Tragic...
It was decided this morning that the University of Miami is abandoning the Orange Bowl and is headed north to Dolphin Stadium as early as 2008. I don't think I could be any more sick over the news. Obviously, I get it. Money won out as did the lack of trust issues with the city of Miami. We all know this issue should've been rectified a decade ago. It wasn't and that's why Miami admin and the board of trustees bailed out today.
If you're looking for the lone gunman here, there truly isn't one. You can partially blame the city for draggings its collective feet for over a decade. You can blame the admin for selling out over $1.5M per year when there had to be other options regarding fundraising. Pretty pathetic that a relatively small amount of cash (for an athletic department) was chosen over decades of tradition, but hardly a surprise.
I could go on here, but it'd pale in comparison to Greg Cote's comments regarding this tragic situation. Make sure to check out his article in today's Miami Herald.
The city pledged a $206 million OB renovation to keep the Canes, but, characteristic of its method of operation, the full commitment is lacking. Less than half of that total ($88 million, barely enough to cover structural improvements that are not an option) is firmly accounted for.
The rest of it relies on tax credits and revenue bonds, the usual sleight of hand.
In that respect you can hardly blame UM for favoring a new stadium that has been renovated rather than trusting OB improvements that should have been done years ago instead of existing now only as desperate, last-minute promises.
To be fair, share the blame. Put the majority in the city's lap, but do not absolve UM entirely. Wouldn't an option have been to give the city more time to guarantee the balance of the money while the structural renovation was taking place? Isn't 70 years of tradition worthy of a bit more patience and even a bit of financial sacrifice?
Cote refers to the Orange Bowl as "one of the most unique, tradition-rich home stadiums in all of American sports" and calls Dolphin Stadium "a soulless building in the middle of an expanse of asphalt, a place where the Canes will be the third tenant after the Dolphins and Marlins."
What more is there to say after that?
Check out Cote's article - http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/209424.html - I'll blog more about this over time. Right now I'm just pissed off. The Canes belong at the OB and there's no price tag you can put on that.
posted by allCanes at
9:00 AM
7 Comments:
This is truly a sad day and a shame for Univarsity of Miami football family nationwide. Unfortunately for me, I was never able to make it down to Miami for a game in person (live in Columbus, OH). When I did come down to the Miami area with my family I made it a point to go there to pay homage to the place where The U laid waste to many pretenders. I just can not imagine that the new stadium will be or can be any kind of hostile environment for visiting teams. The field will be too far away from the seats and it may be too hard for the fans to impact the game like they seemed to do in Little Havana. I know the team will do their best to make it a home field advantage anyway, but there is no history there. There will have been no 40 something home game winning streak, no championships won, no Heisman trophy winners having played there and no glorious tradition in the new stadium. It's a shame they have to start from scratch, but they will always be visitors in a stadium that is not truly theirs. Chris if you have the time or energy, I would love for you to make a top 5 or top 10 Orange Bowl games in the history of the program so we can all remember the great times there. Go Canes!
-Columbus Cane
We're a powerhouse school when it comes to football and now we have to share a stadium with two other teams. This makes me sick I was hoping the move would be a temporary move until the OB could be "fixed" but now we loose "OUR" OB and share dolphin stadium. YUCK!! Makes me feel like we're just a Team not worthy of our own stadium...
You hit it right on the head. 70 years of tradition gone. Over money. Over 4,100 fans signed an online petition to save the Orange Bowl. I bet if you asked some of the fans to donate to stay at the Orange Bowl; we the fans would have put our money where our mouths are. We would have easily donated money just to show how important the stadium is to us. Never did the University ask the fans. The City of Miami should have done something sooner and now the City of Miami gets the Marlins and loses 70 years of History over money. UF atheletics department just donated money to the school. We could have bought the stadium from Miami and fixed it up. It was a sad sad day for Canes Fans. We must make sure we go out big. Fans be on the look out because we are trying to organize one last goodbye!
Why move to DS?
For 60 million the U could build their own on campus facility by following the Louisville blueprint of Papa Johns Stadium...
Chris, I'm torn about this. I used to be squarely in the OB camp but with the city dragging its feet I'm not sure we had a choice any longer. It is tragic, but hopefully Shannon can use this to help recruiting.
BTW, I'm converting my Florida College Sports site into an exclusive Canes Site and will keep you posted on it. I don't need to appease the Gator fans anymore with articles and thoughts about them!
Can we get over it already? It made no sense whatsoever to stay there. We all loved the OB and I bet 99% of Miami fans would love to stay there, but it just wasn't realistic.
The OB is a Hole. We call that hole home. I am saddened that we are leaving it. Colleege Footbal should not be played on Baseball dirt. I currently live in Tallahassee and work for FSU (still wear my canes gear to work)and to see the Facilities @ Doak we (and the City of Miami) should be ashamed to call the OB. Makes me wonder how many recruits chose FSU over Miami for the simple reason of a better stadium. FSU makes a killing on Club boxes I understand people are paying $40,000+ maintinance fees per season for a box @ Doak and they have a waiting list for that. For once I dont think we can blame Donna for this one. Pehaps the way the last few seasons has gone, change will do us some good. PS @ doak parking is only $10.....Go Canes
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