OT: 4th 100 million donation to Northwestern this year
Today J. B. Pritzker announced a $100,000,000 donation to Northwestern's Law School. Previously this year, Northwestern received 3 other $100,000,000 donations. They have raised a total of 2 and a quarter billion in gifts since 2014. Among other things, Northwestern is spending upwards of $200,000,000 for their sports complex. While Big 10 TV money is helping, it is obvious that they are receiving significant funds towards the entire campus. As a point of comparison, Ross gave $200,000,000 to Michigan's business school.
October 22nd, 2015 at 4:59 PM ^
That's infinity dollars per point scored against Michigan this year.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:01 PM ^
That is a lot of money.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:11 PM ^
Approximately $400 million. If I'm doing the math correctly...
October 22nd, 2015 at 6:34 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 22nd, 2015 at 7:08 PM ^
Didn't show his work.
Zero.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:58 PM ^
$80M to the school, not that he is second guessing.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:03 PM ^
Perhaps they will be able to build a football stadium that is larger than the surrounding high schools.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:08 PM ^
Uh, why? It's the perfect size for their fanbase.
And even then, it's still 50% Michigan fans when we go down there.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:57 PM ^
October 22nd, 2015 at 6:28 PM ^
October 22nd, 2015 at 6:29 PM ^
October 22nd, 2015 at 8:39 PM ^
+2 for the SAC.
October 22nd, 2015 at 9:20 PM ^
It's like he said... WE need more seats when we play there.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:12 PM ^
If anything their stadium is too big. I don't know what it looks look for a random game vs. Eastern Illinois but whenever we play there it is only about 20,000 Northwestern fans.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:17 PM ^
written on this blog many times.
The largest high school football stadium in the country holds 18,000, Ryan Field holds 47,000. There isn't a high school in America that could fill that stadium.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:30 PM ^
The stadium in Alamo, TX holds 23k, Fawcett OH 22.4k, Odessa 19.3k (from Friday Night Lights), New Orleans 26.5k.
None are anywhere close to Ryan Field, but still a far sight bigger than 18k.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:31 PM ^
That can't be the largest high school football stadium. When I lived in Midland, TX, Robert E Lee High School played at a stadium of similar size and I know Ratliff Stadium in Odessa was even bigger. That's the stadium in Friday Night Lights...pretty sure even back then in the 80's it was over 18,000 capacity.
October 22nd, 2015 at 7:09 PM ^
There is a Robert E. Lee High School?
October 22nd, 2015 at 7:55 PM ^
There's a lot of stuff in the south still named for Confederate stuff. US 1 through Richmond VA is named Jefferson Davis Highway with a bridge over the James River called the Robert E. Lee bridge.
October 22nd, 2015 at 8:08 PM ^
It's a complicated situation. If you're black you hate it for obvious reasons. If you're white and your family has been there for generations it's commemorating a person of singular importance to white Southern identity.
October 23rd, 2015 at 1:40 AM ^
You've obviously never been south of the mason dixon. That kind of shit is all over the south. You dont remember the big stink about South Carolina continuing to fly the confederate flag over the State Capitol that was going on over the summer?
October 23rd, 2015 at 7:57 AM ^
Yup, although most just call it Lee High. It's funny because I never though twice about when I lived there, but I was there when I was probably too young to know the difference (ages 2-12). Cedric Benson went there, so did Tommy Lee Jones. If you've ever seen Friday Night Lights the movie they are the team from Midland that everyone hates because they are the rich kids.
October 23rd, 2015 at 12:28 PM ^
try going south of ohio once or twice. Conferederate references abound.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:49 PM ^
but they sure could make the current one less of a dump. The east side stands are high school stadium quality and the west side stands are large but older than the hills. They need something closer to Michigan quality standards so we aren't uncomfortable when we take over their stadium when we play in Evanston.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:06 PM ^
they will be able to buy a decent football team.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:07 PM ^
Better endowed. Michigan Men in particular. Although Northwestern does hold Chicago's most valuable real estate, so that may help the school sleep better at night. For now we're bigger though. By this I mean we're YUGE. /Trump_commentary_disabled
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:13 PM ^
Giggity
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:18 PM ^
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:46 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 22nd, 2015 at 6:04 PM ^
UM eats up a lot of land in Ann Arbor. Land that they don't pay taxes on. This is one reason why downtown rates are so ridiculously high. So high that cherished places like Seva's have moved away from downtown.
Ann Arborites have a love/hate relationship with the university.
October 22nd, 2015 at 7:51 PM ^
Ann Arbor, or any college town has undeniable benefits from the universities within.
The ramshakle turn of the last century homes on streets surrounding the campus and beyond would be worth mere thousands if in located any other city, not the several hundreds of thousands they command due only to the never ending stream of students. Im sure A2 more than cleans up on the property taxes alone based on the abnormally high property values. Ann Arbor would be Dexter w/o the U. (w/ all due respect to Dexter)
October 22nd, 2015 at 6:27 PM ^
It seems there are a lot of similarities between Evanston and Ann Arbor where I live. One of the big differences is that NU and Evanston are stuck within a huge, congested metropolis, whereas AA is a stand-alone college town within a sort-of safe distance from Detroit.
Still, I think Evanston and the Northwestern campus is a wonderful place. Obviously I don't live there, but based on my visit there it has a lot going for it.
October 22nd, 2015 at 7:27 PM ^
It's a beautiful place on the lakefront. When you move inland, less so. For some reason, businesses don't thrive here like they do in Ann Arbor. Every time I go to AA, I am amazed at the restaurant scene. I guess you could argue that we compete with Chicago, but with the north shore suburbs so close, and comparatively lots of money there, you would think that Evanston could field some of that market. Coming to Evanston on the weekend is way easier than getting into the city. But restaurants close all the time, unfortunately. Shops, as well. The only thing we have is a big movie theater with a couple of lame restaurants nearby, like Chili's and Noodles and Co. Our community services like ice skating rink and public gyms are woeful. And our schools could benefit from some kind of partnership with Northwestern. I don't know how Ann Arbor and U of M handle that, or if there's any relationship at all, but Northwestern would be a hero to do something good for the Evanston schools.
October 22nd, 2015 at 7:26 PM ^
October 22nd, 2015 at 11:05 PM ^
Double.
October 22nd, 2015 at 7:31 PM ^
She's an acquaintance of mine. Our sons played travel baseball together. I don't live in her ward, so I'm not familiar with her work related to Evanston. I don't know her personally other than seeing her at games, but I will heap praise on her photograpic abilities. She's taken some great action shots of my son that will remain in the family album. I'm curious why the negative feelings. And I forgot she was a Michigan grad.
October 22nd, 2015 at 7:48 PM ^
October 22nd, 2015 at 11:20 PM ^
The town of Princeton has similar issues with the University. PU "donates" millions to the town but none of the residents feel it is enough.
October 23rd, 2015 at 1:52 AM ^
You think that's bad, try hanging out in New Haven, CT where Yale is located.
October 22nd, 2015 at 11:37 PM ^
its school so much, for years you could not buy take-out food (like what college kids might want to purchase) or heavens sake, get food from a drive-through window. Not high enough class. We had to order the food on a tray, then put it in bags ourselves at the local Burger King until they finally repealed the ordinance.
NU had to sue the city to have professional games on campus, such as Bulls, Bears, and tennis matches (1970).
NU had to sue to remove a statute that wanted to call the Allen hall a hotel/motel and get tax revenue on it (1991).
Not sure what the results were but there was a lot of bad blood between the two over historical districts (2003). As noted there, the Supreme Court ruled NU did not have to pay property taxes in the 1880s. But it's still a sore point for Evanstonians 135 years later
Evanston even wanted to use a "Brothel rule" to get rid of hard-partying students in apartments (because more than 3 people of the same sex were living together) (2011).
Definitely not two entities that appreciate each other, even though their foundings were so closely intertwined (Mr. Evans founded NU).
Evanston is a strange city, and NU a strange school.
Signed, NU alum who spent many years in the city (visiting as a northsider), had children born there, and relatives who worked there including a former city employee.
October 22nd, 2015 at 11:52 PM ^
Have you been back recently? Evanston is hardly high class. It's a very racially and economically diverse city, with a few wealthy people but over 40% of its students qualify for free lunches. I know that Evanston was dry for quite a while, which seems like it comes from a very conservative place, but Evanston is now very liberal and inclusive. The high school is actually an amazing place - not just racially and ethnically diverse, but has every kind of teenager you can think of, even homeless ones (45 of them to be exact). And they coexist peacefully for the most part. The only issues are gang related, which is in the neighborhoods surrounding the schools.
As for property taxes, it is a sore point because Northwestern continues to buy up property, thereby watering down the tax base. The residents have to pick up the slack with either increased taxes or diminished services. Northwestern has a beautiful campus and offers us Big Ten sports in our backyard, which is great, but you're right - there is a divide.
October 23rd, 2015 at 1:08 PM ^
I can second a lot of this post in terms of the feel of the area.
October 22nd, 2015 at 9:07 PM ^
You are damn right about all those statements you made.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:08 PM ^
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:10 PM ^
Lot of money for Northwestern. We probably have spent 400 million on the Big House, Crisler, Davidson PDC, Yost, Glick, Schembechler, Ocker, and Alumni Field since 2008.
October 22nd, 2015 at 5:20 PM ^
Michigan Stadium alone was $226M and that's excluding the scoreboard upgrades and permanent stadium lights that were installed after the big project was done.
Still a lot more to do but everything is coming along nicely so far. Ocker Field seating could've been smaller as it has not yet been filled for a game.