TCF Bank Stadium

The article "Groups discuss student fees" by Amber Kispert in this past Thursday's Minnesota Daily caught my attention this past week. The article discussed the three main benefits University of Minnesota students will recieve when paying for the new TCF Bank Stadium. According to the daily, students will spend $23 million over the course of 25 years on the stadium, which averages out to a $25 deposit per student a year. The benefits the article state are as followed: 1) student groups and recreational sports teams will be able to utilize the stadium whenever University sporting events are not scheduled; 2) students will have the opportunity to have a say in the future name of the stadium; and 3) for every sport ticket purchased by a student, they shall recieve points that will go toward buying better seats after they graduate. Throughout the article, various people commented on how these benefits are not good enough, but I disagree. First of all, the first benefit will give student groups and recreational sports groups a different location to be active at once in awhile. While being part of the Residential Hall Association last year, it was an absolute pain trying to find places to schedule events, such as dances and fundraisers. We had to wait months to have one specific event, because the university did not have enough options that were large enough for hundreds of students. This benefit will give us another option. Next, the second benefit may not effect many students, but to those that care what their school's new stadium name will be, they will at least be given a say in the process. Plus, since this is our school, we should enjoy the fact that we can name what we are putting our money into. Finally, the third benefit will come in handy for those that will maintain their gopher pride and continue to attend the games. It's probably going to benefit the under-classmen more in the long run, since they will have more time to purchase more tickets and therefore receive more points, but then again, they will be paying during that time as well. These benefits may or may not appeal to some. Those in charge of the benefits cannot make every student happy. Although, it should at least be an honor to one day be able to say, 'hey, I helped pay for that stadium!' And to some, like myself, that is simply good enough.

Here is more information on the new stadium: http://www1.umn.edu/stadium/TCF.html