Construction efforts have officially begun on the donated six-story, 100,000-square-foot Len Casanova Center expansion amid cheers from the athletic department, yet the University will still foot part of the multimillion-dollar work bill.
Long-time University philanthropist and billionaire benefactor Phil Knight will fund this latest installment in the University’s ongoing series of lavishly bequeathed sporting facilities. The new football operations center adjacent to Autzen Stadium will cost the University’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics around $1 million per year in operating costs, including expenses for new personnel, utilities and other overhead expenditures. Additionally, contractual stipulations demanded by Knight include salaries for five full-time faculty positions, including a curator for the new football hall of fame and museum called for in the expansion’s blueprints.
And the gift comes with other strings attached. According to the renovation’s Commercial Construction Permit Application filed with the City of Eugene Planning and Development Department, the center’s first phase of expansion will cost the University $1.75 million. The permit calls for the “demolition of portions of the Casanova Center (ticket office and 2nd floor north terrace) and re-routing and abandoning existing pathways.”
This site prep work must be done at the athletic department’s expense before construction can begin, per the University’s agreement with Knight. In what has become commonplace with the Nike co-founder’s gifts, the University will lease the land to a private construction company, and ownership will only be returned after work is completed.
By giving Knight free reign over the property, construction costs will be kept largely private until after the new building’s doors open.
However, a Jan. 29 Register-Guard article stated that the buildings cost “could equal the $90 million spent to expand Autzen Stadium in 2002.” If this occurs, the Casanova Center would become the third most expensive building on campus, after the over-$100 million stadium and the new $227 million Matthew Knight Arena.
University athletic director Rob Mullens said his department can afford the Casanova Center expansion, which he sees as a necessary stepping stone in maintaining its world-class football team.
“It’s an area of need,” Mullens said. “We’ve made a lot of progress (and) we certainly want to maintain that elite status. This is a critical piece to the puzzle.”
Mullens said the facility’s operating costs will fall somewhere between $1 million to $2 million and are necessary decrements to ensure the dominance of Oregon athletics.
“That’s an easy decision for us,” Mullens said, “to take on a little additional operating expense to meet a real need.”
Mullens said football generates between 65 to 70 percent of the athletic department’s revenue, and the new building, when viewed as an investment opportunity, will pay for itself in time. This, the director added, is critical for the department because it sees no outside financial support from the University.
“As a unit that receives no general fund support,” Mullens said, “we have to have these types of facilities. The return from that facility investment is tremendous.”
University mathematics professor Dev Sinha said he would prefer to see the construction money go to academics, but understands that donors’ priorities cannot be debated.
“Personally, I would rather see donations to academics — in particular, mathematics,” Sinha said. “As our director of graduate studies, I would love to have more money for grad student stipends, undergrad scholarships, postdoctoral support, outside speakers and conferences, travel, buy-out time for research, etc. But I don’t have the resources myself, nor do I have mind control powers to force donors with money to donate according to my priorities.”
ASUO President Amelie Rousseau believes such lavish gifts are jeopardizing the University’s academic mission by dumping funding into facilities and programs that few non-athlete students are allowed to use.
“We should be asking ourselves why we are accepting these significant gifts to athletics when what we really need are classrooms and residence halls,” Rousseau said.
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