Athletics provides for lots of jobs, tuition, and Capex dollars. They do not make money.
Jamie Pollard on KXNO today
- Thread starter BigJCy
- Start date
Sure, it’s s noble cause. But the university is more about keeping its doors open and paying the freaking bills. Especially when the state has continually cut their budget for 20 years now. They need to keep the academic buildings up first. Sucks that Stephens got neglected, but they’ve had to make a lot of hard choices.
Paul Veneklausen was the acoustical consultant for CY, think he made a very lucrative career out of having CY on his resume. Can remember in the 70's he used to bring potential clients in for demos.
Have the business and economics students study now a mid century building could fall into neglect while the market passed it by.
Hell throw the marketing majors in there too.
If they can make it a viable building for more than Hungry Caterpillar shows then more power to them.
If not then build CyTown II on the space.
I had to read this twice. I was like, "what happened to Peter Cetera?"
Cyclone Fanatic - come for the sports talk, stay for the architecture debate.
That money is earmarked for future Hok lawsuits. Assuming they decide they will not pay it themselves.The BOR gave UNI a big, fat NO on help with the Dome, so I wouldn't hold your breath on that one. Gotta protect that state surplus...
If CY stephens gets renovated, it would be a great for some decent shows. They do need to improve the bathroom situation considerably though. Also, i think there are some things on the outside (such as lighting) to help enhance the look of the building and even show off some of the architecture.
I saw Harry Connick Jr. play in CY early 2000s. I clearly remember him saying he loves the building because of the acoustics.
My wife and I went to see Kinky Boots a few years ago (pre-Covid I believe). It was a horribly cold night in the middle of a horrible cold stretch and the heat didn't work. The building was freezing. Was that a freak thing because of the cold? Maybe. Was it emblematic of other issues in the building? Probably.
I've gone to a few other shows there, and compared to other venues CY is a dump. The lobby lighting is really poor. The carpets, at the time, and I haven't been there since Covid, were terrible being threadbare and had holes. The bathrooms had missing urinals. The seats weren't great.
I am not saying the building should be torn down. Not at all, but it needs an influx of cash to at least make it presentable. For the size of school ISU is there should be a vibrant arts/theater/concert scene in that building and there isn't. Now the 'burbs are ensuring ISU may never get back what it once had.
Correct......someone on here said the acoustics are terrible. Not.
You are correct. That's why Cytown is needed to fix this facility and the others.
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Hilton was the engine that ran the Iowa State Center for years hosting top concerts year round. When Jamie showed up he demanded that his teams not be displaced from practicing in Hilton (this was before there was a MBB/WBB practice facility) for events so he agreed to take it over. The calendar of dates available for other events shriveled to next to none. That is when the concerts dried up and so did the funding that was keeping the ISC barely above water. If you take away virtually the only money-maker in the Center it shouldn't be a surprise that it is losing money. The University is only "kicking the problem" to the AD because the AD was a large part of the cause of it.
I do agree CY needs an influx of cash to replace worn carpet, seats, and other furnishings. It used to be University physical plant took care of the heating and plumbing areas, but I suppose that could have changed. Steam for heating use was provided by Physical Plant boilers. I have noticed at some events, including basketball games, what appears to be repairing main steam lines, so that could have been the problem with heat.
Is this supposed to look good? I mean it looks interesting on the exterior but that's as far as I'd go.
This is a little bit of revisionist history.
Pollard was hired 3 months after Wells Fargo was completed in DSM, and immediately those big acts started moving there.
He didn't take over Hilton scheduling for a few years after that, and the big concerts had already dried up in there by that time.
