Event Center sound off

[Chris Cappella]

Ok folks, well obviously it appears Robert Morris is set to begin a HUGE transition phase. Yesterday, the board approved a $50 million dollar fundraising plan to fund a new event center that would become the new home of the basketball and volleyball programs. Just some thoughts/reiteration of talking points. Feel free to sound off below...

-In order for the University to open this event center with a projected date of the fall of 2018, they would have to start construction one year from now, in April of 2016. That leaves the University one year to raise $50 million dollars. That's a lot of money in a short period of time. This leads me to believe there's a decent number of donors with agreements to get this funding underway. If they can get the momentum going, that would be a great start.

-The building of the event center begins a fundamental change to the university. Let me explain... As it stands now, Robert Morris has no rec center. The only consistent facility students have to play basketball at is the John Jay floor. Currently, John Jay is home to both the nursing school AND the school of mathematics and engineering. That is not a very big area for the two most growing programs the school has to offer.

The nursing program will be opening up its own building in the fall of 2015, but ideally John Jay should be expanded for the engineering program. This would include getting rid of the basketball court and converting that into classrooms. However, that's the only indoor facility for students to use to play basketball, hold practices, etc. The university needs a rec center for students to use before tearing that court down.

RMU wants to try and enhance the experience of living on-campus and feel like a rec center is a great way to do so. Additionally, the timing is perfect to renovate campus for more classrooms. This is how it was all explained to me.

-In terms of the athletic programs, this is an incredible opportunity. Many feel that RMU's current facilities are holding them back a bit in recruiting and with the ability to potentially jump conferences. As true or untrue as these sentiments may be, these are some of the perceptions RMU faces and sometimes perception is reality. And let's be honest, an upgrade from the Chuck is much needed I love the place, but it's well below the standard of DI facilities.

-Provost David L. Jamison has been named the interim president upon Gregory Dell'Omo's departure to Rider. He will be the one essentially overseeing this transition.

 

[AutoB4]

Those interested in a point of comparison may want to study Northern Kentucky University's Bank of Kentucky Center.

NKU was highly successful at the DII level, but wanted to raise the bar for its sports programs, recreational facilities, and community presence.

The new facility accomplished all three - with a move to DI (Athletic Sun Conference) soon following.

Having a larger/more modern facility on campus will raise RMU's profile throughout the region, increasing awareness, bringing event visitors to campus, and providing more activities for students. NKU's enrollment, campus life, and national rankings have been on the rise ever since.


University of Dayton offers another point of comparison. The local community has been deeply involved in funding, operations, and event scheduling for Dayton Arena and Welcome Stadium--turning the facilities into community assets. While the planned facility at RMU is too small to receive the kind of attention that UD gets from hosting NCAA basketball tournament games, it may be a useful model for community engagement and public/private partnership.

UD is also noteworthy for having built a world-class recreation facility. While a makeover of the Chuck will fall short of UD's greenfield project, that addition helped transform campus life and grow enrollment there with higher academic credentials. The more there is to do on campus, the more students will want to be there, the better experience they'll have, the more loyal they will be, and the stronger the alumni base will become.


Needless to say, better facilities enhance recruitment - both for student athletes, and for the broader student body.

 

[ColonialCrazy]

Agree with everything said above. This is huge for the Men's basketball program, but it's impact and out reach will be campus wide, and region wide should everything go through as planned. I really like the Northern Kentucky comparison of what it will do for the University.

Adding a rec center, more classrooms, and a state-of-the-art place to hold events, host conventions and ceremonies like graduation will be huge and help RMU expand and become a better university.

As for the impact on Men's basketball, it will obviously be huge. No team in the NEC will come close to them in facilities, recent success, and program prestige. It could help them get into a "better" conference, if the athletic department and school want to look that route. It should help boost attendance, help them schedule better opponents (at least in the first few years) and give them the one missing tool to take that next step. The program has obviously been very successful, but to get to the "dominate national mid-major" like Gonzaga, WSU, Northern Iowa etc, this is much needed.

I love the Sewall Center but this is long overdue.