Larry Gies Makes Transformational $100 Million Gift to Illinois Athletics

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#127      
illiram
As an Iliini fan, I appreciate the donation. But I hate the stadium name change. Grange Stadium or Butkus Stadium or Zuppke Stadium would have been better. I appreciate Mr Gies Sr service. But Mr. Gies, money talks. You have their ear. I would have demanded Chief come back, or ZERO donation.
 
#128      
Mr. Tibbs
illiram said:
As an Iliini fan, I appreciate the donation. But I hate the stadium name change. Grange Stadium or Butkus Stadium or Zuppke stadium would have been better. I appreciate Mr Gies Sr service. But Mr. Gies, money talks. you have their ear. I would have demanded Chief come back, or ZERO donation.
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i’m a huge Chief supporter , but I think it’s a non starter , to be totally honest
 
#129      
skyIdub
RabidDawgClassic said:
I don’t have a beef, really, with any of this, other than we’ve sold 100 years of tribute to the soldiers of World War One. But… it was sold for a hefty price tag and everything has a price. In this era of NIL “pay for play,” $100 million is nothing to sneeze at.

My biggest gripe is calling this a “gift.” It’s not a gift, it’s a transaction of sale. The UI sold the name of the stadium in exchange for $100 million. Seems like a fair deal, doughboys be damned! But don’t pi$$ on my leg and tell me it’s raining. A “gift” is something offered with no return expected in exchange.

So really… my only issue is semantics. Let’s take that hundy-mill and go get us some five stars!!
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Good f#%king grief..
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#132      
skyIdub
Gies Memorial Stadium. 🧡

Love it. The money is a gift....and the name is a gift.

IT'S TWO GIFTS!!


Edit: Oklahoma's is actually Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium....
Stadium NameSchoolConference
California Memorial StadiumCaliforniaPac-12
Frank Howard Field at Clemson Memorial StadiumClemsonACC
Memorial StadiumIllinoisBig Ten
Memorial StadiumIndianaBig Ten
David Booth Kansas Memorial StadiumKansasBig 12
Liberty Bowl Memorial StadiumMemphisAAC
Faurot Field at Memorial StadiumMissouriSEC
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial StadiumNavyAAC
Memorial Stadium, Tom Osborne FieldNebraskaBig Ten
Aggie Memorial StadiumNew Mexico StateIndependent
Kenan Memorial StadiumNorth CarolinaACC
Oklahoma Memorial Stadium at Owen FieldOklahomaBig 12
Los Angeles Memorial ColiseumUSCPac-12
Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial StadiumTexasBig 12
Veterans Memorial Stadium at Larry Blakeney FieldTroySun Belt
Jonah Field at War Memorial StadiumWyomingMountain West
 
#133      
BrownTown
illiram said:
As an Iliini fan, I appreciate the donation. But I hate the stadium name change. Grange Stadium or Butkus Stadium or Zuppke Stadium would have been better. I appreciate Mr Gies Sr service. But Mr. Gies, money talks. You have their ear. I would have demanded Chief come back, or ZERO donation.
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Wouldn't it be funnier if Shad Khan gave, I don't know... 250 million with the stipulation of bringing back the Chief?

It would be a poetic as it would likely be met with resistance over the same...types.... who denied his Honorary Doctorate.
 
#134      
GoodePodzMelendez
As a retired employee of AT&T, They are not going to invest unless their is a decent ROI. If the school pays the carrier, they will be happy to lay out the infrastructure. I am assuming that UI has a huge fiber network from multiple companies somewhere on campus. I also assume that UI has dark fiber to buildings all over campus to pass light which ties into routers or multiplexers. It would not be that hard to put WiFi enhancers around the stadium for consumers to use. We used to put COWs up that triangulate the signal for high capacity. A COW is Cell On Wheels.
 
#135      
Todd99
Do you think there’s a number that at least gets the conversation started? If someone made an offer of say 150-200 mil, do you think the university quietly would do some exploratory research or is it a hard no from the start?

It would certainly be a bad position for someone to put Whitman and the university in, but just hypothetical conversation.
 
#140      
BlueFlag
It doesn't matter, really.

Money is fungible.

The 100 million dollars is for UI athletic programs.

If the "Gies Dollars" are directed toward stadium renovations/upgrades, money from other sources are then freed up go to other athletic program needs/projects.
 
#141      
rbillini
I worked at Honeywell for 40 years and was surprised that I had never heard of Madison Industries. It took me a while in going through their businesses to find a couple of names I knew. It occurred to me that if Mr Gies was interested in capitalizing on his gift as an investment he could have named the stadium after one of the companies I knew. Gies Memorial Stadium home of Bis !!! Fans.
 
#142      
EyeoftheIllini
blackdog said:
My wife works in the development world and she was saying that with a donation this size there is no way they dont already have really solid plans for what they are going to be doing, they just aren't going to advertise them yet until they are ready.
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I worked in development also. Never dealt with a gift of this size, but worked on two capital campaigns (not at a university) that both had multiple 7 figure gifts. There is certainly a gift agreement that spells a lot of what the money will be used for in place. I believe I read that discussions about this gift started in 2021. These things don’t happen over night.

I thought I also read that the money (or majority of it) would go toward football program (don’t think specifics were given) and the stadium. They mentioned new video scoreboards/screens and lighting. Also hiring architectural firm to start exploring other renovations/improvements.

Exciting news for university and fans.

EDIT: By majority of, I meant majority that is going to athletic programs would be to football program rather than other sports. I’m guessing the majority of gift will go toward stadium.
 
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#146      
OrangeBlue98
RabidDawgClassic said:
That’s “press release speak.” Buzz words. He might be the greatest philanthropist in the state, but there’s still a cost to the University. A “gift” it is not.
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This is about the smallest “cost” I could ever think of for $100M.

The “Memorial Stadium” name stays. It’s not Larry Gies Memorial Stadium like how Oklahoma State now plays in T. Boone Pickens Stadium. Gies has donated nine figures in other ways to the university.

I just don’t see the issue.
 
#150      
jmwillini
No offense to the Gies family or State Farm, but I will never call them anything other than Memorial Stadium of The Assembly Hall.
 
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