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Strollo: Upgrade would generate money
New press box will mean more loges
By Joe Scalzo
AUSTINTOWN
Youngstown State athletic director Ron Strollo knows adding an east side press box at Stambaugh Stadium will cost money.
He thinks it will make money, too.
“We have 23 to 25 private loges and we probably now have a waiting list of nine or 10 companies that, if we called them today, would jump on the opportunity to move in,” Strollo said, speaking to the Curbstone Coaches on Monday at Lucianno’s Banquet Center. “Our hopes are that we can build a press box that allows us to put radio and some of the working press on the other side and it’ll open up some opportunities on the west side to open up some private suites. To allow us to generate a little bit more revenue.”
The current east side press box, which is used by MyYTV for YSU games, can only accommodate a few people at a time. It would not be good enough for, say, an ESPN playoff broadcast.
“Some of it [the press box] has to do with instant replay [in Missouri Valley games] but we want to build a legitimate press box over there,” he said. “When we do end up bringing ESPN to our campus, they’re not going to be impressed with our little hut, and you’re being kind in calling it a hut.
“We’ve been working on drawings and we’ll hopefully get into a fundraising phase here to fulfill that project. It’ll transform our stadium.”
YSU just finished several stadium upgrades, including two light poles that boosted the stadium’s foot-candles from 40 to 132. (Foot-candles refer to the units that measure the intensity of the light on the field.) The university also adjusted the bulbs atop the west side press box. The upgrades will allow the Penguins to host night playoff games, avoiding a potential conflict with the Ohio State-Michigan game during the first week of the FCS playoffs.
“When we added loges on the second level of the west side press box [in 1997], half our lights were beaming on top of that second level,” Strollo said. “So it was a very well-lit roof but it made lighting our field a little bit of a struggle.
“Now our field is three times as bright, so it’s a pretty substantial difference.”
Strollo said the school has some plans to enhance some other venues, “but we’re not quite ready to report that yet. I’m talking about some exciting things for our campus and our student-athletes. But first and foremost, we want to affect our city and our campus.
“I think the things we have in mind that we’ve been talking about and having some drawings for will really excited the people in this room and draw a lot of people down to campus and our city.”
Other highlights from Monday’s talk include:
Strollo still has no plans to schedule Akron or Kent State in football until those schools are willing to play a home-and-home series with YSU. Currently, Akron and Kent are only interested in hosting the Penguins.
“We have all of our other teams competing against Akron and Kent,” Strollo said. “It’s just stubbornness on my part that I don’t want to sell ourselves short. I’d be more than happy to schedule those games, but they have to come to our place, too.”
The men’s basketball team plans to hire Stew Robinson as an assistant coach and promote director of operations Kevin Bruinsma to replace departing assistants Steve Hall and Brian DePaoli. Robinson played for Bobby Knight at Indiana and spent eight seasons as an assistant under Knight and his son, Pat, at Texas Tech.
YSU will host a doubleheader men’s basketball event at Beeghly Center next year featuring Kent State, Akron and Cleveland State. The event begins this year at Kent, with YSU playing the Golden Flashes on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. Akron and Cleveland State will follow at 9.
“You guys are going to be able to come down to Beeghly Center, pay one ticket price and to watch two really good Division I matchups,” he said.