New stadium makes fiscal sense, would benefit UNM

Editor,

I feel most students need some crucial information before making a decision to vote on the stadium later this month. In addition to the many letters concerning the economic possibilities of building a new stadium, is a lack of information on how the vote would affect anyone affiliated with UNM.

Let me start by letting everyone know what the renovation of the sports stadium would be. Basically, the sports stadium would be knocked down, save for the home run fence and rock area, and be rebuilt.

Granted this saves some on the $5 million that would be spent to build a state-of-the-art, new facility, but in the future it would end up being a grave mistake when we need to renovate it again within the next 10-15 years.

With regard to UNM, the University would greatly benefit from a Downtown stadium being built. First, since the Lobos played in the sports stadium this year, the UNM baseball attendance record has been broken twice. The first of these record-breaking crowds was for the annual dugout cookout in May, during which 2,100-plus fans came out to watch the game. The second, which also crushed the previous conference attendance record by about 2,000 people, was this past Saturday night for the fireworks extravaganza. This crowd was more than 5,000 strong.

The Lobo baseball team responded to these big crowds by giving spirited good showings in both games. What makes this even more surprising is that the baseball team will end up being under .500 this season but was still able to draw those crowds.

The support shown by the fans only bodes well for the University, both financially and in terms of having people interested in the program.

The local high school baseball teams were also given a chance to play some games in the sports stadium this year.

So not only does the building of a new stadium make economic sense for the city of Albuquerque, but it also makes sense for anybody who wants the University of New Mexico to improve.

Whether you agree or not, I urge you to express your views and vote.

Brandon Fetters

Undergraduate student