Indoor Practice Facility

[Ken711]

Cornell continues to fall farther behind the other Ivy schools with athletic facilities improvements. With Ithaca weather being just as bad as Hanover, NH, it's all the more reason for Cornell to finally build one.

https://campus-services.dartmouth.edu/projects/projects-construction/indoor-practice-facility

[CU2007]

What about Barton? Or the room with the Climbing Wall?

[Trotsky]

I'm not sure our rivals' making massive commitments to discretionary parts of the university experience implies we "have to" as well.

We could, for example, let them spend themselves into oblivion while directing our own resources towards education.

[marty]

I'm not sure our rivals' making massive commitments to discretionary parts of the university experience implies we "have to" as well.

We could, for example, let them spend themselves into oblivion while directing our own resources towards education.

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that practice facility."

[Trotsky]

I'm not sure our rivals' making massive commitments to discretionary parts of the university experience implies we "have to" as well.

We could, for example, let them spend themselves into oblivion while directing our own resources towards education.

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that practice facility."

Without immediate countermeasures, Dartmouth could be emboldened by this dangerous facility gap and sweep down on us in a sneak attack from Cortland.  We must deploy an Early Warning Practice Field in Utica.

[Ken711]

I'm not sure our rivals' making massive commitments to discretionary parts of the university experience implies we "have to" as well.

We could, for example, let them spend themselves into oblivion while directing our own resources towards education.

That's true, you don't "have to" if you don't care to be competitive when it comes to competing in varsity sports with your Ivy peers, especially with regards to player/team development and recruiting.

[CAS]

Wanna remain competitive in lax?

[rss77]

Was told by an insider a couple of years ago that an indoor practice facility would facilitate playing February and early March lax games inside rather than brave the unpredictable Ithaca weather.

[Cop at Lynah]

There are plans to build a new athletic events center where the TRB lot currently sits.  Stay tuned........

[marty]

I'm not sure our rivals' making massive commitments to discretionary parts of the university experience implies we "have to" as well.

We could, for example, let them spend themselves into oblivion while directing our own resources towards education.

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that practice facility."

Without immediate countermeasures, Dartmouth could be emboldened by this dangerous facility gap and sweep down on us in a sneak attack from Cortland.  We must deploy an Early Warning Practice Field in UticaDryden.

FYP!::demented::

[billhoward]

Was told by an insider a couple of years ago that an indoor practice facility would facilitate playing February and early March lax games inside rather than brave the unpredictable Ithaca weather.

There are indoor practice facilities that are an inflatable bubble on an existing field such as Harvard, Princeton and I believe Penn. They get taken down in the spring.

Then there are full-time indoor facilities. Cornell's Richard M Ramin multipurpose room is the 27,000 sq ft turfed room at the far end of Bartels Hall; it also has the Lindseth Climbing Wall. It counts as an indoor practice facility. The one Dartmouth is doing is 56,000 sq ft and triples the laid-down artificial turf in the older Leverone Field House. For reference, an acre is 43,560 sq ft and a football field between the goal lines is also about an acre 300x160=48,000 sq ft). (Dick Ramiin '51 was a football player then Cornell's VP for PR/marcom/ass-covering and spent the early '70s trying to spin Cornell basketball, an alcoholic coach, defections by black and then white players, and the SI story "Low in Cayuga's Waters" in an upbeat light. https://www.si.com/vault/1973/02/26/617659/low-in-cayugas-waters)

For Cornell to match the Ivies or one-up them, it'd have to be a 130-yard field house (100 yards + end zones + 5 yards beyond) where you could practice full field football, or play lax or soccer on a bitterly cold day. Recall Cornell played lax inside the Michigan field house ~5 years ago and escaped with a 1-goal win. If you're doing this, you probably want it 200 feet wide so you could fit 1000-2500 fans. Could this be Berman Field (not likely since the track surrounding the field would mean a bigger / costlier bubble or roof)? One of the handful of remaining Upper Alumni Fields?

Berman Field was done on the cheap. The seats don't have a lot of elevation for a good view of the action. It's a nice HS stadium is what it is.

I believe an inflatable dome is $5-$10M (if you include upkeep, which is what Cornell is asking of athletics donors - the facility and 20+ years of upkeep). A hard roof over even a small field is serious bucks but it would one-up the other Ivies.

I wonder if the parking lot next to Schoellkopf Field is possibly in play. Or the former Schoellkopf West Stands plus the Hoy parking garage. It could become the top level of the garage. BU just built 2 fields atop a garage a couple blocks from Nickerson Field (their only field).

As Cornell pushes athletic facilities to the edges of campus, it's harder for students to drop by for a sports event after class. The beginning of the end was 45 years ago when Lower Alumni Field became Comstock Hall. It could have been the field for soccer and lacrosse, as it was when it was a grass field with wooden stands for maybe 1000 spectators, plus more sitting on the grass.

[David Harding]

The beginning of the end was 45 years ago when Lower Alumni Field became Comstock Hall. It could have been the field for soccer and lacrosse, as it was when it was a grass field with wooden stands for maybe 1000 spectators, plus more sitting on the grass.

Lightweight Football played on Lower Alumni Field, too.

[Ken711]

Was told by an insider a couple of years ago that an indoor practice facility would facilitate playing February and early March lax games inside rather than brave the unpredictable Ithaca weather.

There are indoor practice facilities that are an inflatable bubble on an existing field such as Harvard, Princeton and I believe Penn. Columbia also has a practice bubble. They get taken down in the spring.

Then there are full-time indoor facilities. Cornell's Richard M Ramin multipurpose room is the 27,000 sq ft turfed room at the far end of Bartels Hall; it also has the Lindseth Climbing Wall. It counts as an indoor practice facility. The one Dartmouth is doing is 56,000 sq ft and triples the laid-down artificial turf in the older Leverone Field House. For reference, an acre is 43,560 sq ft and a football field between the goal lines is also about an acre 300x160=48,000 sq ft). (Dick Ramiin '51 was a football player then Cornell's VP for PR/marcom/ass-covering and spent the early '70s trying to spin Cornell basketball, an alcoholic coach, defections by black and then white players, and the SI story "Low in Cayuga's Waters" in an upbeat light. https://www.si.com/vault/1973/02/26/617659/low-in-cayugas-waters)

For Cornell to match the Ivies or one-up them, it'd have to be a 130-yard field house (100 yards + end zones + 5 yards beyond) where you could practice full field football, or play lax or soccer on a bitterly cold day. Recall Cornell played lax inside the Michigan field house ~5 years ago and escaped with a 1-goal win. If you're doing this, you probably want it 200 feet wide so you could fit 1000-2500 fans. Could this be Berman Field (not likely since the track surrounding the field would mean a bigger / costlier bubble or roof)? One of the handful of remaining Upper Alumni Fields?

Berman Field was done on the cheap. The seats don't have a lot of elevation for a good view of the action. It's a nice HS stadium is what it is.

I believe an inflatable dome is $5-$10M (if you include upkeep, which is what Cornell is asking of athletics donors - the facility and 20+ years of upkeep). A hard roof over even a small field is serious bucks but it would one-up the other Ivies. Dartmouth's is a permanent facility.  Yale is exploring a practice facility as well.  Cornell commissioned a company to develop a feasibility study report to compare an inflatable vs a permanent facility.  That study is nearing completion from what I know.

I wonder if the parking lot next to Schoellkopf Field is possibly in play. Or the former Schoellkopf West Stands plus the Hoy parking garage. It could become the top level of the garage. BU just built 2 fields atop a garage a couple blocks from Nickerson Field (their only field).

As Cornell pushes athletic facilities to the edges of campus, it's harder for students to drop by for a sports event after class. The beginning of the end was 45 years ago when Lower Alumni Field became Comstock Hall. It could have been the field for soccer and lacrosse, as it was when it was a grass field with wooden stands for maybe 1000 spectators, plus more sitting on the grass.

[Ken711]

https://brownbears.com/news/2019/4/3/general-brown-plans-for-dedicated-championship-level-lacrosse-and-soccer-center.aspx


Cornell's planned facility improvements....sound of crickets.

[Swampy]

https://brownbears.com/news/2019/4/3/general-brown-plans-for-dedicated-championship-level-lacrosse-and-soccer-center.aspx


Cornell's planned facility improvements....sound of crickets.

"Indoor" does not appear in the Brown article. It seems to me an indoor practice (and perhaps game) facility is what our lacrosse team needs the most.

Are our other facilities for lacrosse and soccer teams as scattershot as Brown's are?