The Dartmouth reports on the plan to replace the home stands at Memorial Field at the conclusion of the coming season. The second sentence in this blurb from the story rings particularly true:
When recruits decide which college to attend and play for, they look at the stadium, the weight rooms and overall athletic facilities, wide receiver Victor Williams ’16 said. He added, however, that he believes students will be more attracted to wins during the season than to new stands.From the story:
"The new stands will add 262 seats with backs, but the total seat capacity will be reduced, for a total of 4,788 seats."The current capacity of the home stands is 7,100 according to the college website. Using that figure, there will be a loss of 2,312 seats, leaving Memorial Field's permanent seating capacity at 10,688 (based on the commonly used figure of 13,000 since renovation of the visiting stands).
With the temporary end-zone seating included the capacity would be 12,688.
Find the college's early March release on the renovation project here.
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From a CNN story:Northwestern University's president emeritus said that if the players on its football team are successful at forming a union, he could see the prestigious private institution giving up Division I football.The Ivy League is referenced further down in the story:
Bienen . . . said a win for the players could lead private institutions with high academic standards -- he specifically cited Duke and Stanford -- to abandon the current model in order to preserve academic integrity.
He compared it to the pullback of the Ivy League schools decades ago, when the Ivy League conference decided to opt out of postseason play and to end athletic scholarships, preserving the emphasis on academics for the players.
"In the 1950s, the Ivies had some of the highest-ranked football teams in the country. The Princeton teams were ranked in the top 5 or 10 at that time. They continue periodically to have ranked basketball teams, but they've given up a certain kind of model of sports," he said, adding that "under certain conditions" the same could happen at other private elite universities that "continue to play big time sports."
Jerry Price, senior associate athletic director at Princeton, said that change for the Ivy League allowed those schools to maintain academic integrity in the sports where, at other schools, academics can often be compromised in the name of the game.
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Columbia completed spring practice on March 15 and head coach Pete Mangurian has an update here. No mention of any players by name. Dartmouth begins practice on April 8.
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Cornell quarterback Jeff Mathews will highlight a Pro Day at the school tomorrow. "At least 20" NFL teams are expected to test and watch the Ivy League's all-time passing leader as well as several others according to this story.
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The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association presents a Program of the Year Award and with the completion of the indoor season the organization recently updated its standing. The Dartmouth women are currently ranked fifth, and are in some pretty heady company. The standings through winter:1. Oregon
2. Stanford
3. Arkansas
4. Georgetown
5. Dartmouth6. Iowa State
7. Villanova
8. Michigan
9. Penn State
10. Michigan State
