in $18 million on the Ryan Center, spent around $200 million to buy the Dump from Providence and renovate it for the PBruins and PC, proposed tens of millions in a failed attempt to keep the PawSox, has spent $60 million on a stadium for an unaffiliated soccer team no one was asking for, and is now again only giving us crumbs when it's our turn to get funded. Maybe if we were a private enterprise instead of the state flagship we could get proper funding for once

[hrstrat57]

Honestly I'm not sure that's really a hot take. You have to take care of those three programs first. I just don't see where what's in the budget takes care of Meade. And if not now, when does Meade get fixed? How long does it have left?

It's so insulting that the state only kicked in $18 million on the Ryan Center, spent around $200 million to buy the Dump from Providence and renovate it for the PBruins and PC, proposed tens of millions in a failed attempt to keep the PawSox, has spent $60 million on a stadium for an unaffiliated soccer team no one was asking for, and is now again only giving us crumbs when it's our turn to get funded. Maybe if we were a private enterprise instead of the state flagship we could get proper funding for once

Word

[PCFriars]

Honestly I'm not sure that's really a hot take. You have to take care of those three programs first. I just don't see where what's in the budget takes care of Meade. And if not now, when does Meade get fixed? How long does it have left?

It's so insulting that the state only kicked in $18 million on the Ryan Center, spent around $200 million to buy the Dump from Providence and renovate it for the PBruins and PC, proposed tens of millions in a failed attempt to keep the PawSox, has spent $60 million on a stadium for an unaffiliated soccer team no one was asking for, and is now again only giving us crumbs when it's our turn to get funded. Maybe if we were a private enterprise instead of the state flagship we could get proper funding for once

I’m not an expert in the area, but I think Title IX might have an impact here. I’m not sure how much can be solely allocated to a men’s sport without equal allocation in a women’s sport. I could be wrong, but I think might be why track is lumped in with these football renovations.

[Falcon]

As an alum from the 60's who has been a staunch supporter of the University over the past 7 decades it is TIME for US to declare " WAR " on the state house .

Stay tuned !

[R.Kelly150]

Honestly I'm not sure that's really a hot take. You have to take care of those three programs first. I just don't see where what's in the budget takes care of Meade. And if not now, when does Meade get fixed? How long does it have left?

It's so insulting that the state only kicked in $18 million on the Ryan Center, spent around $200 million to buy the Dump from Providence and renovate it for the PBruins and PC, proposed tens of millions in a failed attempt to keep the PawSox, has spent $60 million on a stadium for an unaffiliated soccer team no one was asking for, and is now again only giving us crumbs when it's our turn to get funded. Maybe if we were a private enterprise instead of the state flagship we could get proper funding for once

I’m not an expert in the area, but I think Title IX might have an impact here. I’m not sure how much can be solely allocated to a men’s sport without equal allocation in a women’s sport. I could be wrong, but I think might be why track is lumped in with these football renovations.

So does the women’s teams at some of the universities with new college football stadiums (just google new college football stadiums) get anywhere near the cost of those stadiums for their own athletic facilities. I honestly doubt it! This is RI being cheap as usual… nothing more.

[RhowdyRam02]

As an alum from the 60's who has been a staunch supporter of the University over the past 7 decades it is TIME for US to declare " WAR " on the state house .

Stay tuned !

Actually I'm hearing a rumor war might not be necessary. Definitely stay tuned though. If the newest rumor I'm hearing is true I might owe the General Assembly an apology and I'll be happy to do it

[Brian Forster]

at golf tourney,Pres. Palange said they thought they would be getting $$ needed from the state.
Hoping for new video scoreboard before this season?

[RhowdyRam02]

Yes, my friend heard at the spring game that we'd be getting a video scoreboard before this season