Why FAU stadium will get done and be ready in 2011
Source: Ted Hutton - Sun-Sentinel
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I just want to clarify why when one name was dropped yesterday, I knew the stadium was going to get done on time.

I had predicted a while ago that it would get done when FAU decided to sell the development rights to the dorms at Innovation Village. That was the down payment FAU needed to get the project over the hump, and from then on it was just about getting the financing lined up, which was done in recent weeks.

This whole stadium saga goes back to Sept. 2007 when the BOT gave the initial go-ahead.

Well, actually, it goes back to when Howard Schnellenberger first dreamed up the whole program and he predicted there would be a 40,000-seat domed stadium on campus by year three or four (2003 or 2004).

It soon became clear those projections were a tad rosy.

But by the fall of 2007 there was momentum and a plan, and in September the BOT met for a vote that would give the OK to proceed.

That was the meeting where former BOT chief Norm Tripp gave a moving speech about making FAU a world-class institution, and where we first heard from Craig Dunlap.

Here’s my blog entry from that day.

Tripp is gone, but Dunlap, a public financing specialist who the BOT hired to oversee the project and advise them, has stuck around.

And while he wasn’t at Wednesday’s meeting, when his name was mentioned, I knew right then FAU would have an on-campus stadium waiting to host its first game in Sept. 2011, four years after that initial approval was given.

David Kian said that Dunlap had looked over the financing proposal from Regions Bank and had declared it acceptable, and that he was very comfortable with it, and would be comfortable recommending that the BOT approve it.

That, my friends, is a rubber stamp. The BOT has complete faith in Dunlap. Trust me on this -- If Dunlap says it is a go, IT IS A GO.

I remember Dunlap, who often resorts to nearly unintelligible bureaucrat-ese, rose out of that mode during his presentation back in 2007.

He had a similar role in the construction of the UCF stadium, and talked about being there on opening day, when the Knights hosted Texas, and how it was the most meaningful day in his public career, how the stadium was alive and how the fans cheered and roared.

“In September of 2010 I hope you will have that same opportunity,” Dunlap told the BOT.


The stadium plans do call for a large tower on the home side that will hold luxury boxes and club seats.

Well, it’s a year later, but the BOT will get that chance.

No way does this thing come off the rails now. The infrastructure for the stadium is shared with that of Innovation Village, which ground was broken for on Wednesday.

The financing is essentially in place, with a couple more banks to line up.

The stadium and 1,200 new beds will be open for business in the fall of 2011. When the honchos talk about Innovation Village transforming FAU, they are not blowing smoke.

That north end of campus is going to be a pretty special place, and FAU will have taken a big step to becoming a more traditional university.

With a bunch more students on campus, attendance at all sporting events should get a boost.

And as fans come on campus for football games and discover what lies off Glades Road, they may come back for basketball games and other campus events, like concerts.

2011-12 is going to be a pretty special school year at FAU.