EVALUATING CAL’S RENOVATION OF MEMORIAL STADIUM, PART 1
By Rock Mayock 11:45 p.m. | If you remember, we first discussed the pending renovations to Cal’s Memorial Stadium all the way back in August 2011. Along with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl, Cal’s Memorial Stadium sits atop the Mount Rushmore of venerable Pac-12 stadium venues. However like the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl the combination of time, environmental factors and an increasingly competitive conference have forced Cal to make much needed renovations to Memorial Stadium.
In 2005, Cal Chancellor Robert Birgeneau announced an ambitious three phase renovation plan to bring Memorial Stadium into the modern era. Phase I of the plan entailed the construction a state of the art training facility designated as the Student Athlete High Performance Center ,or SAHPC. Phase II of the plan involved the renovation and retrofit of the west side and both end zones of Memorial Stadium. Phase III of the plan is supposed to renovate and retrofit the east side of the stadium. Phase I of the project was completed in 2011 and Phase II is currently in full swing however the completion of the overall project has been threatened by significant lapses in both planning and funding. In a three part series the FOOTBALLPHDS will break down the genesis of the stadium renovations, the financial issues plaguing the project and the outlook for the University’s ability to meet its stadium related debt obligations.
The fully grasp the severity of the current host of financial ills ailing Memorial Stadium it is necessary to understand its history. The genesis of Memorial Stadium was an altruistic one. In 1921 The Associated Students of the University of California raised $1.4 million to pay for the construction of a lasting memorial to Californians who died in the line of duty during World War I, hence the name Memorial Stadium. The entire $1.4 million constructions cost was raised through traditional fundraising efforts as well as the sale of subscriptions that entitled purchasers to discounted “Big Game” tickets. It should be noted that not a single dollar from either the University’s general fund or the State of California was used to build the stadium.
Memorial Stadium’s unique neoclassical motif was largely inspired by the University’s chief architect and chair of the Memorial Stadium Architectural Committee, John Galen Howard. Howard’s Romanesque vision for the Memorial Stadium has endured the tests of time and resulted with it being listed on the National Register of Historic Place on November 28, 2006.
Despite the aesthetic beauty of Memorial Stadium, the venue had two glaring design issues from its inception. The first issue is that the stadium was designed as a football only venue as evidenced by the fact that it does not have a running track. More importantly the stadium is built directly on top of the Hayward Fault which literally runs goal post to goal post under the playing field. A 1998 seismic safety study conducted at the Berkeley campus deemed the stadium represents an appreciable life hazard in an earthquake event. In response to the seismic safety study new expansion joints were placed in the walls of the stadium to maintain structural integrity but in excess of $14,000,000 of additional renovations were required to make the stadium pass minimum safety code. Furthermore, the aging facility required upgrades to the playing surface, score boards, jumbo screens, general seating, restrooms, concession stands, handicapped access, press boxes and luxury boxes. These upgrades were estimated to cost hundreds of millions to complete.
Due to the magnitude of renovations required to Memorial Stadium the logical question was raised as to whether or not the stadium was worth the expense of preserving or of if was prudent to simply raze the venue and start anew. Unfortunately Memorial Stadium’s status as a National Historic left Cal with only one option, renovation.
This weekend we will explore the monetary costs for Phase I and Phase II of the three phase renovation project. We will also evaluate the creative financing used by the University to justify the renovation costs and their overly optimistic plans to pay for it.
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May 31st, 2012 - 09:25
Cal Stadium is an absolute dump.
May 31st, 2012 - 09:30
Felipe, sorry for the errant comment!
I meant to say that Memorial Stadium is a dump. The place is falling apart and it is the equivalent of torture to sit on those uncomfortable wood benches for 3 hours to watch a game. God forbid if you have to take a piss and stand in line for 40 minutes to get access to one of the three bathrooms they have. I’ve read the stadium remodel portion alone is something like $300+ million. Its a waste of money. You can’t polish a turd. That stadium will still suck no matter how much money they pump into it. They should tear the thing down and start over again like Stanford did.
May 31st, 2012 - 10:20
Finally something we can agree upon. Memorial Stadium is a dump. It’s old and the amenities are woefully inadequate, especially for the handicapped. The biggest problem is that the State of California is broke because the one percenters are not paying their fair share of taxes to renovate our crumbling infrastructure. I say vote “yes” on Governor Brown’s tax initiative on the November ballot. We need to restore funding to K-12 education as well as the CSU and UC systems. Public education should be as good, if not better, than its private school counterparts. The only way we can do that is to pay our teachers and professors what they deserve and preserve the pension plans they earned.
May 31st, 2012 - 13:50
@ Bruin Bob. The teachers and professors you referenced in your comments are the primary culprits for why the State of California is on the precipice of bankruptcy. The bloated pensions for teachers, State workers and prison guards are choking the fiscal life out of the State. All of these groups are strongly represented by their respective unions. Nearly $0.50 of every dollar spent by the State goes to paying for the grandfathered entitlement costs (pension + healthcare) for these retired workers. As a result there is no money left in the budget for anything else. Therefore education, safety net social programs, infrastructure, law enforcement, fire/emergency services and the CSU/UC systems have all been gutted to preserve these ridiculous pension plans. If the State could renegotiate the union contracts, and not just for new hires, then maybe there would be money available to fund renovations to not only stadiums but elementary schools, high schools and colleges/universities. So stop bitching about how unfair the system is and apply pressure to your assemblyman/woman to effect change in Sacramento.
May 31st, 2012 - 11:22
My hair don’t care unless they bribe me.
May 31st, 2012 - 14:07
Puff Daddy’s son is getting a sports scholarship for football at UCLA. People here are in an uproar over an almost billionaire’s son getting a free ride. So really there’s no reason to think that Cal can get this done.
May 31st, 2012 - 14:52
If the brother can play and he has the grades then he earned the scholarship. I want to see a BET show about P Diddy coaching at UCLA. Call it “Making the Team.” Give Puff a clipboard and whistle and if he is better than neuheisel.
June 4th, 2012 - 11:41
I am curious to see what direction you guys go with this. The Cal stadium situation has been getting quite a bit of press up here ever since the WSJ article broke about the questionable projections used by the University to finance the renovations. Quite honestly the whole situation stinks and only a portion of it is the University’s fault, and this is coming from a Stanford guy. If not for its place on the registry of historic landmarks, Cal could have completed this project for a fraction of the cost just like we did with Stanford Stadium in ’05.
June 4th, 2012 - 13:29
Exactly right. It costs money to preserve history but is always worth it? Broncos blew up Mile High and started over because it was not cost effective to renovate it. Would it make sense to renovate the Roman Coliseum to host the Olympics? Of course not. Sometimes you have to know when to say when.
June 5th, 2012 - 08:50
So true. Know when to say when. BTW: The Greeks created the Olympics not the Romans. The analogy is well taken though.
July 19th, 2012 - 11:40
Looks like the stadium will be ready, but not 100% completed, by Sept. 1. Amazing what $500 million doesn’t buy… timeliness.
http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/41030/cals-memorial-stadium-will-be-game-ready
August 8th, 2012 - 14:42
What ever happened to part 4?
December 9th, 2012 - 19:18
We attended the Cal-UW game on Friday November 2. The best thing the place has going for it is the courteous and friendly fans. We sat in the east end zone and had to wait 10 minutes to use a Port-a-potty! Gross! $300 million plus and no restrooms in the east end of the stadium? Who were the architects? Didn’t they attend games and consult fans before doing their “work!”. I give the architects and planners a D minus on this one. P. Duffy Seattle