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Rumors are almost always interesting, but mean largely nothing if they do not eventually come to pass.
Take it for what it’s worth, but a new rumor of an imminent on-campus football stadium announcement is circulating at Temple University. This one surrounds an announcement for an on-campus stadium plan to be made “on or before March 1”, and that better be the case because Temple is running out of time. Mar. 1 would give the university just enough time to get the first shovel in the ground later this year and open by the 2018 season. Any further delay would give the Owls no acceptable place to play.
The difference between this rumor and past ones is that the leaks are coming from people who should be in the know, like current members of the Board of Trustees and high-ranking people in the athletic support staff. Already, well-heeled boosters are being contacted to gauge their interest in possible large contributions after the announcement is made. Some have already been told the new stadium would be modeled after the old Pitt Stadium (pictured), a smaller version of the one-time 56,500-seat facility that was demolished in 1999. This version will reportedly slope the seats higher and closer to the field for better sight lines.
Administrators at the school have had a serious case of stadium envy since fellow AAC football members Tulane and Houston opened new stadiums over the last year and have made no attempt to hide their dissatisfaction with the new rent hike offered by Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeff Lurie. Currently, Temple pays the Eagles $1 million per year through 2017 to play home games at the 70,000-seat Lincoln Financial Field. Lurie wants to triple that rent to $3 million per year, and some, like current Temple President Neil Theobald, have said the university would be wise to look into the stadium option. Others have questioned the wisdom of spending $300 million on a new stadium when the team can remain in a perfectly good facility for one percent of that cost.
For the last year or so, stadium supporters have said the stadium is a “done deal.” The same done-dealers now say an announcement will be made by Mar. 1. Because the clock is running out, if there is nothing announced by the beginning of next month, any talk of a new stadium should be finished and there should be no deal.
Mike Gibson is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @papreps , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
