The picture above is of the model that has been produced for the new University of Oregon Basketball arena for the Oregon Ducks to replace McArthur Court ( Mac Court). The design may change. The smaller arena in the upper right corner is a practice court and the building in the lower right is an academic building for athletes that will now be built someplace else. The arena will be built on the old Williams Bakery property. The Basketball Arena will be surrounded by the Bean Dorm complex to the rear and the Hamilton Dorm complex to your right as you look at the picture. The Hirons store will be to your left on the other side of the small parking lot as you look at the picture.
In today's Register Guard Newspaper Ron Bellamy's column had some additional information on new AD Pat Kilkenny and the Basketball Arena project. Without posting posting the entire column the main points are:
1. "He's reorganized the upper management of the athletic department.... administrators had to apply for their old jobs, they underwent extensive interviews with Kilkenny and a consultant. Some have new roles"
2. He's reach out to the academic side of the Willamette river and has"drawn on the athletics-oriented perspective and institutional history of former assistant football coach Neal Zoumboukos, now a special assistant to Kilkenny"
3. In addition to Jim Bartko, who is commng home from Cal, he will hire "a full-time" fundraiser and will also soon advertise to hire a special assistant to focus on strategic planning."
4. On the basketball arena these are the key points of the column:
(a) He is "determined to build something grand, if the donations support that vision, or something more modest, if that's what the finances dictate, but determined to build an arena, period...."
(b) "The Knights have been considered the
potential source of an "extraordinary gift" to the arena project, and that kind of gift - from them or elsewhere - will determine whether Oregon builds an arena that costs as much as $175 million, based on last year's estimates, or an arena that costs between, say, $75 million and $100 million.
Which Kilkenny is prepared to build, if he must."
"Assuming we didn't get a world-class gift, I thought $75 million with a certain amount of debt would be something the University of Oregon could handle," he said.
Of course, prices go up, almost daily, whether Oregon thinks practical, or thinks grand.
"I'd love to have Phil and Penny involved, and from that perspective they'll let us know if they want to," Kilkenny said. "I think it's fairly clear to him that we'd love to have his help. On the other hand, I'm not going to insult his intelligence by asking for the order, if you will...."
"I'm a big believer in listening to customers. If he's involved, or if anybody gives a very meaningful gift, I would like to know what it is they think we should be doing. I don't think they're going to drive the bus, but I think they're going to have a lot of input."
In a month, Kilkenny hopes to know where this is going, to have a plan. In a month, after all, he'll have, by contract, just 25 months left at Oregon, and you sense he's determined to make every one count, so that he can walk away and "feel really good that 'Gee, wasn't it good that I did that.'
(c) in summary, if Knight kicks in within the month we go "grand" and if not we go "modest" He will know in a "month"
(To read the rest of Bellamy's column click on the title for a link)
