Short term? Yes, renting Qwest is a better deal.
Long term? Owning your own stadium may be a better deal.

It’s just like home ownership. On a month to month basis, it makes far more sense to rent (assuming that rent is cheaper than mortgage payments, of course).

In the long term, once you own the house, it suddenly makes much more sense to have bought rather than rented.

Add in the fact that the house you bought has a mother in law that you can rent out (such as a stadium could be rented out for events) and you get a bigger break. Using the university stadium for the end of the Beat the Bridge race surely gets the UW a tax break on charitable donations.

I’m just saying that it isn’t simply a matter of ‘There’s another stadium in town, why not use it.’ There’s a lot more on the spreadsheet than that.

FWIW, I went to a big sports school (Syracuse) and yes, sports is a big part of colleges. Hell, I went there because they were the only school whose name I recognized on the list of northeast Environmental Engineering programs (that I could get into, was far enough away, but not too far), because of that sports program.

But I would argue that it isn’t sports that has shoved aside learnin’. It is research. Colleges make lots of money out of their research centers. Sports money just helps to pay for that.

And honestly, do you think tuition rates would be rising so quick if sports were raking in the alumni bucks? Well, ok, probably. =)

The reality on the ground is university in the US is less about learning and more about sports. It’s what drives alumni to give. So, somehow, the UW is going to have someone spend $300m on a stadium. I’m sure they can amortize the costs over 20 years.

I just hope it’s not the state. But it will probably chip in a huge amount anyways somehow.

Just the facts, gotta fix up the stadium, vs, say, fixing roads.

This is such a poor state.

Yes, but there’s cost involved there.

Wear and tear on the field that UW will have to pay for on a weekly basis, including the quick repair job needed for back to back home games.

Transportation for students from campus to Qwest Field.

Rent.

So, rather than making a lot of money by selling seats, the university would make a lot less money by selling seats.

In all honest, I’d wager that they’d make the same amount of money on a weekly basis, *until the college stadium was paid off*, so, despite there being a pro stadium down the street, I don’t see a college wanting to pay for it.

But what do I know. =)