BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT FEST | Focus, page 14-15
GRADUATION BUCKET LIST Arts & Life, page 16
Vol. # 97, Issue # 25
| May 20, 2013
Home-court advantage
‘This is your house’
Holtschneider sits down with The DePaulia
By ELIZABETH SCHUETZ & MICHAEL CORIO Editor-in-chief & Managing Editor The DePaulia: What do you think this new arena will do for DePaul and basketball?
JULIAN ZENG | The DePaulia
President Rev. Dennis H. Holtschenider, C.M. announces DePaul’s new arena space Thursday, May 16 as part of Elevate Chicago. By JULIAN ZENG Sports Editor After years of searching for the perfect spot to set up shop, DePaul settled on McCormick Place for its men’s basketball program’s final destination. The Blue Demons, at the commencement of the 20162017 campaign, will play their home games in a 10,000-seat, $173-million multipurpose events center. Part of “Elevate Chicago,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $1.1 billion tourism and trade show infrastructure redevelopment project — announced at a press conference at McCormick Place’s Skyline Ballroom May 16 — the new DePaul arena is the next step in the university’s plan to reassert itself as a basketball force. “Our goal is to be a first-rate collegiate program and this gives us the ability to do that,” said DePaul President Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider. DePaul will contribute $70 million to the proposed stadium — which will have a variety of other uses ranging from holding concerts to city college graduations — with the
Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) adding its own $70 million and $33 million coming from public taxes. Some money has already been “earmarked” based off of the new Big East 12-year TV contract with Fox Sports. Prepared financial statements list ticket sales, fundraising and naming rights as key contributions. What is expected to be a vibrant, urban entertainment center, the elements of “Elevate Chicago” are meant to jump start Chicago’s historic Motor Row district. The planned stadium will “provide the wherewithal and the facilities to have general session space, at the same that it also provides a lively neighborhood,” according to Jim Reilly, CEO of the MPEA. “We couldn’t afford it ourselves just as DePaul couldn’t afford to build a basketball arena all by themselves,” said Reilly. “By working together in a really classic, private partnership, it comes closer to the truth that DePaul is actually subsidizing us than vice versa.” The men’s team will continue to play at Allstate Arena — where the school has a See ARENA, page 27
For more arena coverage, see News pg. 3
Illustration courtesy of DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
The 10,000-seat, $173 million arena will be just north of Cermak and just east of Michigan Avenue.
DePaul’s New $173 mil Basketball Arena Funded by DePaul
Funded by Taxes
Funded by McPier Bonds
will be accessible from construction begins
$166 MILLION
towards Navy Pier and the Children’s Museum
construction ends
“L” line trains
ALSO INCLUDED IN
ELEVATE CHICAGO STREET LEVEL SHOPS
AND RESTAURANTS
13,700 NEW JOBS
created for construction ELEVATED WALKWAYS projects and building 2 NEW HOTELS maintenance
MAX KLEINER | The DePaulia
Fr. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M.: First, it gives our students and our fans a much better experience. We’re going to be in a building that’s designed for basketball, we’re not going to be sharing with a hockey rink or anything else. There is going to be seating designed so people can have a really good pre and after-game experience because they’re rebuilding the whole area. So it’s going to be restaurants, it’s going to be a really terrific experience before and after the game as well. We’re also giving our students and our fans a much easier back and forth to the game. Now obviously some of our fans live in the northwest, it’s going to be harder for them. But for most, this is going to be much easier to and from. Right now, if students living on this campus want to go to a game they’re making pretty much a five-hour commitment and this is going to change that. The first time that I heard that we might go to McCormick, Jean (Lenti) Ponsetto and I, the athletic director, literally just got on the Red Line and took it down there so we could see how long it took and it’s so much nicer than inching your way down (interstate) 90. So that’s secondly. But third, and very importantly, we’re giving our coaches an easier time when it comes to recruiting. It is absolutely the case that other teams recruit candidates away from us by telling them they’re going to have to go back and forth to practice out in Rosemont, they’re going to have play out in Rosemont and we lose good recruits. And so this is going to strengthen our coaches’ ability to recruit and See Q&A, page 3