Article today Marist refused to sign contract until Rice gets more visitor bleachers. is feeto the Marist AD?
Not a bad idea.Originally posted by DeanOfSelection:
why not just play at Xav's every year?
Originally posted by DeanOfSelection:
Article today Marist refused to sign contract until Rice gets more visitor bleachers. is feeto the Marist AD?
Not trying to defend Marist here. I think that their decision was ill considered.
HOWEVER...
WHY doesn't Rice have room for more visitor stands? WHY does Rice say that they can't build more stands because it is "landlocked?"
The land that comprises the Rice and SXU and Mother McAuley campuses is contiguous and it encompasses over 100 acres. All three of these educational institutions are Catholic. McAuley and SXU were both founded by the Sisters of Mercy. Why does McAuley have its own soccer field, SXU its own football/soccer stadium and Rice its own football/soccer stadium? What a waste of resources!
Wouldn't it make more sense to have one large stadium for all three schools? Pool your resources and together build something of a scale and a quality that you could never build separately. Sure, scheduling might be challenging, but college football generally isn't played on Friday nights. Rice doesn't play soccer in the spring. McAuley doesn't play it in the fall. Scheduling might be challenging, but not impossible.
I understand that the train has already left the station. The property of all three campuses is substantially developed. But, what a shame.
Where was the big picture vision back in the late 50s when the Rice campus was carved out of the SXU/McAuley property owned by the Sisters of Mercy? Where was the vision before SXU invested in Deaton Field 8-10 years ago? Why build an on-campus stadium for a top tier NAIA football program that seats just 3000 when Rice already had a stadium within walking distance that could have been expanded? Or maybe the Rice stadium could have been abandoned, razed, or converted to practice fields and all three institutions could have cooperated and built something bigger/grander.
Originally posted by DeanOfSelection:
why not just play at Xav's every year?
Because they have to being part of their conference. I think its a big F-U to Rice that their stadium suxOriginally posted by USD24:
Are you serious? That is ridiculous. Marist sounds like a bunch of babies. Pretty sure MC, PC and Rita have all played there without those demands.
Better.Originally posted by DeanOfSelection:
I would say Toyota Park. great place to see a game.
I agree that it is not a good idea to discontinue this series over something as seemingly insignificant as inadequate visitor seating. These two schools have been playing each other in football off and on for many years and it just seems silly to decide now to enter an off period over seating. If you haven't already done so, read the whole Disabato article. It does explain what's behind Marist's position.Originally posted by USD24:
There are many schools that don't have the greatest visitor seating capacity, yet they host big games every year. Both Naz and Montini have very limited visitor seating and schools don't seem to have a problem playing there. It seems like a real bush league move by Marist.
And for many years before Marist upgraded their football stadium, the visitor bleachers at Marist were temporary and nothing to write home about. They looked like they would blow over in a strong wind.Originally posted by Topiary:
What Marist wanted went beyond just one small set of bleachers. We've never requested anything from them and for many years we always played the game at Marist and not at Rice and not at Gately.
They are replacing Rice with Rita so its not like they are dodging Rice for some auto win to help their playoff chances. And Marist has been the much more dominant team in the recent past. But it really is a shame to see them not be able to reach some kind of compromise to keep this game alive.Originally posted by Topiary:
so they don't get caught in another 4-5 season and miss playoffs
feeto:Originally posted by feeto:
NO, I'M NOT THE AD AT MARIST..................... but I agree with him 100%. It's not just the bleachers that suck....it's the entire experience of being the visiting team at Rice. The rude Fathers Club guys at the gate. The 2 portable toilets on the visitors side. The 30 year old splinter filled 2"x10"'s that you are expected to sit on. The annoying P.A. guy. Well done Redhawkskins !!!!!
DuSable and Rice were on the schedule this year for Marist. Next year Marist plays DuSable and Rita OOO. Therefore you can see that Rita replaces Rice on the Marist schedule. Topiary was implying that Marist was dropping Rice so they can add an easy win and avoid missing playoffs like they did this season. I just pointed out that they aren't adding an extra win, they will have basically the same schedule as this year just replacing Rice with Rita.Originally posted by SR85:
The article said Marist replaced Rice with DuSable. Not sure where you saw Rita.