Basketball arena

Slight impact: :rofl:

Yes there is plenty foot traffic in that area, but, the times when it is wont overlap with times the arena would be busy. Foot traffic is from like 8-5 on weekdays. Games would be on weekends and nights

One resident from Knolls of Oxford meeting another resident from Knolls of Oxford on the way to the new arena, wherever it may be!!

Everyone walks (or drives) all over you…

Few premises: A) A large university like Miami needs an arena for purposes beyond just basketball. B) Millett has $80m+ in deferred maintenance and will never be a good arena due to issues inherent to its original design. C) It is better to have a major facility that will host speakers, graduations, concerts, job fairs, events, etc. in the middle of campus, rather than the outskirts.

Does anyone disagree with any of those 3 premises? Is all of the belly aching really about it going on a half artificial turf field that gets minimal use outside rec sports and walking across it (yes I know there are other rarer uses).

I’ve said from the beginning the majority of the pushback is a legitimate argument about any athletic spending at Miami, mostly from those who do not like athletics. Have that argument if you want to have it, but the Cook Field canonization is just silly.

This is before getting into the advantages of having a modern, nice hotel dead center of campus as well for prospective families, current students, guests, and others. Don’t want to knock The Elms or the travel hotels, but they aren’t impressive when trying to entice prospective families or impress guests.

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One of the top reasons for utilizing Cook Field is the size of the footprint allows for the hotel/conference center next door turning it into an entertainment/hosting center on campus. As of now they do not have plans for that piece, the hotel that they were engaged with pulled out because they didn’t feel there was enough off-weekend demand to make it feasible. I’m curious to see how that impacts the BOT decision. The Cook Field site is more expensive to build on but offers greater long term potential, if that potential can be realized in the form of the Event/Entertainment hub. I’m not 100% sold it can be unless it’s something the university wants to fully take on vs their preferred means of farming out operations to a third party.

The Hampton on Spring is getting a complete renovation as we speak. Every single room. The lobby. Everything. My home away from home!! :grinning_face:

But…building on Cook Field would be infill development!

I”m 100% for a new arena, but the idea of an “arena district” in my mind shouldn’t even be a consideration, or at least be downsized considerably. It really makes no sense to me and any benefit to a hotel there is minimal in my opinion, and I can’t see it helping business in Oxford much at all.

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When I first read your handle, my mind went right to Clive Cussler. I had to slow the eyes down. Damn the critics. As a comedy, Raise the Titanic is a quality movie.

No not really, it’s taking away green space. Put new buildings at locations old building use to avoid destruction of green space. The new area plus potential hotel and other business would overwhelm the Cook Field site. And its the firs impression you will get when arriving to Miami from Route 73.

All of that aside, what really irks the local community is Miami claiming poverty, cutting academics and sucking on city resources (which are immense) and then “finding” $250 million for an arena while the university’s academic reputation takes a hit. It really isn’t a good look at all if you’re a local and follow events in and around Oxford.

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The green space is being shifted from Cook field to the space that’ll exist after Millett is demoed. Or I am missing something? I don’t think there’s a net negative amount of green space.

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It’s a simple ROI. Certain academic majors don’t get students to come to the university. Having good facilities that can host big events do

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An article from February noted the new arena (complete with practice facilities) would be capped at $187.7 million, in current dollars.

Millett has $85 million in deferred maintenance (not sure if that includes locker room upgrades, bathroom renovations, etc.) and adding practice facilities would cost another $50 million.

So approximately an extra $53 million for an entirely new arena. They expect philanthropy to cover a lot of the amount, and if you’ve got a primary donor, it’s go time.

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Also no one is donating to fund random majors and classes, people will do it for an arena/sports.

I do every year.

I am not sure they can build on the green area in front of Millett because they just spend a bunch of money on drilling geothermal wells underneath that area.

I believe that woud preclude any excavation and construction on that site going forward. However, it would not prevent the surface area being used for intramural fields.

Sure, but the large multi million dollar donations are typically made for things like the arena and not academics. Also donations can be tied to certain projects which means the school can’t just shift the money around, it has to be used on the specific purpose it was donated for

Yeah, you couldn’t be more wrong.

If certain majors were bringing in large donations Miami wouldn’t be cutting them

Now you’re moving the goalpost in your argument.