Luxury legacy left over

Former athletic director Michael McNeely may be gone. But a $3.5 million piece of his legacy still remains in the form of luxury seats currently being constructed at Memorial Stadium.\nFollowing the lead of Big Ten schools such as Ohio State and Penn State, which have already reaped financial benefits with the addition of luxury seats in their stadiums, IU is currently installing eight luxury suites and 300 club-level seats in Memorial Stadium to be ready for the 2003 season.\nScott Dolson, director of the IU Varsity Club, said the plans for the building suites were first formulated almost as soon as McNeely arrived as athletic director in July 2001. After taking a tour of the Memorial Stadium press box for the first time, McNeely said there was underutilized space standing in the way of additional revenue for the IU athletic program.\n"I think he immediately started thinking of the suite concept and the club seat concept as ways of creating additional revenue streams," Dolson said.\nThe suites and club seats will be added onto the current press box structure.\nConstruction on the press box started this summer and has continued throughout the football season. It was originally hoped that the construction on the suites would be completed by the final game of the season, but the suites will not be ready until next season. In addition to the building of new seats, the press area is being renovated as well. \nThe project was not funded by the already tight University and state budgets, but through a loan from the IU Foundation.\nDolson is optimistic that it won't take long to repay the $3.5 million loan though. Six suite licenses have been sold thus far, which means that the athletic department is already guaranteed to have over $2.1 million worth of the project paid for before the seats are even ready to sit in.\nThe first person to purchase a suite was long-time IU Varsity Club booster Bruce Furr of International Data, LLC. \n"We did this primarily to support the University and to offer the amenities to our clients," Furr said.\nOnce the loans are paid off, every dollar raised for the seats will be profit for the athletic department, which is recovering from a debt of more than $1 million from the 2001 fiscal year.\nSuite licenses are being priced at $46,950 per year for the seven to 10-year plan. There is also a five to six-year plan in which licenses can be purchased for $49,950 per year.\nClub seats, which will be located in the new addition that is being built below the press box, will cost $1,250 per year in addition to the cost of season tickets.\nBoth sections will offer a share of amenities to purchasers. The suites hold 14 seats apiece, and come equipped with two televisions, a telephone, refrigerator, sink, air conditioning and heat and complimentary food and beverage.\nThe club section is fitted with plush movie theater-style seats with climate-control. Food and beverage will not be complimentary in the club section.\nLicense buyers for both seating areas will receive priority points for basketball season ticket assignments.\nSuites have often been criticized for leaving out "the common fan" and catering to corporations. Dolson said the suites at Memorial Stadium have been sold to an even combination of corporate buyers and individuals.\n"We've got one group of four alumni that wanted to join together and have a suite of their own. That's strictly from a fan's vantage point rather than a business vantage point," Dolson said. \nIU isn't the only school in the area to construct suites and club seating this year. Purdue has added 34 suites as part of massive $70 million renovation of Ross-Ade Stadium. In addition, Purdue will be adding both outdoor and indoor club seating to the stadium. The renovation plan also calls for widening seats and aisles in the stadium concourse. The project will actually end up reducing Ross-Ade's seating capacity by 5000.\nWhile ticket prices across the country continue to rise, the suite building plans will not have an effect on the cost of student tickets at either Purdue or IU. In fact, IU is headed in another direction altogether, as it lowered the cost of season tickets for students, though the seats were moved to a different section.\nWhile Purdue Associate Athletic Director Jay Cooperider said he understands some fans see suites as just another step in the commercialization of college sports, he believes suites can actually benefit the common fan sitting in the nosebleed section by keeping their ticket prices lower in the long term.\n"We're not pricing people out of the market," Cooperider said. "We pay $5 million a year to educate student-athletes. This way, a small percentage of the fan base pays for amenities for everybody." \nIn terms of athletic revenue, IU is being left in the dust by the rest of the Big Ten. IU's athletic revenue ranks 10th in the conference, nearly $25 million behind conference leader Ohio State. In football, IU is ranked dead last in the conference, falling $14 million behind the revenue raised by Penn State.\nFurr said the decision to build suites is a no-brainer. \n"There's no doubt we need more athletic revenue," Furr said. "You can't beat an increasing budget with a declining revenue source. Nobody's Houdini"