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Post by northalaspectator on Nov 20, 2021 17:35:49 GMT -6
To bring the stadium update back up, I am hearing from some sources that the City wants no part in building a new stadium and are of the opinion that Florence can’t support 2 stadiums. It’s becoming more clear that UNA went D1 without a real plan. I believe it’s already in the works with the city and University agreeing to work together that there will eventually be plans to renovate braly. I believe now the locker room project is due to creating a better facility on campus not for a new stadium. If this is true, then the city is favoring a new Florence High Stadium. My understanding is that the high school has plans on leaving Braly and bulldog their own stadium. My understanding is that the City Board of Education completely 100% owns Braly since the agreement that was work out in 2016. I was told then by a City School Member at that time that the University had an offer to buy that complete school property and refuse. If that was true, why would the University be only interested in Braly now. Apparently some people in the area doesn’t want to have anything to do with the University in any form or fashion. Back when there were two High Schools and they decided to merge there were suggestions for a new mascot for the new High School and Lions was one of the suggestions. The reason that it was dropped because it would make the High School sound like a “Pep School” for the University.
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Post by unalions on Nov 20, 2021 18:00:19 GMT -6
I wish UNA had bought the entire property. I’m all for a new stadium but so much could have been done with that property.
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Post by unafied on Nov 20, 2021 18:02:11 GMT -6
If they truly had the chance to buy that property and chose not to, then I’m dumbfounded. I’d love to hear the reason why they didn’t.
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Post by unaman on Nov 20, 2021 18:32:55 GMT -6
If they truly had the chance to buy that property and chose not to, then I’m dumbfounded. I’d love to hear the reason why they didn’t. I heard Florence BOE wanted an assured amount of money and still wanted to keep the gym that is on the property. It’s just a terrible situation all around with no great solution.
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Post by northalaspectator on Nov 20, 2021 18:42:48 GMT -6
If they truly had the chance to buy that property and chose not to, then I’m dumbfounded. I’d love to hear the reason why they didn’t. I heard Florence BOE wanted an assured amount of money and still wanted to keep the gym that is on the property. It’s just a terrible situation all around with no great solution. I have also heard that was one of the sticking points.
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Post by unafied on Nov 20, 2021 18:51:40 GMT -6
If they truly had the chance to buy that property and chose not to, then I’m dumbfounded. I’d love to hear the reason why they didn’t. I heard Florence BOE wanted an assured amount of money and still wanted to keep the gym that is on the property. It’s just a terrible situation all around with no great solution. Yeah, I’m assuming that’s the answer. I guess they figured they’d just throw a number out, not really planning on UNA biting, but they’d be happy to take the money if so. Like spectator said above, there just seems to be animosity or jealousy between the City and UNA and I honestly just do not understand it. Most cities would be ecstatic to have a D1 university, and Florence acts like it’s an inconvenience. Is it because we aren’t Bama or Auburn? Do the cities of Jacksonville and Troy feel that way towards their schools? I’m willing to bet they don’t.
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Post by unalions on Nov 20, 2021 18:55:17 GMT -6
Sounds like we need more UNA alumni to run for City Council and BOE.
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Post by unaman on Nov 20, 2021 19:06:29 GMT -6
I heard Florence BOE wanted an assured amount of money and still wanted to keep the gym that is on the property. It’s just a terrible situation all around with no great solution. Yeah, I’m assuming that’s the answer. I guess they figured they’d just throw a number out, not really planning on UNA biting, but they’d be happy to take the money if so. Like spectator said above, there just seems to be animosity or jealousy between the City and UNA and I honestly just do not understand it. Most cities would be ecstatic to have a D1 university, and Florence acts like it’s an inconvenience. Is it because we aren’t Bama or Auburn? Do the cities of Jacksonville and Troy feel that way towards their schools? I’m willing to bet they don’t. Meant to say absurd in my original comment… I was thinking about the other cities. UA and Auburn might not be the greatest examples but I know without those universities, especially Auburn, they would not be where they are today. Troy completely bought in and still support their university. I think JSU has their city support and basically the east side of the state. We don’t even have our own city support. It’s main focus is to get the school system up to par with other 7a schools/Muscle shoals. Like someone said, UNA is an afterthought and at times a nuisance to the city vs a benefit and a way to grow the area.
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Post by brandon on Nov 20, 2021 19:51:03 GMT -6
The city itself has nothing against UNA... It's certain members in the board of education.
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Post by tuna85 on Nov 20, 2021 20:33:49 GMT -6
1. Would not spend $1 to renovate Braly unless we owned it. 2. Would not own Braly if the deal offered was a suckers deal. 3. Inability to own Braly means stadium on campus. 4. Take BOE out of the equation. Build on campus. 5. Take Braly out of the equation for UNA. Build on campus. 6. BOE and City deal with Braly issues. Not our problem. Build on campus. 7. Be a good citizen, be a good neighbor; but, be responsible for your future, your growth, and make your own decisions, do not have others plan your path. Build on campus.
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Post by brandon on Nov 21, 2021 12:15:23 GMT -6
The problem with people in the BOE and anywhere in the city is that they didn't go to UNA for the most part. A lot of them went to Alabama or Auburn and just don't give any respect to UNA. That needs to change.
I want an on campus stadium... The University needs more dorms as well, let's kill two birds with one stone....
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Post by roaringsince96 on Nov 21, 2021 13:03:31 GMT -6
That’s one big stone. I do prefer the stadium option vs renovation of Braly. North Alabama has to look long term. We are FCS now, no more transition. We easily lead the conference in attendance and we have not been worth a crap the last four years. We start winning and give people a reason to stay after the band performance who knows? The new stadium alone will bring in visitors to see the stadium. Everyone that has been to Braly in the last 40 years has seen the current Braly stadium…nothing has changed. My biggest concern with on campus stadium is where do people tailgate? We need a 3 acre lot just for tailgating….which is a great problem. Hope with Looney in place conversations are currently ongoing and not just waiting till down the road.
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Post by brandon on Nov 21, 2021 14:50:09 GMT -6
So I've been making phone calls...
2 Out of the three that I call said the exact same thing.
The BOE is wanting to sell the stadium outright to UNA and build a smaller high school stadium for Florence. UNA is in negotiations about price and being able to use parking lots with the middle school.
If UNA buys Braly, they plan on replacing the press box, adding brick, tearing out old buildings, new locker rooms, tearing out the old track, and paving the old baseball field. Also plans on replacing the Royal ave side grandstand and adding seats in one endzone. Replacement of the turf would happen first.
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Post by unaman on Nov 21, 2021 15:23:09 GMT -6
So I've been making phone calls... 2 Out of the three that I call said the exact same thing. The BOE is wanting to sell the stadium outright to UNA and build a smaller high school stadium for Florence. UNA is in negotiations about price and being able to use parking lots with the middle school. If UNA buys Braly, they plan on replacing the press box, adding brick, tearing out old buildings, new locker rooms, tearing out the old track, and paving the old baseball field. Also plans on replacing the Royal ave side grandstand and adding seats in one endzone. Replacement of the turf would happen first. I know we all want an on campus stadium but the above is probably the best situation. Idk if people keep up with Florence high school but they completely renovated their practice field and track. They could easily build a small stadium on their high school campus where soccer plays or new practice field. Parking would be atrocious but not our problem. Back to UNA, I think Braly with $10-15M in renovations could be a great stadium and I think you could do all the above with $10-15M. Still need to move baseball then build a new Athletic/football facility in its place.
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Post by roaringsince96 on Nov 21, 2021 16:15:40 GMT -6
So I've been making phone calls... 2 Out of the three that I call said the exact same thing. The BOE is wanting to sell the stadium outright to UNA and build a smaller high school stadium for Florence. UNA is in negotiations about price and being able to use parking lots with the middle school. If UNA buys Braly, they plan on replacing the press box, adding brick, tearing out old buildings, new locker rooms, tearing out the old track, and paving the old baseball field. Also plans on replacing the Royal ave side grandstand and adding seats in one endzone. Replacement of the turf would happen first. Well that’s totally different. I was afraid renovation meant us sharing a stadium. Braly Stadium and Wallace Field has a nice ring to it. I will help dig up that old track. North Alabama needs to be all over that place. Our championships need to be seen everywhere. Lions needs to be all over the place. People that attend games now never see North Alabama on the field or anywhere on the stadium. My question is do we also get the property that is Spirit Hill? Would also love to have the lot south of the field. Either would make for great tailgating. Both properties would be the right choice for tailgating and parking/staging. Build stands for the band and student section at one of the end zones preferably opposite of the new jumbo scoreboard with live play by play action. Lot of options…
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