Top 15 Reasons why we do NOT need an on-campus stadium ... we already have Hughes Stadium!
The stadium we have NOW is exceptional -- just look at the photo. We do NOT need another stadium and here are 15 reasons why!
1. Terrible Cultural Impact. The on-campus stadium would forever change Fort Collins, for the worse: more traffic, congestion, pollution, high decibel levels, light pollution, rowdy behavior, and parking problems in an area that barely accommodates current traffic levels. Traffic is routinely backed up on Prospect Road connecting the campus to the I-25 intersection, a 5-mile, two lane road passing through residential neighborhoods.
Shields Street and College Avenue, the major North-South routes are also carrying bumper-to-bumper traffic much of the day. The new multi-purpose facility proposed would create grid lock conditions, compounded by the many long trains passing through town every day. The stadium contractors did not consider the effects of train traffic through the many non-grade separated arterial road crossings.
2. Financial Disaster. Spending $450 M on a facility to be used for 6 games a year, using 100% borrowed funds, is wasteful and irresponsible, and places an undo burden on taxpayers. Worse, the cost of operating the stadium and servicing its debt over the next 40 years would be approximately $730 M (more than one-half a billion dollars) just to break even.
3. Giant Scam. The project appears to be a giant scam – a scheme to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars from new debt, into the pockets of outside contractors, architects, coaches, bankers, and bond houses … all to the detriment of the citizens of Fort Collins, and possibly CSU.
4. Big Gamble with our Money. The entire on-campus stadium project is a gamble. It may fail to achieve the optimistic attendance and revenue estimates provided by the contractors who want to build it. Dr. Steven Shulman, Head of the Economics Department at CSU, has already written several papers disproving the income projections that CSU used to justify the project. Its cost would be carried by the University’s General Fund and by taxpayer dollars. CSU has never demonstrated that revenues would be adequate to repay bonds, in which case student tuition and fees would increase.
5. Residential Property Impacted. The nearby neighborhoods would be strangled by event traffic, overwhelmed with parking problems and noise, and have their emergency services access compromised. Property values would decrease, as would the quality of life for residents in those neighborhoods.
6. Neighborhoods Ruined. The proposed stadium would be surrounded largely by residential neighborhoods, served by inadequate roads, and isolated by busy railroad tracks.
7. Tremendous Height. The proposed structure would be 125 feet high (13 stories), visible from most of the city, and completely out of keeping with the city's current architectural style.
8. Gardens Destroyed. The stadium would destroy the cornerstone of CSU’s land grant legacy – the Plant Environmental Research Center and gardens. Decades of beautiful perennials, shrubs, and trees would cease to exist.
9. Infrastructure Costs. The stadium would impose many additional infrastructure costs on the city and its taxpayers.
10. Hughes Stadium. The current Hughes Stadium location has room for parking, tailgating, and expansion, whereas the proposed stadium is being shoehorned into a space that can barely accommodate it. The CSU Administration refused to spend General Fund dollars to upgrade Hughes Stadium, the cost of which totaled approximately $30 M over 8 years – even when Hughes could easily become a destination sports center for northern Colorado. Instead, the Administration supports bulldozing Hughes and spending $730 M over 40 years for a new stadium!
11. Flagging Support. Fort Collins has shown poor support for college football at CSU; we have too many other outdoor activities available in this area.
12. Tremendous Opposition. There is no demonstrated support for the project by students, faculty or community. Polls have indicated greater than 75% opposition (24-to-10 opposition by citizens, 70-to-30 opposition by students, and 80-to-20 opposition by faculty).
13. Huge Carbon Footprint. Carbon costs of building the new stadium construction would be as high as 90,000 metric tons! CSU labels itself as a “green university” with the motto “reuse, re-purpose, and recycle” and studies have shown that an upgraded Hughes Stadium could easily become a “Net Zero” stadium. So why is CSU planning to build a new stadium with a giant carbon footprint instead or upgrading the existing one?
14. Unreachable Football Dream. It is unlikely that, even with a new stadium, CSU will ever become a football powerhouse due to historic and geographical limitations. There are already two major football programs in the area that cater to existing fans.
15. Disinformation Blitz. CSU has conducted a misleading 3-year media campaign to force the idea of an on-campus stadium down the throats of Fort Collins citizens. Sadly, CSU promised the citizens an “open and transparent” process and never delivered on it – no public meetings or consultations with community members.
The CSU Administration has never entertained a public forum or discussion on the merits and financial analysis of the project, and has purposely prevented debates. None of the objections and concerns raised by citizens has produced any response from CSU – CSU has ignored them all.