Facilities and financial update from Jamie Pollard

[Cy Hard]

All in!

Are you sure? Or is it more like, 'just the tip?'

 

[VeloClone]

...

Third, with the AD taking over Scheman, CY and Fisher, you have more events that will draw people in. Having a hotel and some bars and restaurants increases the likelihood of getting concerts and conferences. And conferences are huge money makers. At a time when TV revenue for the AD is up in the air at the very least, another revenue stream is huge.

Finally, I'm just not too concerned about the floodplain. The biggest flood we've ever seen never even got into JTS. It flooded Hilton because Hilton is at a lower elevation. If you build anything in those lots up a few feet, there's just not much of a chance that water will ever get to it with the mitigation work that's been done downstream.

As far as the AD bringing more events I wouldn't hold my breath on that. Hilton Coliseum was a player in the midwest for national touring shows. When the AD took over the spigot was turned off by the AD. A few years later they tried to bring in a show - some country act - and were begging donors to buy tickets. Hilton was keeping ahead of Wells Fargo because of their reputation on being an easy place to put on a show that wasn't going to dig into a promoter's profits too much. They shut the door on the shows for a couple of years and those same promoters got comfortable with the larger venue down the road that is closer to the population center. Maybe the AD has learned their lesson but I don't see them dedicating the personnel to bring in the acts at the other venues that they used to under different management. If you want to put on shows you don't just sit around and wait for the phone to ring.

As far as flooding goes, I hope the mitigation upstream and downstream is effective. But to minimize the floods that have happened at the ISC is simply silly. In addition to the damage that happened in Hilton (14' of water on the floor) which Cysmiley has discussed, there was significant damage on the ground floor of Scheman and the lower levels of Stephens. I guess you will have to define what raising the new building "a few feet" means. I had some coworkers who got caught in the ISC lots when the flooding hit one time and it was more than a minor nuisance. There can be several feet of water covering the entire parking lot of the ISC so it isn't something to be taken lightly. The walkways under Center drive were half full of standing water.

 

[VeloClone]

This is old. But G7 is getting paved. All the spots between Hilton and JTS will be done to fit hundreds more cars when they do away with angled parking. There will be PLENTY of PARKING! We don't need more

View attachment 94574

The areas marked 850 and 1100 on that diagram are where the new RV lot will be. That RV lot work is really close to going out to bid to be completed by next season.

 

[Frak]

As far as the AD bringing more events I wouldn't hold my breath on that. Hilton Coliseum was a player in the midwest for national touring shows. When the AD took over the spigot was turned off by the AD. A few years later they tried to bring in a show - some country act - and were begging donors to buy tickets. Hilton was keeping ahead of Wells Fargo because of their reputation on being an easy place to put on a show that wasn't going to dig into a promoter's profits too much. They shut the door on the shows for a couple of years and those same promoters got comfortable with the larger venue down the road that is closer to the population center. Maybe the AD has learned their lesson but I don't see them dedicating the personnel to bring in the acts at the other venues that they used to under different management. If you want to put on shows you don't just sit around and wait for the phone to ring.

As far as flooding goes, I hope the mitigation upstream and downstream is effective. But to minimize the floods that have happened at the ISC is simply silly. In addition to the damage that happened in Hilton (14' of water on the floor) which Cysmiley has discussed, there was significant damage on the ground floor of Scheman and the lower levels of Stephens. I guess you will have to define what raising the new building "a few feet" means. I had some coworkers who got caught in the ISC lots when the flooding hit one time and it was more than a minor nuisance. There can be several feet of water covering the entire parking lot of the ISC so it isn't something to be taken lightly. The walkways under Center drive were half full of standing water.

Im not really talking about the larger shows that go to WF. I’m talking about the smaller acts and comedy shows that can go to CY. I think there’s a place for those although I will say getting bigger acts to Hilton will be tough.

As far as flooding, yeah, ISC is always going to be in danger, but they’re not really building there. Other than a hotel I guess. Most of the entertainment district is between Hilton and Trice. That’s a higher elevation to where building up a couple of feet should be safe enough. Halfway between those two there wasn’t that much water.

 

[8bitnes]

Im not really talking about the larger shows that go to WF. I’m talking about the smaller acts and comedy shows that can go to CY. I think there’s a place for those although I will say getting bigger acts to Hilton will be tough.

As far as flooding, yeah, ISC is always going to be in danger, but they’re not really building there. Other than a hotel I guess. Most of the entertainment district is between Hilton and Trice. That’s a higher elevation to where building up a couple of feet should be safe enough. Halfway between those two there wasn’t that much water.

CY Stephens has 13 events booked in the next 30 days. That's not too shabby

 

[VeloClone]

Im not really talking about the larger shows that go to WF. I’m talking about the smaller acts and comedy shows that can go to CY. I think there’s a place for those although I will say getting bigger acts to Hilton will be tough.

As far as flooding, yeah, ISC is always going to be in danger, but they’re not really building there. Other than a hotel I guess. Most of the entertainment district is between Hilton and Trice. That’s a higher elevation to where building up a couple of feet should be safe enough. Halfway between those two there wasn’t that much water.

Those parking lots are a part of the ISC.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

They only sold out in hours for the top 2-3 games of the season. And for every game sans Iowa, those same passes were available for sale for at or near that original $20 amount later in the week 2nd hand, so there was still plenty of parking available for casual fans who wanted it (I both bought & sold a few for a couple games throughout the season).

I'm not sure of the layout from parking to stadium for Baylor or TCU, but still seems like traffic could hold up shuttles quite a bit in Ames - especially if the MS is your selected parking location. Mortensen will be slow, and Lincoln Way isn't a good option with all the lights/traffic it gets, either. If you're having shuttle riders get picked up anywhere near the stadium, they would almost need their own designated/blocked off roads otherwise they'd be sitting in exiting parking lot traffic for a long time. I agree that arrival shuttles would work fine, it's the exiting I'd be concerned with.

Just looking at the Baylor/TCU stadiums on google maps, it looks like they don't have near the parking directly around the stadium, so I'm sure that would make running shuttles much easier.

I know for a fact that those GA parking spots were all sold out the day they went on sale for the UNI, Iowa, Texas and Okl. St. games, so that is 4 of the 6 home games a person was unable to purchase parking after the day they went on sale.
I would think that Kansas and TCU you could, but to say that you can purchase on the secondary market does not matter at all. Had a friend that sold his parking pass for the EIU game for $600, that was parking only, no tickets. The secondary market is not the ISU athletic department.

It would be fairly easy to bus people from the MS and West towers down Mortenson to the street on the West side of the stadium, and take them to the Alumni building for drop off, avoiding Lincoln Way.

 

[Sparkplug]

I suspect the plan is to bring in some businesses that generate daily, M-F employee and customer traffic during traditional business hours. Then the ISU events create the nights and weekend traffic to ensure the small retail and restaurants that will occupy the area have regular, consistent traffic most every day of the week, even in the summer when the university generates less students and non-students traffic within Ames

Foresee the Union Bookstore or Cy’s Locker Room being one of the storefronts

 

[JM4CY]

CY Stephens has 13 events booked in the next 30 days. That's not too shabby

Does that place get any “big” acts? I have no idea what goes on in there the last several years.

 

[Tailg8er]

I know for a fact that those GA parking spots were all sold out the day they went on sale for the UNI, Iowa, Texas and Okl. St. games, so that is 4 of the 6 home games a person was unable to purchase parking after the day they went on sale.
I would think that Kansas and TCU you could, but to say that you can purchase on the secondary market does not matter at all. Had a friend that sold his parking pass for the EIU game for $600, that was parking only, no tickets. The secondary market is not the ISU athletic department.

It would be fairly easy to bus people from the MS and West towers down Mortenson to the street on the West side of the stadium, and take them to the Alumni building for drop off, avoiding Lincoln Way.

I never said the secondary market was the athletic dept, and don't think your initial post did either? If people don't understand there's a secondary market for tickets & parking, that's on them - not the school... Guessing your friend's $600 parking pass for the IA game was a reserved lot, so that's not really applicable to this discussion. If it was a public pass, whoever bought it is a moron, cause even day of there were options for much less than that.

& I still disagree that it would be "easy" to bus people from AND to anywhere other than the direct vicinity of the stadium on gamedays. Anyone who has tried to leave a lot (even ignoring Lincoln Way), can vouch for that. Getting to the stadium is easy, sure, but Mortensen gets very busy after games.

 

[8bitnes]

Does that place get any “big” acts? I have no idea what goes on in there the last several years.

The "Season at Stephens" generally 10-12 shows including 1-2 Broadway level productions. We've gone to phantom, cats, lion king, etc... The season also has 2-3 high level dance productions. We went to Russian national ballet production of Swan Lake right before covid lockdown. Then there are about half dozen other good sized shows each year. Tickets can run $25 for students up to $100+ per seat for the better shows. A season pass had different tiers and requires giving levels similar to cyclone club and fb or bb tickets.

We tried to attend at least one a year before Covid. I don't know that the shows are all traveling at this time and I don't think "season" has returned

 

[Sparkplug]

I never said the secondary market was the athletic dept, and don't think your initial post did either? If people don't understand there's a secondary market for tickets & parking, that's on them - not the school... Guessing your friend's $600 parking pass for the IA game was a reserved lot, so that's not really applicable to this discussion. If it was a public pass, whoever bought it is a moron, cause even day of there were options for much less than that.

I sold an A4 for $500 after fees. There were a lot of passes sold for $400+
[/QUOTE]

 

[Die4Cy]

I know for a fact that those GA parking spots were all sold out the day they went on sale for the UNI, Iowa, Texas and Okl. St. games, so that is 4 of the 6 home games a person was unable to purchase parking after the day they went on sale.
I would think that Kansas and TCU you could, but to say that you can purchase on the secondary market does not matter at all. Had a friend that sold his parking pass for the EIU game for $600, that was parking only, no tickets. The secondary market is not the ISU athletic department.

It would be fairly easy to bus people from the MS and West towers down Mortenson to the street on the West side of the stadium, and take them to the Alumni building for drop off, avoiding Lincoln Way.

I get the sense that the reason they are doing the pre-order parking is to at some point make that a perk for lower level Cyclone club members. And if not they should be.

 

[Tailg8er]

I sold an A4 for $500 after fees. There were a lot of passes sold for $400+

[/QUOTE]

Yeah I'm not doubting paved lots went for a lot for that game, we were talking about the $20 general admission lots. I know even the G7 passes were going for hundreds.

 

[CapnCy]

CY Stephens has 13 events booked in the next 30 days. That's not too shabby

And I bet at least some of the guests would love a place to stay, grab a bite to eat/drink before or after the show.

 

[CycloneBax]

What do you RV tailgaters think about the new "RV Village?" Designated spots and utilities are nice. Having a dedicated walking bridge to the stadium is cool. However, it feels a bit like giving up the "getting together with friends in Ames" vibe for "getting together with Grandpa and Grandma in Arizona."

I like the electrical hookups, but am disappointed we are isolated from the rest of the tailgating.

I could walk to other lots and meet up with friends, but now that's a really long walk. Also, long walk for others to come tailgate with us.

Most stadiums have the RVs close as that access is usually what you get for a larger donation.

 

[CycloneBax]

I get the sense that the reason they are doing the pre-order parking is to at some point make that a perk for lower level Cyclone club members. And if not they should be.

I think they should let season ticket holders that are donors that didn't get parking get to pre purchase 1 pass the day before the public or purchase a season pass.

 

[Cycsk]

I like the electrical hookups, but am disappointed we are isolated from the rest of the tailgating.

I could walk to other lots and meet up with friends, but now that's a really long walk. Also, long walk for others to come tailgate with us.

Most stadiums have the RVs close as that access is usually what you get for a larger donation.

That was one of the things I liked about the D-lots for RV's. We had lots of people able to stop by on their way to/from other tailgates. The new RV Village is out-of-the-way for non-RV folks.

 

[DSMCy]

I think they should let season ticket holders that are donors that didn't get parking get to pre purchase 1 pass the day before the public or purchase a season pass.

Why would you pay $20 per game to park, rather than just get a $50 parking pass?

 

[8bitnes]

Why would you pay $20 per game to park, rather than just get a $50 parking pass?

Passes ran out before all the states donors got requests fulfilled.