Kibbie Dome Courtesy Photo

What wasn’t explicitly said is that besides donors, the students would be paying a substantial part of the cost.
The renovation is going to be completed in separate phases that are independently financed.

“People tend to lump them together,” said Kimi Lucas, director of business operations for Auxiliary Services. “They are separate … but they are intertwined.”
Phase one – Safety upgrades.

The $17 million phase one of the renovation is geared toward safety improvements to bring the Kibbie Dome up to building code. This includes adding a sprinkler and smoke ventilation system and replacing the ends of the dome with translucent Fiberglas — which is a less flammable material than the current plywood.

Phase one will be funded by university-issued bonds, which will likely be paid off by
student fees.

“A bond is a loan. Just like any other loan — a car loan, a house loan,” said Tyrone Brooks, senior director of capital planning, “What you’re doing is buying a capital asset with borrowed monies and you’re repaying it over a period of time.”
Although bonds at UI have many committable sources, they are usually paid off with the facility fee, a part of student fees.
“We utilize the facility fee specifically as the repayment source,” Brooks said.

UI proposed a $50 increase for the student facility fee for full-time students in fiscal year 2009 to $360.25 per student per semester.
The State Board of Education cut UI’s overall fee increase request from 7.9 percent to 5 percent. It is uncertain if this will affect the facility fee.
“I’m running a series of scenarios to see how it fleshes out,” said Jana Stotler, associated vice president in the Budget Office. “I can tell you that overall, we lost $1 million.”

The university lumps all of its capital improvement bonds into a pool, Brooks said. For fiscal year 2009, the Kibbie Dome renovations are the only proposed bond in the pool, although other projects – such as the remodeling of the Wallace Residence and Brink Hall – are possible.
The Kibbie bond has not yet been issued, but Brooks anticipates a 30-year bond will be issued with a fixed 5 percent interest rate.

If this happens and the bond is paid off in 30 years, after amortization total interest will cost an additional $16.2 million. This nearly doubles the total cost of phase one renovations to more than $33 million.

In this scenario, annual payments would be more than $1 million.
The university could pay off the bond early to save on interest, Brooks said.
“I think the Kibbie life safety project is an excellent project because it preserves a University of Idaho icon,” Brooks said. “It is a wonderful multi-use facility that benefits our entire campus community.”

Large capital projects on sports facilities often go over-budget.
Director of UI Architecture and Engineering Ray Pankopf said that there was at least a slight possibility of going over budget with the renovation.
“It’s always a possibility,” he said. “You could open it up and find all kinds of problems.”

Pankopf said a 10 percent contingency has been factored into overall construction cost for unforeseen expenses.
Pankopf said he was more concerned about running out of time for the project than money. The current plan is to have the bulk of phase one construction completed in the few months between the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival in February and the start of football season in August.

“It’s really tight,” he said.
Pankopf said that he is relieved that the public will be safer after the renovations and glad that UI’s administration was “on board” to complete it first.
“This use of student fees — in terms of keeping this facility open — is not only appropriate, but something that the students should feel pretty strongly in support of,” said ASUI President Jon Gaffney. “The Dome is not used just by athletics, but by hundreds of groups on campus.”
Phase two: Aesthetic improvements

Phase two of the project is estimated to cost $35 million and will involve the installation of 306 club seats, 34 loge boxes, six premium suites, a Vandal Hall of Fame, a club overlooking the end zone and lowering the playing field to improve sight lines and increasing the seating capacity of the dome to 20,000.

Phase two will be paid for entirely by donations from the largest private fundraising campaign in Idaho history, said Chris Murray, vice president of University Advancement.

It is projected that these premium seats will bring in more than $1 million annually. This money will go to the athletic department, Murray said.
“If we’re able to improve the Kibbie Dome, there will be more revenue coming in to the athletic department. That will allow them to have the revenue to do some of the things they need to do,” he said. “They’ll have the financial ability to invest in themselves.”

The Athletic Department would likely use the new revenue to pay for athletic scholarships and retain coaches longer, Murray said.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Rob Spear said that athletics are valuable asset to the university as a whole because it marketed the university, helped recruit students by providing athletic scholarships, brought in revenues and provided a “rallying point” for donors and alumni.

“Going out and supporting our teams, it’s a tradition that’s been a part of this university forever and it’s a huge part of our culture on campus,” Gaffney said. “Athletic scholarships give students a chance to be here. I think athletics plays a pretty remarkable role on campus.”
Student fees paid more than $2 million to athletics in fiscal year 2008, the athletic department budget said.

The fundraising for phase two is still in its infancy, Murray said. There are opportunities for donors to have suites or sections named after them, and these are being presented to potential donors.
“We’re in the cultivation stage, and we have been successful,” Spear said. “We have several proposals out to individuals. We’ve developed a list of potential donors and their potential contribution levels.”

Murray and Spear would not disclose how much money had been raised so far.
“Our attitude is that this project will get done. This project is absolutely critical for the future of our athletic department and for the University of Idaho,” Spear said. “Because of that, this project will get done … failure is not an option.”

Murray said that if the $35 million could not be raised in its entirety, then interior rooms could be shelled out with walls and not finished on the inside.
“You never go into a project thinking that way,” he said. “We believe that we’ve got the support and the people we need to make this project successful.”

Murray said that there are enough fans willing to purchase premium seating.
“These are folks who are passionate about athletics and want to see the athletic program succeed,” he said. “This is a new product: better seat location, better experience in the Dome.”

Buyers of premium seating could come from outside the area, such as Seattle, Portland and Boise and are willing to travel to Moscow for games, Spear said.

The executive suites currently cost $1.25 million.
“Right now, we’re looking at a $1.25 million donation for a suite. A million of that would go to the actual construction, $250,000 would go into our operations over a five year period,” Spear said. “Then the individuals will have the suite named in perpetuity after them, then they would need to re-up and purchase that suite again after those five years.”

Murray said that he anticipated being able to pre-sell all of the premium seats by January.
Both the university president and athletic department are getting new suites above the end zone, Murray said, opening up their old spaces for renovation and sale.

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.