As a medal-winning athlete, I understand the importance of sports. They are a great way to exercise, have fun and claim the glory and honor of winning. The sports we play need fields, courts and trails to participate in them. As we all know, football needs a field and at the college level a stadium is desired.
At CSU we have a stadium, it is a little old and could use some fixing up, but we have one. It is in a cool location right up against the mountains, near the territory of rocky mountain bighorn sheep. It sits under a big white “A” declaring that this is Ram territory. For the six games that were played at Hughes Stadium last season, people got great games, with plenty of room for tailgating out under the beautiful Colorado sky.
If we have such a good thing going, why build a new stadium on campus? It will mean less parking, less room for tailgating, no big mountains, sky or imposing “A”. Why build a new stadium when a majority of students do not want one, the faculty doesn’t want one and the community doesn’t one?
Even if everyone was on board, and a new stadium was desired, where is the money coming from to pay for such a thing? Tony Frank and the Board of Governors want to sell bonds. A lot of bonds. These bonds are going to be paid back in part by donations that will hopefully get made in the future as well as all the concessions that hopefully will happen at the levels predicted. I have another word for this: gambling. Gambling with other people’s money in a bet where the house always wins.
It is claimed that the expenses from this proposed stadium will not be paid for by students. But we students, faculty and alumni know better. When the revenue doesn’t add up or those pie in the sky donations fall through, what then? Students pay the price.
This is acting recklessly and ignoring the people’s will and best interests. It is insulting and anti-democratic.
We need leaders who are going to do what is right and help students get a great education, from a school we love at a price we should be able to afford. With the costs of tuition continuing to go up we need a break, not another expensive boondoggle.
It is clear that there is no mandate for building a new stadium. It is clear that students, faculty and the community are being ignored for a project with little to no tangible benefit for anyone but investment bankers and construction companies.
Let’s play football and have a great time cheering our teams on. Let’s be proud of our wins and the fight we give even when we lose. But let’s also have enough pride to not be insulted and pushed over by the people who are supposed to be leading us.
Collegian Columnist Ryan Deuschle can be reached at letters@collegian.com.
