At the outset of Wednesday’s press conference at Hayward Field’s Bowerman Building, clouds hung over the venerable track, keeping visibility low.
By the end of the conference, the clouds had lifted and given way to the sun, which lit up the Eugene sky with golden overtones.
The future is dark right now for the new arena project, but in the hopes of University President Dave Frohnmayer, it will soon be bright.
“I’m sad about a window we missed,” he said.
That window — whether one, five or even 10 years down the road — will be opened again. Right now, it’s closed shut, much like the ones at the highest level of McArthur Court.
Whether or not that’s positive is in the eye of the beholder. Soon though, Frohnmayer said, that window will have to be opened, whether gently or through force.
McArthur Court is an old facility. It’s been around for the better part of a century, and it’s going to have to be replaced soon enough.
In the reality of the state of Oregon, circa 2004, money can not be spent frivolously. The Lillis Business Complex is a sight to behold and shows how well money can be spent when the University does so wisely.
But you can’t stop there, and to get too deep into the arena-building process without solid footing would have been foolish.
“We have a lot of projects that need to be built and they will all be built first-class,” Frohnmayer said. “(An arena) has to be functional for 75 years, maybe a century.
“We are back to assessing the project, but we know we have to do it.”
Frohnmayer, Athletics Director Bill Moos and Vice President for Administration Dan Williams were all on hand for the announcement. While Frohnmayer is the figurehead of the triumvirate, each played a key role in the decision to stop the project in its tracks.
Many will say they told them so, that a facility is not the most-needed thing on the Oregon campus right now. Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not.
Again, that’s in the eye of the beholder. There are many with opinions out there, from the University faculty to the Eugene community. They’ve expressed their desires, whether positive or not. Frohnmayer said the University’s faculty has been informed throughout the project’s steps.
“It won’t come as any great surprise to them,” he said.
It would be easy to complain about the process, especially since it has netted the University nothing at this point. But that would be wrong.
Frohnmayer, Moos and Williams should be commended for having the sense to stop while the going is still good. They’ve invested some amount of money to this point — Frohnmayer could not estimate that cost — but it could’ve been a whole lot worse down the road.
“This is not money wasted,” Frohnmayer said. “We don’t want anybody to make an imprudent investment.”
Much like the football locker rooms, Oregon officials took a chance on a project that would raise attention. Unlike the locker rooms, the project backfired.
At least for now it did.
Soon, they’ll have to start the project, negative conceptions be damned.
Until the day comes when Oregon can restart, the Ducks will continue to call McArthur Court home. That’s not an omen. There’s nothing to take out of that.
Mac Court has been around for a long time. Just ask Frohnmayer.
“My parents’ incidental fees helped pay for McArthur Court when they were here in the 1920s,” he said.
That says it all.