Some Cal Goodies From Erin

A few months ago my firm was having an office lunch, and they started discussing the work to be done at memorial. apparently, they are going to raise memorial stadium and place it on rollers, to ease earthquake problems.

Does anyone know if the Panoramic Hills association is planning on another lawsuit, I thought the issues presented were resolved in the last case?

I hope when they lower the field, they solve the drainage problems we saw in the Oregon game last year.

I myself did not attend this meeting and hear this information first hand. I have copied the thoughts verbatim from Steve Harris ’93 whom I trust completely. So, I will not be able to argue or answer any points as this is all I have to offer!

Well, I have my opinions of course… I might come back with those… ;)

It actually seems entirely possible for 1,000-1,200 people (families, investors) to buy 2-3 seats within a 3 year period. Now that’s been made clear, I’m much less worried about this financing problem.

I won’t be doing it unless the lotto happens to come to my house personally and gives me a oversized novelty check.

I wonder if young alums will get a one year extension for their ticket eligibility to make up for the season in exile?

I just got a ton of information that interests me while only investing 3mins of my time. Erin is a good writer.

How does Cal pay for all this? The 3,000 seats in the ESP program are expected to raise enough money to finance the renovation and all 27 sports in Cal Athletics going forward. What if the economy’s terrible enough that 3,000 people don’t buy in? Here’s the rub: it’s not 3,000 people that need to buy in… it’s realistically about 1,200, since most people will buy 2-3 seats in the program. They’re at 25% capacity now and really need to sell about 90% of capacity by the time the stadium renovation is complete (i.e., 2012 or 2013), NOT this summer, when the letter of intent period ends. So the bottom line is that Cal needs 1,000 – 1,200 new accounts to be initiated in the next three years for this project to work. Will it work? We’ll see!

I’m really curious what is going to be done about practice during that season in exile. I’m under the impression that a lot of D1 schools have separate practice fields on campus that they use, but Cal doesn’t really have anything like this; as far as I know, there are really no other football fields in the area.

Also, does this have any effect, positive or negative on recruiting? I can imagine recruits being shown around campus and, when they reach the stadium, either being put off by the fact that it looks like a mess, or encouraged by the fact that the University is spending so much time and money on the football program.

I suspected the Panoramic Hill NIMBYs were playing their cards way too early, and it’s nice to hear that still seems to be the case. Not having the City on their side is a big blow.

The Coliseum would be convenient, and Candlestick would be fun. But the antiquarian in me still would love to see Kezar brought back to life.

It sounds like Erin Oski Wee Wee can’t answer this, but does anyone know about the prospect of views from Tightwad Hill being blocked? Still an issue—if indeed it ever was—or has this been resolved?

Above all else, it’s great to hear that the modifications to Memorial will be minimal, at least in terms of altering its overall character. Indoor plumbing and a minimum or seismic safety would be nice; otherwise, Memorial is fine as is. I absolutely hate how sports venues have been transformed into luxury shopping-and-entertainment complexes, even when does as skillfully as the Giants’ park.

Every game we rush the field after every play. Because we don’t have enough space to all stand on the sidelines.

I don’t remember where I heard this, I think maybe even CBKWit told me this, but I heard that Candlestick was more likely than the Coliseum since the Coliseum already hosts the Raiders and the As.

I live in the LA area and share a pair of seats with a buddy who lives in Oakland. I make it to two or three home games a season. Our seats are good, around the 35 yardline or so, definitely in the zone of the new ESP remodel. Problem for me is I cannot justify a 30+ year commitment to seats with little kids in the house and a challenging economy. It is hard to look five years down the road with any confidence. A rep at Cal assured me that they would buy out any contract for the seats if I chose to let them go, but they have no assurances for that in writing. I’m thinking I will just keep my current seats through 2010 and get moved to the 15-20 yardline for 2012.

Some related information on Memorial Stadium

http://www.calbears.com/genrel/042909aaa.html

It was awesome when we had ~70-80k people in the stadium for the Oregon 06, Tennessee and USC 07 games.

The estimate is 63k people. Huge drop from our current 72-75k max. Lame. I take pride in our large stadium, and the ability to fill it (sometimes). Stanfurd shrunk theirs by a lot, and they suck. Don’t be like Stanfurd.