Money. Dinero. Greenbacks. Benjamins. Everyone wants it, no one has it.
The recent Northeastern News four-part series discussing the issue of funding in collegiate sports offers plenty of problems, plenty of complaints, and plenty of dilemmas. But what it doesn’t offer, are answers.
So here you go, my quick fix to the cash conundrum.
First and foremost, the university needs a real football stadium, or an all-purpose sports complex on campus for the football team to play in that would also accommodate other sports.
Since NU’s athletic department has a meager yearly budget of roughly $5.8 million dollars (almost a full 10 million less than Boston University), a sports complex seems like the obvious solution to bringing in more of the dough.
Where to fit such a large (and expensive) piece of the school puzzle remains the main stumbling block for school administrators. In my eyes, the current Columbus Avenue parking lot seems like a perfectly carved hole for the complex.
I’m sure track coach Sherman Hart wouldn’t mind strolling down to Columbus Avenue for meets every Saturday (as opposed to the current track home in Dedham). And I wouldn’t want to put words into soccer coach Ed Matz’s mouth, but I can safely say he would be more than willing to not deal with the trouble of transporting 44 athletes to and from practice in Brookline everyday at their current home, Parsons Field.
It costs money to travel to Dedham, it costs money to get the soccer, baseball, and football teams (and equipment) to Brookline. The sheer convenience of a new stadium saves money in and of itself. That money can then be spent on other expenses for the programs (food, uniforms).
Plus, the better and newer facilities would increase the opportunity to hold events at NU. Not only could the track team hold more meets, the soccer team could hold tournaments and the football field could host high school playoff games to raise money for their respective teams.
Besides the monetary benefits of building a new stadium, there is simply a need for a better place to hold Husky sporting events. The current football (and soccer and baseball) home, Parsons Field and Freidman Diamond respectively, is pathetic. It better suits the high school kids that often occupy it after Husky home games.
In fact, the grounds are so bad that opposing coaches are even commenting on it.
After NU improved to 10-2 overall, 7-2 in the Atlantic-10 Conference last fall with a 41-10 victory over James Madison, the JMU coached cited the need for a better facility at the post game press conference.
“Coach Don Brown has done a fabulous job here, the program has come a long way under him,” Mickey Matthew’s said. “Now, what’d you say we get them a nicer place to play.”
Hart agreed.
“We need a new football stadium,” he said. “They’ve got to play in a stadium on campus. We need to bring some life to the school, get some excitement going here. It would really help them, but I think it would help everyone else as well.”
It’s up the NU to reward the current successes being achieved by Husky athletes. With a soccer team making it’s first appearance in the College Cup and finishing the season ranked 30th in the nation for Division 1, a women’s track team growing in the national spotlight, and the football team’s unprecedented fall success, I think they deserve nothing less than a brand new, top of the line coliseum to show off.
For the NU athletic department, the move to build a stadium on campus makes perfect sense. Increase attendance, increase events, and you’ll increase funding.
If you build it, they (the dollars) will come.
Jack Weiland may be reached at [email protected]
