http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/6946832.html What the hell? They really thought they were going to build it for 25m? After all this planning they had no idea it was going to cost this much??
The cost of construction is rising astronomically and they may not have factored that in. When we built our house 7 yrs. ago $40.00/square foot was pretty muich the average- ours ended up being $50.00 cause I tend to overkill- like copper flashing on roof instead of galvanize, etc. but a good friend of mine, who's a carpenter, told me it's at $90.00 + per square foot. And we live in a very "Rural" area.
yeah, all construction costs have risen since hurricane Katrina. That was almost two years ago now. Is this news to them?
Looks like, and I'm just guessing from what I read, they had 24.4 mill to work with and TAF was going to kick some in too- and possibly some other source. Then, because Then, because of the "Higher-priority projects" things didn't get moving as scheduled and the increase incurred in the meantime could be the difference.
Should of started building before Katrina. Now they'll probably whittle so much out of the new stadium that the Box would look better. I'm with the Kid. Renovate. The Box could be super upgraded for less.
Yeah construction costs rose all right. The AD also added 19 skyboxes to the stadium. I wonder if that made it more expensive? Do you think? We need the new stadium. We can't recruit top players with the old Box, not with the shiny new baseball stadiums built in the SEC over the last ten years. We don't need the skyboxes. Save them for a future upgrade and get the new Box built quickly.
But then Skips wine and cheese snobs would have to intermingle with the working class trash, simply unthinkable. I say just put a $100 per seat TAF fee on the seats and run the true fans off so the mink coat, leave at halftime(4th inning) bunch can move in, it worked for football.
Like Red said, we need the stadium. There is NO way LSU could remain competitive without a new park. Simply playing for LSU doesn't mean what it used to for high school and juco stars. CPM will have that turned around. A new stadium with indoor batting cages (which CPM is very adamant about having) will surely help! You also have to realize that Tulane is getting a new park. LSU can't afford to lose any more ground to Tulane's baseball program IMO.
