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PlanoStang wrote:

My first year at SMU, they planted a bunch of twigs in the middle of
Bishop's street medium. One of my new friends even broke one of them
while taking a picture from near Morrison. I wish he'd broke them all.

They have now grown into huge adults, and blocked the great view of
DALLAS HALL. Don't EVEN know what they were thinking about when
they were planted, except that they wanted to HIDE SMU from University
Park, and DALLAS.

They planted them because they could not plant enough grass nor get adequate drainage to prevent the median from becoming a mud-wrestling event (although when one adds the prospect of freshman girls, it brings a whole new perspective ). The trees use lots of water. They figured that they could help soak up that water better. A buddy of mine was Chair of the Buildings & Grounds committee on the Board of Trustees (yep, back in late 80s & early 90s, they allowed a student to chair this committee instead of a board member). Drainage, parking, and physical plant maintenance were frequent topics of discussion.

Kappas Are Yummy wrote:I'm sorry, but I don't have a ton of sympathy for people who move next door to a university but are offended when they are inconvienenced by the university.

no one is offended by the university for conducting university business (SMU football, soccer, etc) it's when the school "whores" isself out attempting to use it's facilities to generate income unassociated with university functions that they take issue to.

Phil_Bennett's_Mustache wrote:no one is offended by the university for conducting university business (SMU football, soccer, etc) it's when the school "whores" isself out attempting to use it's facilities to generate income unassociated with university functions that they take issue to.

God forbid we try to retire the athletic deficit.

by renting the stadium to high schools for games when there is no demand for that? how much do you think they would pay to play at SMU? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.

how much are you going to get from a band competition (which was one of the aforementioned uses)? about the same.

the only plausable situation was the one mentioned about the Dallas Burn, and the people that a soccer game would bring to campus are not the same folks that would in turn come to a college football game. Plus there isn't the infrastructure to support those events anyway. In order to meet parking requirements on football game days, the university forces all of the fraternity houses to relocate vehicles off campus, the dorm parking off campus, and the garage is used to capacity. and that's when we have 15,000 people at games. what do you do on a Tuesday night when the Dallas Burn play? cancel all classes, and go through the process of towing everyone? Oh, wait, the residents across mockingbird should just have people parking in front of their houses, creating traffic safety concerns (streets aren't wide enough to park on both sides and have 2 way traffic flow) when they receive absolutely NO benefit from this (but SMU does)?

gimme a break.

Phil_Bennett's_Mustache wrote:by renting the stadium to high schools for games when there is no demand for that? how much do you think they would pay to play at SMU? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.

State playoff games generate revenue. If they didn't, they wouldn't be held at bigger venues than Ford. Some high school matchups would probably outdraw the Mustangs. And yes, we get a big cut.

McClown27 wrote:

Phil_Bennett's_Mustache wrote:by renting the stadium to high schools for games when there is no demand for that? how much do you think they would pay to play at SMU? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.

State playoff games generate revenue. If they didn't, they wouldn't be held at bigger venues than Ford. Some high school matchups would probably outdraw the Mustangs. And yes, we get a big cut.

you're arguing your own point...State playoff games generate revenue. If they didn't, they wouldn't be held at bigger venues than Ford. if they're held at venues bigger than ford, i can think of two of them in dallas that have both the seating, and parking capacity - can't you?

Phil_Bennett's_Mustache wrote:you're arguing your own point...State playoff games generate revenue. If they didn't, they wouldn't be held at bigger venues than Ford. if they're held at venues bigger than ford, i can think of two of them in dallas that have both the seating, and parking capacity - can't you?

My point is that I want SMU to get the revenue, not Jerry Jones or Clint Murchison. I couldn't care less about traffic issues in the Park Cities.

They could care less about the athletic deficit at SMU (except for a few alums that live near campus i would assume).

sometimes it is beneficial to look at an issue from both sides weather you care or not what they think, put yourself in thier situation before you just start casting stones. expecially when the people that you could care less about are the ones who ultimately get to make the decision.

novel idea, huh.

Phil_Bennett's_Mustache wrote:They could care less about the athletic deficit at SMU (except for a few alums that live near campus i would assume).

sometimes it is beneficial to look at an issue from both sides weather you care or not what they think, put yourself in thier situation before you just start casting stones. expecially when the people that you could care less about are the ones who ultimately get to make the decision.

novel idea, huh.

I get the sense you are trying to be dramatic, but I have failed to grasp your point.

I am not casting stones at the Park Cities, but I do think they are partially responsible for the reasons why Ford does not produce sufficient revenue. In other cities, the Park Cities would not have a choice, but based on your historic beginning, y'all have always been pretty blatant about getting your way. As a result, SMU is left on the curb with a huge athletic deficit. If they want it empty, they should have to rent it out.

Heck, most cities are required to pay for the privilege of having a sports franchise by giving money & tax revenue for the construction of a stadium....maybe we should be doing the same thing and demanding that HP/UP pay us for the privilege of having D-1A College athletics as a tourist attraction and entertainment venue for the park cities.

GoRedGoBlue wrote:I think we are on our 3rd or 4th year of Tom Laundry classic football weekend where 4 top teams play their game at FORD and it gets tons of press

I agree w/ both of you but GoRed, i think you are being a little harsh and lets take a look at this.. what is a great way to bring hs kids and coaches to Ford that we did not take advantage of this year..

Texas High School Football Playoffs..Ford should have two high school playoffs games every week and should be in the running for "a" state championship guarenteed...

For those of you who don't know.. High Schools pay to play at big stadiums.. Texas stadium cost about 15000 per team.. So not only can SMU profit (possibly) from hosting games they can bring lots of talent and high school coaches to ford..

Wouldn't you want a kid who is deciding between smu, baylor and tech to be playing at ford stadium for the state semifinal game when the recruiting is at a high level?
I would

I agree with Kappas.

I am pretty sure that SMU is limited by HP/UP to how many high school playoff games they can host.

As for using Texas Stadium, I don't think Jones charges each team $15,000. It used to be $5,000, and he got to keep all parking and concession income. It's my understanding he likes to support high school football and actively solicits the playoff games by making the rental fee very reasonable.

why don't we put it down for 2,500 and let them keep the parking and concessions, I would think it would be more beneficial for people to have a positive experience and want to come back to the campus than it would be to try to make money off of the games, in the long run if those same kids and fans started coming to SMU games we would end up with more money anyway.....and anyway, who is going to want to go play in Arlington when they have all of the shopping and cool stuff in Dallas to see (and hopefully a new bookmobile)

abezontar wrote:Heck, most cities are required to pay for the privilege of having a sports franchise by giving money & tax revenue for the construction of a stadium....maybe we should be doing the same thing and demanding that HP/UP pay us for the privilege of having D-1A College athletics as a tourist attraction and entertainment venue for the park cities.

It would probably come as a shock to the majority of HP's/UP's residents that SMU is a Div. 1-A school in athletics.