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Post by phearthephoenix on Mar 25, 2015 16:03:42 GMT -6
Yesterday the State of Wisconsin Building Commission approved $4,984,000 for a new soccer complex on the UWGB campus. I believe this money was all privately raised. I haven't seen any recent renderings of what it will look like but if it's anything like the originals ( back in 2012) it's going to be a pretty cool little complex for both the soccer teams and the softball team as well as for UWGB student intramural.
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Post by PantherU on Mar 25, 2015 16:31:51 GMT -6
Pretty cool. I envy your greenspace, I wish we had somewhere on campus to put a baseball stadium.
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Post by gbbrl97 on Mar 26, 2015 7:18:25 GMT -6
I like the 2012 plan. Hope they keep that intact. It would be a lot better then walking across campus to the current Aldo Santaga Field.
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Post by knightlife920 on Mar 26, 2015 16:30:22 GMT -6
Not really familiar with all of the plans for the school's athletic programs, but I don't see why baseball couldn't be added. With only one other D1 program in the state, and the success of our D3 schools, both public and private, I think a team at GB could be competitive and potentially a decent draw.
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Mar 26, 2015 21:24:54 GMT -6
I love the look of this complex. I love that MEG finished the job. She told me two months after she started that raising the money for this was the top facilities goal for the athletic department. I don't know how much she had to raise and how much was in place before her but she did the job in just over a year. I am impressed.
As for baseball I would love that but it isn't happening anytime soon. It requires a reasonable large budget to operate, needs better weather than GB has and would require GB to add more women's sports to balance out the number of men vs. women in athletics. There are rules in place to keep it equal. Back in my day this also had to represent the male/female population of the university so with GB having more women than men enrolled they needed more female athletes as well. I am not sure if those rules are still in place from the NCAA but if they are adding 30 baseball players would require adding more women's sports. That adds to the cost.
If they have more money to spend on sports it should be straight to the men's and women's hoops teams.
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Post by PantherU on Mar 27, 2015 10:24:42 GMT -6
Not really familiar with all of the plans for the school's athletic programs, but I don't see why baseball couldn't be added. With only one other D1 program in the state, and the success of our D3 schools, both public and private, I think a team at GB could be competitive and potentially a decent draw. There's no potential to draw more than a handful of fans. Baseball is our 6th-highest attended sport on campus after men's basketball, men's soccer, women's soccer, women's basketball and volleyball. We often play our first home game in late April due to the cold and wet Wisconsin springs (the conference tournament is mid-May). It's also an expensive sport that GB doesn't have the budget for. Put it this way: would you want your basketball programs to have less money to accommodate a baseball team that won't draw more than a few dozen fans a game? If you absolutely must have a new sport, look into lacrosse. That's a spring sport that would be totally different for GB.
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Post by gbbrl97 on Mar 27, 2015 10:37:32 GMT -6
Lacrosse would be interesting. The games can be played on the new soccer field.....But besides the additional amount to the athletics budget, where would we get our LAX talent? There are pockets of HS in the Twin Cities and Chicago that play it, but most of the D1 LAX talent is out east.
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Post by knightlife920 on Mar 27, 2015 19:18:42 GMT -6
Lacrosse would be interesting. The games can be played on the new soccer field.....But besides the additional amount to the athletics budget, where would we get our LAX talent? There are pockets of HS in the Twin Cities and Chicago that play it, but most of the D1 LAX talent is out east. As a former player and coach of lacrosse, I can say there are some really good lax players in this state! Verona, Kettle Moraine and Arrowhead are terrific teams that certainly turn out D1 talent. It's not the most expensive sport other than for the equipment for the players. I would love to see lax get some recognition and get added. Marquette recently added a team and they seem to be well off so I don't see why lax wouldn't work here!
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Post by gbbrl97 on Mar 27, 2015 22:32:25 GMT -6
LAX would be a sport that can draw a niche crowd initially, then draw in more casual fans over time since it is a more entertaining spring sport than baseball/softball IMO which will not compete with football (Packers) or hockey (SNC or the GB Gamblers)....From the games on ESPN that I will watch on occasion, it's hockey on grass with more scoring.
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Post by PantherU on Mar 30, 2015 13:23:02 GMT -6
LAX would be a sport that can draw a niche crowd initially, then draw in more casual fans over time since it is a more entertaining spring sport than baseball/softball IMO which will not compete with football (Packers) or hockey (SNC or the GB Gamblers)....From the games on ESPN that I will watch on occasion, it's hockey on grass with more scoring. My sister lived in Baltimore for a couple years. I went to a Johns Hopkins-Virginia game on ESPN. The atmosphere was freaking insane. I mean that is the pinnacle of college lacrosse, but it's so good.
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Post by gbalum2007 on Apr 23, 2015 14:23:37 GMT -6
Rettler, a landscape architectural firm out of Stevens Point, was recently awarded this project. They are also the firm who completed the original feasibility study (which produced the renderings above). Odds are that the new complex will look very similar to the conceptual design. I would expect the soccer complex to be ready by 2017, and the softball fields to be done either later that year or in 2018.
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Post by FSCMocFan on May 2, 2015 10:16:20 GMT -6
LAX would be a sport that can draw a niche crowd initially, then draw in more casual fans over time since it is a more entertaining spring sport than baseball/softball IMO which will not compete with football (Packers) or hockey (SNC or the GB Gamblers)....From the games on ESPN that I will watch on occasion, it's hockey on grass with more scoring. My sister lived in Baltimore for a couple years. I went to a Johns Hopkins-Virginia game on ESPN. The atmosphere was freaking insane. I mean that is the pinnacle of college lacrosse, but it's so good.
When I was a sophomore in college I lived over two first rate laxmen from the Gilman School in B'more. They were crazy good. For grins in the fall they played l/w football. They were good at that, too.
Upstate NY, Massachusetts/Connecticut, Long Island and Maryland/Virginia are the lacrosse hotspots.
In colder areas they play box lacrosse indoors, like indoor soccer on a hockey rink. Sounds perfect for WI as long as the rink is enclosed/heated. It wouldn't be so great if the rink was just covered and open on the sides like a lot of them are.
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Post by phearthephoenix on Apr 27, 2016 21:08:43 GMT -6
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Post by FSCMocFan on Apr 28, 2016 7:19:33 GMT -6
I looked through the document and it's diagrams. The project looks very nice, but considerably downscaled from the original diagram posted above. Too bad - I liked the original concept a lot.
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Post by phearthephoenix on Apr 28, 2016 7:59:45 GMT -6
I looked through the document and it's diagrams. The project looks very nice, but considerably downscaled from the original diagram posted above. Too bad - I liked the original concept a lot. I agree it's disappointing but somewhat predictable unfortunately given the recent cuts to the UW System budget
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