Stadium renovation fund-raising drive needed at WT

[west-texan]

Kimbrough Memorial Stadium needs work,

And WT needs to go public and say we need money and donations.

The extra money is probably not going to show up unless WT asks for it.

A fund-raising drive will be quick and easy to start.

It will attract public attention, and encourage donations with a very clear goal.

Donating to the Buffalo Club is generalized for scholarships and does not have a clear goal.

This is a great way to get the public more involved with a university.

For potential naming rights,

Some large national corporations with a big presence in our area are:

Valero Energy and Conoco Phillips and Tyson and Cargill.

And this should make CISD very happy, since they will directly benefit from a Kimbrough renovation.

www.michiganstadiumproject.com/

[west-texan]

I'd like to see WT start a fund-raising drive like this, which I think might be possible without raising student fees more than has already been done.

If WT starts talking D1 or D1-AA, the fund-raising interest level will immediately go up.

And more corporate sponsorship doors should open.

It would even help WT go to the next level as a university for academics and research.

www.athletics.txstate.edu/thedrive/

[west-texan]

I have to agree with this guy.

If WT starts talking D1, then support and fund-raising are going to go way up.

[buffalorunning]

Kimbrough might be too far gone to renovate unless CISD wants to pass a school bond bill to raise funds. If WT has to pay the bill by themselves it would be more economic to build brand new stadium at the campus sports complex.

[willard]

Buffalorunning said:Kimbrough might be too far gone to renovate unless CISD wants to pass a school bond bill to raise funds. If WT has to pay the bill by themselves it would be more economic to build brand new stadium at the campus sports complex.

CISD won't do anything to improve Kimbrough.....Just look at the lights or lack thereof.....You're right that KMS might be too far gone.....It is and WT is not going too throw money at it.....

[buffalorunning]

If the situation is that CISD wants to simply lease Kimbrough for $1 a year and do bare minimum maintenance then WT will be forced to build a new stadium. Since the local high schools use Kimbrough a public bond could be passed for renovations. All this would be out of WT's hands and on CISD. I know that WT leased Kimbrough to CISD the goal was to protect the stadium from decay and non-use. WT thought that CISD would provide the needed upkeep. CISD has had a free ride at Kimbrough since 1991. Time for them to renovate.

[west-texan]

I have a long email from the WT president discussing Kimbrough.

In the 3rd sentence he mentions the option of taking back control of the stadium from CISD.

And soon after that he says that no decision has been made yet.

I'm not sure if I feel right posting his email here without asking him first.

But O'Brien replied to my questions with probably a thousand words at 10:03 pm on a Saturday night.

With what they have not done, I would be all for booting CISD out, and let them play at Randall High IF they have a problem with WT renovating and expanding our stadium.

Of course all that WT has do is mention D1 to get people interested in donating money.

If CISD wants a stadium in the future, then they need get on the WT D1 bandwagon.

Because D2 is not going to motivate big donors to give, or we would have already started renovating.

[buffalorunning]

That email would be interesting to read. I think OBrien is the best president that WT has ever had. He has accomplished more in 4 years than Long did in 12 years.

Thanks for posting the Stadium construction drive examples. That is really interesting to see how other progressive schools are raising money. Any chance of WT doing something like this maybe through the Buffalo Club?

[west-texan]

I'm not sure the Buffalo Club is up for doing real corporate fund-raising.

But WT needs to hire an experienced corporate fund-raiser who is not a WT graduate.

And we might be able to get a major corporate sponsor like this guy from Ch.10 suggested in 2008.

We need someone who is young and dynamic with experience presenting to big national corporations.

I think WT is just scratching the surface on fund-raising that could be done.

I found this commentary with a Google search.

www.newschannel10.com/global/story.asp?s=9010112