https://floridastate.rivals.com/news/the-arms-race-continues-fsu-considers-building-new-football-facility
Article from warchant.com on the topic.
Whether FSU could tackle something that ambitious is to be determined. One of the great challenges facing the Seminoles, beyond the cost, is identifying the space to add another large building in the already crowded athletics complex.
“We don’t have an unlimited amount of land that we can work with when building our facilities,” Wilcox said. “So we have to get creative and really think about how we might be able to create what we have in the space that we currently have.”
“One side would say let’s build a whole brand-new football operations facility,” Thrasher said. “Then there’s the other side that would say maybe we could use the Moore Center and maybe add on to it in certain ways that would maybe free up space and really advantage both our football operations as well as our so-called Olympic sports. So we’re looking at all of that.”
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/the-arms-race-continues-fsu-looks-at-building-new-football-ops-center.174356/
If Seminole Boosters believes it can raise the money, the next big issue is space. There simply isn't a lot of room near the Moore Center. I don't think they can wipe out much more of the parking there, since there are classrooms and offices all around Doak. And there isn't much room between Doak and Howser Stadium. Then you have softball and soccer on the other side of the IPF. So I'm not sure what they could do. Maybe they could wipe out some of the parking space and add new garages. Wilcox said they are basically considering every possible option, including expanding the current Moore Center.
With Jimbo Fisher's recent contract negotiations, he gained assurance FSU would make the necessary investments (additional support staff, new academic support center, assistant coaches salaries, etc) for FSU to be competitive at the highest levels (Bama, Clemson, etc). Clemson recently set the bar with it's football only building with all the bells and whistles. On the "Front Row" FSU podcast (with Keith Jones and Tom Block), it was speculated that FSU would also go the direction of a 'football only' building. I suspect this was more than just guessing. I believe FSU has actually added this in the near future road map of where FSU is headed.
I am going to predict this is happening and I will also add I think it will be located where the old football athletic dorm, Burt Reynolds Hall, is located (and across the street from the new football athletic dorm). No inside word on this, but it's always fun to try and predict.
That said, I believe the first upgrade will be for a new academic center (but maybe that should be in a new football only facility?).
Finally, there was also discussion of expanding the baseball grandstand down the 3rd baseball line. Also mentioned was seating in the outfield.
We will see.
Who actually owns The Burt?
ReplyDeleteSeminole Boosters own the property. So I think they could do it there. But again, just my guess.
DeleteI'm still trying to wrap my head around this. There's a lot to consider.
ReplyDeleteBut I'll keep this simple. What if Tully was razed and rebuilt as the olympic sports facility? The Moore Center could then be 100% football and renovated as needed. Would that give football enough space? Jimbo doesn't want to give up his office overlooking the field by moving into a different building, does he?
If The Burt is an income generating property for Boosters, I want to keep it that way.
Good questions. And good point on the Burt. I have no idea how FSU is gonna doing this. I think they have a TON of options. I do think there is much logic to moving Olympics out to their own building and making Moore just football.
ReplyDeleteExactly. There are many many scenarios I can foresee. There are parking lots by softball/baseball and Leach/Circus that could house buildings (def not going to snatch up any Doak/Langford parking lots). And of course your Burt suggestion. Could they mega expand the basketball practice facility to include a basketball/olympic sports facility, or is that too far from most of the olympic sports (either way, basketball needs double the practice facility AND basketball dorms at the civic center - and maybe their own dining facility, in my opinion).
DeleteAs far as expanding Moore, would that interfere with possible stadium expansion in the future? No, I don't think enclosing the northwest endzone anytime soon is going to happen, nor is it needed. But we have been talking about completely renovating (gutting and rebuilding) both sideline stands. Those renovations are absolutely going to include some sort of club or loge seating, with seatbacks instead of bleachers. If they do that on both sidelines, stadium capacity will drop precipitously. And at some point I'd think you need to consider filling in the stadium above the student section (cheap bleacher seats for non-affluent locals and non-affluent families that want to attend single games - maybe even move visiting fans over there).
Again, that's a long way off, but I think it *has* to be considered when discussing expanding the Moore Center. I'm fine with expanding it horizontally to either side or in front (just don't build into the film school - those guys are excellent and honestly need more space and more professors to increase that college's reach and success). But I don't want them to build anymore vertically.
That article also mentioned FSU's multimedia rights being renegotiated. Currently they're on a 10-year contract with ISP for $66M. One would think FSU should potentially double that.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2007/02/12/daily11.html