GBI reported earlier today that Morgan Burke might be moving off of the benchmarks he sat years ago for the upper deck seats in Ross Ade Stadium. Back in the early 00s, Purdue's AD set a goal that season tickets needed to be consistently near 52K to allow the expansion of Phase II of RA. Now, he's saying if ticket sales can hover above 43K, the next phase will be warranted, and might happen during the off season in the next three seasons. This expansion would also contract the lousy bleacher seats in the South Endzone...and only make the stadium size increase about 3,500 seats. Phase III might not be necessary unless Purdue football experiences another ticket surge a la '99-'04. Even without Phase III, the stadium would have more seats with great sight lines and would look better on TV.
But there are two interesting sub-stories to this. First, does this change in Burke's rhetoric signal the end of his time at Purdue? It's been widely talked about that Burke has contemplated leaving his alma mater a few times in the past 5 years...and what would be a better capping of his tenure than the opening of the revamped Mackey Arena and final renovation of RA?
The second part of the story that's noteworthy is the business side of it. Some of the buzz on the message boards reflects alums believing this shouldn't be completed until benchmarks are reached. But, those benchmarks were set before the current boxes were in us in Ross Ade. An Athletic Department insider told me a few years ago that Purdue's luxury box sales have been very profitable, and at that time, had a five-year waiting list before there was any availability. Granted, that was before the three seasons of sub-par football, but these boxes make the expansion have some economic momentum.
Shifts in Position
Royce Adams, who's had a bit of a backsliding career following a ton of playing time during his Freshman year has been moved to the offense for his Senior season. DB Tommie Thomas is also moving to WR. Both player have good speed, which seems to jive with Hope's idea of getting the fastest possible 22 players on the field...and Adams propensity to shy away (a bit) from hard hitting might indicate that he's mentally better-suited for the offensive side of the ball. Hopefully, they can both contribute on what seems to be Purdue's weakest unit heading into the '09 season.
Big Jon
If you don't like curse words and racist/sexist concepts coupled with weak, poorly produce beats, don't click here.
Jon Uchendu, former Purdue player has now found a new career path as a big time MC. Chendu, represent Ark-LR!!!
Chendu clearly has landed on his feet and is counting stacks and stacks of cheddah and things are only going to get bettah...Dollah, dollah bill, y'all.
So, Everything's Fine?
The on-again, off-again saga of the Ostrich's fractured L5 vertebrae seems to have taken a turn for the better in the last 10 days (despite reports of his condition worsening). But prior to that, reports of his condition might have been exagerated due to his Mom's assessment of what was going on. Who would blame a Mother for wanting her child to get healthy? No one...but my Mom, while well-intentioned, shouldn't be giving medical prognostic indicators to a team of capable doctors either.
Mom usually knows best, but might not have in this case.