1995: State sidelines Cessna renovation; legislator wants more talk on stadium
The Kansas Legislature has become involved in Wichita State’s plans to tear down Cessna Stadium’s steel structure, and nothing now seems likely to happen before there is a lot more public discussion.
Rep. Henry Helgerson, D-Wichita, said Wednesday he will introduce a motion today to the appropriations committee that WSU officials take their case to take down a portion of the stadium back to the people.
“From some of the people I have talked to, Wichita State’s plan is not overwhelmingly supported,” Helgerson said. “And the legislature is not the place for this conflict to play out.”
The legislature’s involvement is a victory, at least in the short term, for a small but vocal organization of WSU football backers, who call themselves the “Save Our Stadium” group.
SOS wants WSU, which dropped its NCAA Division I-A football program following the 1986 season, to start another one. And the group wants Cessna Stadium to stay as it is, including about $100,000 to $150,000 worth of touch-ups to the facade, which has badly deteriorated over the years.
WSU president Gene Hughes estimates those costs to be much higher, and said he is frustrated by the legislature’s decision.
“I just think we have to say that we’re going to deal with this as a challenge that we had not anticipated,” Hughes said. “We’re going to do our best to convince anyone who has a concern that doing this is in the best interest of the university and the state.”
Hughes announced in December a plan to tear down the steel structure of the 31,000-seat stadium, which would leave 12,000 seats. He has said he would like WSU to revive a football program, but only one that was cost effective. A new Shocker football program likely would offer only limited scholarships, if any at all.
The SOS group, though, has disagreed with Hughes from the outset, and eventually wants WSU to have a Division I-A program, the highest level of intercollegiate football.
“If we don’t have a 30,000-seat stadium, we don’t have any chance to get Division I football back,” SOS member Henry Schichtle said in a recent interview. “Most of us don’t feel like non-scholarship football is a stepping stone to bringing a Division I program back. I’m convinced the money is there to fund football all over again.”
Hughes said he will do what it takes to get his point across.
“I think maybe some people have misunderstood when we said we were taking down the steel superstructure, they thought we were going to take down the entire stadium,” Hughes said. “We want to raise funds to renovate the remaining structure.”
Hughes will hold a meeting Friday morning at WSU to talk to several university groups about the stadium. The meeting will be closed to the public. Helgerson said such meetings will help WSU’s cause.
“This thing may have already played out in the minds of a lot of people,” Helgerson said. “But many legislators have not been involved with it. Just over the last few weeks is when this issue came to us and there is clear opposition to the proposal.”
The Kansas Board of Regents approved WSU’s request last month. The regents and the legislature must approve the plan because the stadium is a state facility. Hughes said he has talked to many WSU constituents about his plans for Cessna Stadium and a football program, and that the support he has perceived has been overwhelming.
“Other than the word that we’ve heard from the SOS group, I have not heard from a lot of people that they don’t think this is a good idea,” he said.
“To the contrary, most everybody I’ve talked to, including alumni and other people in the community, said they thought it was about time Wichita State took action on the facility. From my perspective, this would be Phase One of a multiphase project that relates to athletic facilities.”
Eventually, the legislature might agree. But Helgerson is pushing for more dialogue first.
“Some individuals feel like they can come up with additional funds to rehab the stadium and they want to work with the university in establishing a football program,” he said. “We want to make sure the community has an opportunity to discuss the plans before they tear down the stadium.
“The fear I have and the fear of several people is that if we don’t ask the questions and don’t request more community dialogue, then the stadium is torn down and there’s no more time for those discussions.”
This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 12:23 PM with the headline "1995: State sidelines Cessna renovation; legislator wants more talk on stadium."