He said OKC was a lot of fun last night when he and Duane Akina picked up the Thorpe Award.
Michael Huff was recognized as the 2005 Jim Thorpe Award winner on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City.
http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/
He said OKC was a lot of fun last night when he and Duane Akina picked up the Thorpe Award.
Michael Huff was recognized as the 2005 Jim Thorpe Award winner on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City.
http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/
Last edited by Herr Scholz; 2/8/2006 at 12:10 PM.
Looks like Ted Turner's ghey brother standing next to Puff.
Admins, can somebody clean up the whorange trash around here?
i hope he saw a dentist to straighten out those front teeth while he was here...
Originally Posted by OregonSooner
He'll have plenty of money for braces. He might sneak into the top 10 in the draft.
Also, I don't want to start another Longhorn post because I'll get booed off the site, but in case anyone was wondering, UT is expanding our football stadium. Will seat >90K by 2008.
February 08, 2006
University of Texas System regents on Thursday are expected to approve spending nearly $150 million to remodel and expand Royal-Memorial Stadium.
The project, scheduled to be completed in August 2008, would boost seating capacity for football games to more than 90,000. The regents also are expected to authorize construction of a $120.9 million hotel and conference center at the southern edge of campus. That is nearly $37 million more than previous estimates, an increase caused partly by the need to build underground parking to avoid condemning a restaurant that has operated adjacent to the site for more than 20 years.
The stadium expansion, which focuses on the north end zone, has been under discussion for some time, but officials have not disclosed a price tag until now. The $149.9 million cost includes $15 million approved by the regents in November for renovating and expanding the west side of the stadium, work that is under way.
"We had exceptional demand before we won the national championship. I think because of winning the national championship, sales of the inventory of new seating will probably go even faster than we anticipated," said Patti Ohlendorf, UT-Austin's vice president for institutional relations and legal affairs.
The expansion would make Royal-Memorial one of the nation's largest college football stadiums but not one of the true giants. The University of Michigan's stadium has a capacity of 107,501, and Penn State's seats 107,282.
A committee of regents will meet in Austin today to consider the stadium and hotel-conference center projects, with the full Board of Regents scheduled to take action Thursday. UT System Chancellor Mark Yudof and his top aides have recommended approval.
The stadium proposal calls for replacing the existing north end zone structure. Besides increasing the seating capacity, currently 80,082, the project would add offices for the cheerleading program, production TV crew members, ticketing, patron services, the Longhorn Foundation, athletics officials and academic advising. Also, sprinklers would be added to interior portions of the stadium that lack such fire controls.
"There will also be some gymnasiums in the basement for academic use, classes and that type of thing," Ohlendorf said. "And there will be a portion — I think one floor — not yet finished out that will have some future university use."
Bonds would be issued to cover $106.6 million of the project, with the debt to be repaid from revenue generated by Centennial Room and west stadium seating. Gifts would pay for $35 million, and the $8.3 million balance would be covered by investment returns on UT-Austin's construction account.
The budget for the hotel and conference center — to be known as the University of Texas Executive Education and Conference Center — is poised to rise about 44 percent from the $84 million estimated last year.
UT-Austin officials had hoped to acquire the adjacent property occupied by Player's restaurant for a parking garage to serve the hotel and conference center, but the restaurant's owners didn't want to sell. Although the regents had authorized the use of eminent domain to acquire the tract, a legislative effort last year to restrict the university's condemnation power prompted officials to forgo that option.
The increased cost for the project stems from a decision to build three levels of underground parking and to expand executive education capacity, with 300 hotel rooms rather than 250, according to UT System records.
The financing plan consists of $85.9 million in bonds, $30 million in gifts and $5 million in investment earnings from UT-Austin's construction account. Bond debt would be paid with revenue from operating the hotel and garage.
So file that under "We don't really care on Soonerfans"?
Well, the football expansion is probably tied to the Cotton Bowl discussion going on right now (our contract in Dallas is up after 2007 and this expansion will be done before the following season). We're moving the North endzone in closer to the field and since this is where opposing fans sit, you should be happy.
I'm surprised that dkr wasn't that big by now anywho.
How many Thorpes for whorns? 1? 2?
SoonerinabileneOh sweet jesus. Its like watching the special olympics in high definition on here now.
Doesn't the stadium already cross I-35??!!
I kinda hate to say this but the Hotel idea next to stadium does sound like a cool idea - Go ahead a push the stadium to 90,000 plus - then after we the NC this year I'm sure we will do the same......
Still R'
Capacity now of 83K. Eventually will be over 100K. Has to be done in stages so that it looks as disjointed as possible.
1st Thorpe Award evar. Those guys in OKC have jobbing us for years.
I have a very nice view of I-35 from my very high season seats.
uh huh
SoonerinabileneOh sweet jesus. Its like watching the special olympics in high definition on here now.
Hotel's on a totally different part of campus. It's being built for conferences and parents and such. I like it that the little burger joint that they couldn't get to sell out is costing UT an additional $37M for building underground parking. That place does make good shakes though.I kinda hate to say this but the Hotel idea next to stadium does sound like a cool idea - Go ahead a push the stadium to 90,000 plus - then after we the NC this year I'm sure we will do the same......
Still R'
I think I highjacked my own Thorpe award thread.
Can't they use the new eminent domain law that the Supreme Court made to take them out?
Actually, the Regents were given the go-ahead to do this by the state and they were going to. But then there was such negative publicity about it (I myself signed a petition for UT not to get rid of Players - a campus burger joint that has been there forever) one of the Texas representatives actually introduced some legislation to save Players (you know how crazy the Texas House is). Then, UT backed off.Can't they use the new eminent domain law that the Supreme Court made to take them out?
It's costing the university but it would have cost the restaurant owners relatively more. They were going to get the fair market value of the real estate only and no equity in the restaurant they had built up there over the years. Glad they won.
And new snack bars!Well, the football expansion is probably tied to the Cotton Bowl discussion going on right now (our contract in Dallas is up after 2007 and this expansion will be done before the following season). We're moving the North endzone in closer to the field and since this is where opposing fans sit, you should be happy.
posse member
You guys should eat at Players when you come here in 2008.And new snck bars!
Nighthawk > Players
SoonerinabileneOh sweet jesus. Its like watching the special olympics in high definition on here now.
That's actually the best news I've heard come out of Austin in many many years.
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