Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Zissou, post: 2167597, member: 7920"] To fill in some of the blanks on Nova stadium options, and some history... 1) Villanova Stadium, on campus. The stadium currently seats less than 15,000. Technically Nova could have 2 games at the Linc and meet the requirement of averaging over 15,000 per year, but this is not a real solution. The stadium would need a ton of renovations aside from capacity just to have standard bathrooms and concessions, box seats, etc. The bigger issue is town/gown relations and Nova being pushed around on game day issues such as tailgating. The stadium is not a practical venue. 2) PPL, now Talen Energy Stadium. This is the 7 year old home of the MLS Philadelphia Union. It is 20 minutes south of Nova's campus on an easy I-476 access route. The Stadium has great atmosphere, tailgating, amenities, 18,500 seating, and was built for expansion to 30,000. 3) Franklin Field is UPenn's home and was the Philadelphia Eagles home until 1970. It seats 50,000 plus but does not have high level modern amenities in spite of some recent upgrades and investment. Parking and tailgating options are not ideal. Franklin Field is walking distance from 30th Street Station, a quick train hop from the SEPTA stop on Nova's campus. 4) Citizen's Bank Park. Much like Yankee Stadium hosts the Pin Stripe Bowl, the Phillies home could accommodate football. 5) The Linc, home of the Eagles and Temple. The 60,000 seats is too large for Nova, except for an annual game with Temple and maybe 1 other home game a year. In summary, the best plan is 4 or so home games at PPL. 18,500 is ok for now and expansion to 30,000 is realistic. There really would be little harm in a shortage of seats for a while. TV is the bigger fish. (see bowl games). Nova and Temple could play every year at the Linc, regardless of who is the home team for the year. If Penn State or ND comes to town we could sign on to the Linc, or even Franklin Field as a back-up. From a historical look, in 2010 the Big East 8 football line-up was UConn, Cuse, Pitt, WVU, Rutgers, Cincy, Ville, & USF. Nova had been invited to step up often, including when UConn stepped up. [LIST] [*]In Sept 2010 Nova was officially prodded again to step up, as there was uncertainty again swirling and the conference was looking for stability. Nova hemmed and hawed, and put off a decision. [*]Without a Nova commitment, the BE followed up with and invite to TCU, and in Nov 2010 TCU accepted. [*]In April 2011, Nova finally was ready to accept the invitation to step up. It scheduled a Board of Trustees meeting to formally vote up and it advised the Big East of its plan to use PPL (Talon) as its primary home field. With TCU already signed on, 3 members balked at Nova's stadium plan, wanting the expansion to 30,000 at PPL more certain than just an option. Pitt, supported by Rutgers, and WVU voiced the objections. Interestingly, Pitt was stopping Nova for stepping up at the same time it had lead the effort to reject the ESPN TV contract, all while back channeling to the ACC for membership. Nova was asked to revise the stadium plan and resubmit to the conference. [*]In May 2011, influentially led by Pitt, the Big East turns down a $1.4B ESPN contract extension. [*]Syracuse was added to the ACC / Pitt discussions, and in Sept 2011 both were announced to the ACC. Big East Football was down to 6 plus TCU (7). [*]In early Oct 2011, TCU switched direction to the B12. (6) [*]Later in Oct 2011 WVU jumped ship to the B12, and the Big East was down to (5). [*]In Dec 2011, the Big East added Boise State and San Diego State, and UCF, SMU, and Houston (10). [*]In Jan 2012, Navy was added. (11) [*]In Feb 2012 Memphis was added. (12) [*]In Mar 2012 Temple was added. (13) [*]In May 2012 Marinatto is fired. [*]In Nov 2012, Rutgers won the lottery with a B10 invite. (12) [*]Then in Nov 2012, Tulane and East Carolina were added. (14) [*]After those adds, still in Nov 2012, Ville jumped to the ACC. (13) [*]After the Ville, announcement, the "Catholic 7" started their public move to exit. Shortly after, Boise State and San Diego withdrew. (11) [*]Tulsa was added to the AAC after the C-7 split (12). [/LIST] Could Nova had made a difference in keeping the oBE together? Maybe, or maybe not. We'll never know for sure. But if Nova had accepted the invite when they were most needed by the old Big East, instead of dawdling for 6 months, would the Pitt back-channeling to the ACC have taken place? Would the ESPN TV contract extension played out differently? Football would still have been at the critical (8) even if Pitt and Cuse had left. Would that have kept WVU and TCU in the fold with a competitive TV contract? Anyway, the Talon Energy Stadium plan is still on the shelf, should the right opportunity evolve. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach