UVa looks to the masses to fund arena
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
January 19, 2005

The timing of Virginia’s decision to launch a mass marketing appeal for the remaining $35 million to fund the completion of its 15,000-seat basketball arena might seem a bit odd in the wake of the Cavaliers’ 0-4 start in the ACC.
Considering that the state-of-the-art John Paul Jones Arena, the fourth-largest in the 12-member conference, is due for completion in a mere 17 months and fundraisers have millions to go before they sleep, the timing makes perfect sense.
UVa Athletics Director Craig Littlepage said Tuesday that while the school will be asking a lot of its donor base to finish the building, that fans should not fret over paying higher prices to watch Cavalier basketball. In fact, he made a personal guarantee that Virginia basketball will be back in the upswing.
“It would not be a stretch to say that we don’t feel as though we’ve gotten to the point that we want to be,” Littlepage said in announcing the formal marketing plan. “It’s in part, my job to make sure that we are poised and on an upward movement in our program going into the new arena.
“So, it’s not something that at this point and time is a concern,” he said of the 0-4 start. “I think I’m ready and our staff is ready and the university community is ready to put us in a position to where we’ll have the kind of basketball program that is on the upswing.”

Enough time to improve
Virginia will finish this season and play another entire season before the Cavaliers move into JPJ for the 2006-2007 campaign. That gives the program a reasonable period to get its act together before christening the new facility.
“We will be there,” Littlepage said. “I guarantee that. That’s part of my job. We’re going to have the kind of facility and the kind of team that’s in the facility that everybody is going to be proud of.”
Approximately 10,000 UVa contributors will soon receive a package in the mail with a pamphlet describing ticket purchase options, along with a nifty DVD that will give an unprecedented look at what the JPJ finished product will be like, both inside and out.
Virginia has exceeded the $94 million mark in pledges for the new multi-purpose arena. The total cost will be $129.8 million, which also includes practice facilities for both the men’s and women’s teams, a parking garage, surface parking, weightrooms, a dining room, academic support facilities, an access road and a lovely retention pond.

Private donations
Because the state does not contribute to athletic facilities, all of the money must be raised through private donations. So far, UVa’s efforts double the highest total of any other private collegiate athletic facility in the country.
“Never before has the university attempted to fund an athletics facility of this size, all privately financed,” said Dirk Katstra, executive director of Virginia Athletics Foundation (VAF). “Our goal is to have it all raised by the day it opens.”
The new arena will actually open in May of 2006 and could host various events prior to its
first basketball game, which is scheduled against the University of Arizona that November.
While the facility will boast feature comforts and great seating, the price tag won’t come cheaply for those wanting to get a better look.
Katstra explained there will be three main components from a seating perspective, all designed to drive revenue: the luxury suites, courtside seats and premium seating.
The luxury suites are self-explanatory. There are 20 of them (two of which are set aside for UVa president John T. Casteen III’s use, and another for Littlepage). Of the 17 others, only four have not yet been leased. Price tag? $65,000 to $75,000 a year at midcourt.
Has anyone seen Paris Hilton? I want to see if she’ll go in half on one.
Then come the courtside seats, something dear to my heart, because that’s where I used to sit and I didn’t even need Paris to help finance it. Well, I still sit there in some arenas.
Most places are selling those primo locations to the heavy hitters, the movers and shakers and putting the press guys anywhere they can shoe-horn them. If it sounds like I’m whining here, just ignore me and read on.
The most generous benefactors will now get these courtside seats, but it will require a gift of one-half million dollars or more to be eligible for one of these 84 seats. Better hurry ‘cause there’s only eight, count ‘em, eight, remaining. We heard that Jack Nicholson might be interested.
Premium seating is essentially the club seats, the lower level of the arena, between the baselines. UVa is hoping to generate $27 million from this grouping.
“It is built upon the premise that in order to have a very good seat in the new arena, that a gift to help support the building project is required as well as an ongoing annual gift, because we can’t forget that scholarship commitment that we have each and every year,” Katstra said.
“In order for a donor to have one of the very best seats, they will have to make an arena commitment over five years and then each year an annual commitment to our scholarship program,” he explained.
That’s going to stick you at least a $25,000 commitment to the building project for one of the premium seats, and then an additional annual commitment of at least $2,200 for the scholarship thing.

Essentially, the premium seating is what Katstra calls the collegiate version of the Personal Seat License that has been made famous by professional sports in recent years. It gives you the right to select your seat and pay for it over a five-year period, but the right to hold onto that seat for 20 years if you’re willing to cough up the dough.
“It’s a step up from what people are used to seeing in University Hall,” Katstra said. “So far, we’ve had a great response. We know that some will react positively and some won’t. But by and large, this project will secure UVa basketball long into the future.”
All of this is very similar to what Maryland has done with its Comcast Center seating and N.C. State has done with its RBC Arena, particularly price wise.
Yes, there will be room for the rest of you, probably 4,000 to 5,000 seats.
Yes, there will be 3,500 to 3,700 seats for students, some of them behind the two team benches, the others upstairs.
No, the facility will not automatically attract NCAA first- and second-round regional games because there are not enough hotel rooms in Charlottesville and the size of the airport is another issue that will prohibit those things from happening.
“What we’re striving for is building the best multi-purpose arena facility in the country,” Littlepage said. “Not one of the best. We’re going to build the best and finest facility anywhere in the country.”
And that, my friends, comes with a nifty price tag attached.
Oh, Paris ... wait up ... do you have a minute?

Cavs in search of first ACC win
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
January 19, 2005

Literary analogies usually have little place in college basketball. Virginia coach Pete Gillen, an English Literature major himself, sometimes uses them effectively.

In that vein, perhaps Gillen would summon Robert Frost to describe tonight’s contest at Maryland.

Frost, of course, wrote about two paths diverging in the woods and it is not hard to translate that to the Cavaliers at the moment.

College Park, Md., in no way resembles the desolate New England woods facing Frost’s wayward traveler, but like that character, the Cavaliers at 9 p.m. tonight will face a similar option of what path to choose.

There is one path that leads to a seemingly unrecoverable 0-5 start in the ACC and further criticism, further hopelessness and further desperation. The other could possibly stop their current bleeding and revitalize hope for saving the season.

Two paths. Which will the Cavaliers choose?

History would dictate the first path. Virginia has won just once in its last 11 meetings at Maryland and the Terps are an equally desperate team at the moment that will be aided by a normally raucous crowd. Additionally, the Cavaliers are 10-40 on the ACC road under Gillen’s tenure and though the Cavs are 1-1 in the Comcast Center, it is hardly the ideal place for Virginia to halt its 0-4 ACC start.

Gillen at this point remains optimistic. He claims he saw positives in Sunday’s 80-66 loss at Duke and hopes to carry them into tonight’s game.

“We’re coming off a tough game at Duke where I thought we did some good things but also made our share of mistakes. We need to continue the good things we did,” Gillen said. “We have a big test at Maryland. They have a great team and we are looking forward to playing the Terps.”

Eliminating the mistakes has not been a real forte for the Cavaliers. They’ve repeated the same devastating errors in each of their ACC contests so far. Poor defense, poor shooting and woeful second-half starts have doomed the Cavaliers to their current position. Again, correcting them in a hostile environment is far from an enviable task.

It’s hard to not at least acknowledge those problems and while no one can exactly dismiss them, senior center Elton Brown says it’s the overall psyche of he and his teammates that is his primary concern.

“We have to keep our heads up. We have a lot of games,” Brown said.

Brown’s is certainly one view of the current situation but others see the stark reality of the Cavaliers’ current plight.

“We have to go to Maryland and get a win. We’ve had too many mental breakdowns. … The mistakes we’ve made are correctible. We have to be consistent with everything we do and that’s both on offense and defense,” freshman Sean Singletary said.

Maryland has had its own struggles of late after losing lopsided games to North Carolina and Wake Forest on the road. The Terps defeated Temple on Saturday and earned a victory that may have pushed them back toward the right track.

“We had to regroup and dig down and see if we could do a good job against Temple. I was proud of our guys in that situation,” Maryland coach Gary Williams said. “Now, we play Virginia and Virginia always plays good against us. It’s a good rivalry game. I’m sure they are looking to get back on the court. I’m sure we will get their best shot in this game.”

While Virginia’s current state seems quite bleak, Gillen apparently found an ally in Williams or at the very least Williams put a different spin on the Cavs’ plight. His reasoning is that his team, like Virginia, has played its early league contests against ACC teams that are ranked in the top 10 in the nation.

“They’ve played a tough schedule in the league. People rush to judgment, but you’ve got to wait until the first eight games or so and then you get a feel for the league,” Williams said.

Of course, that’s the only sympathy Gillen and the Cavaliers will get from Williams and the Terps by the time the game tips off tonight. Maryland has no desire to allow Virginia to pick the path of its choosing.

Cashing in
Miller likely to be high NFL pick
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
January 19, 2005
 

Virginia tight end Heath Miller used to be called “Big Money” by his teammates, but after declaring himself eligible for the upcoming NFL Draft, Miller has been given a new moniker.

“Now we call him ‘Whole Lot of Money,’” chuckled Cavaliers’ quarterback Marques Hagans on Tuesday after Miller discussed his decision to turn pro.

Projected as an early first-round choice by draft expert Mel Kiper Jr., the Virginia tight end is coming off a stellar season that included first-team All-America honors and the Mackey Award, given to the nation’s top collegiate tight end. Still, Miller said he struggled with the decision.

“One of the things that made me want to come back was the relationships that I had on this team and the progress we made ... the progress this organization is going to make,” Miller said. “I really felt tied to it. It was difficult to step out of that.”

Instead of depending on the NFL’s advisory committee, which gives college players a good indication on where they could get drafted, UVa’s record-breaking tight end opted to seek the advice of Cavaliers’ head coach Al Groh, who has an extensive NFL background.

“I felt that in Coach Groh I had an even better source and I was confident in what he was telling me,” Miller said. “He said he felt I was ready to go to the next level and be a good player, so that was reassuring for me.”

Miller said his coach presented a balanced look at the future and did not attempt to sway the player’s decision in either direction.

“[Groh] didn’t encourage me [either way],” Miller said. “He was very fair with the whole decision. He told me his honest assessment of me as a player and said he thought I could handle it as a player.”

Miller didn’t feel that way after the 2003 season, when he had an eye-popping 70 catches. He said he knew he wasn’t ready on the personal level to make the transition.

Since then, he has improved on blocking, releases from the line of scrimmage and running his pass routes.

“I think I became a more mature player, and as a person, I would say that I became more mature and just ready to move on,” Miller said.

He also revealed that he played with an injury for much of the season and required surgery after the bowl game to repair a “sports hernia,” to muscles in his lower abdomen. The surgery took place in early January.

“I’m still not healthy,” Miller said. “I will start working out around the first of February.”

He was a passing target in the first half of the MPC Computers Bowl loss to Fresno State in the Dec. 27 game, but didn’t figure into the game plan the second half.

“Nothing really aggravated it in the second half,” Miller said of the injury. “The coaches decided to go another route because I wasn’t getting downfield as good as I would have liked or they would have liked me to.”

He said the injury gradually worsened as the season progressed.

Kiper, who is a draft analyst for ESPN, had Miller rated as high as fourth among prospects recently and projected him as a strong possibility for the Detroit Lions, who pick No. 10 in the draft. All of that was news to Miller.

“That’s the first I’ve heard,” he said. “To be honest, I’ve tried to get away from it all a little bit. I know when the time comes, the pieces will fall where they’re going to fall and there’s nothing I can do by watching what they say. I’ve heard from the same sources as everybody else, that I will be one of the top tight ends taken in the early rounds.”

Groh didn’t speculate to Miller where he thought he might be drafted, but Groh’s inside information gave the tight end all the confidence he needed to turn pro.

“That was enough for me,” Miller said. “He’s obviously connected to league personnel, who he has mentioned my name to them and they’ve said positive and reassuring things for me to hear.”

Miller has hired agents (Tom Condon and Ken Kramer of IMG), who will send him to Bradenton, Fla., for training with other athletes prior to the draft. The Cavalier said he will attend the NFL Combine but doesn’t know how much he will physically manage to participate in.

Meanwhile, he will attempt to finish school (he is four classes shy of graduating).

He hasn’t bought anything yet, not even a new car.

“I don’t have any money yet,” Miller said.

Big Money has No Money, but will soon have, as Hagans said, A Whole Lot of Money.

In the meantime, Miller is the same modest, aw-shucks All-American type, and that’s not about to change. From the tiny town of Swords Creek, he sought refuge from the tensions of his decision while waiting for the smoke to clear.

“I did have a chance to go there for a couple of weeks,” Miller said. “That was nice because I had no cell phone service and nobody could get in contact with me.”

Not even an agent.

Cavs increase arena hype
UVa notes
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE - On the day that Virginia launched a mass-marketing campaign for its new basketball arena, athletic director Craig Littlepage vowed that the Cavaliers' on-court product will improve.

"For this project to reach a successful conclusion, we're going to need for everything to be on target," Littlepage said. "We're going to need for the teams' performances to be on an upswing. We need for the enthusiasm to be growing among fans and the student body." Virginia has raised $94 million through private donations for the John Paul Jones Arena, a 15,000-seat facility scheduled to open in May 2006. Total cost is $129.8 million for a project that includes a practice facility, parking and access road.

Dirk Katstra, executive director of the Virginia Athletic Foundation, said UVa hopes to raise $27 million through premium seating.

"In order to have a very good seat in the new arena, a gift to help support the building project is required, as [is] an ongoing annual gift," Katstra seat.

A one-time gift of $25,000, payable over five years, is commensurate with what premium seat-holders are paying at Maryland and North Carolina State, the ACC members that have built arenas most recently.

Neither Littlepage nor Katstra suggested that donations have been lagging, explaining that most fund-raising efforts to date have been focussed on gifts of $100,000 or more. There have been 11 gifts of at least $1 million, including a $35-million investment by Connecticut financier Paul Tudor Jones, for whose father the new arena has been named.

"You always want to be further ahead in fund raising, but we're not behind by any means," Katstra said.

The campaign begins at a time when the men's basketball team has lost three games in a row and four of five, "but I don't think the schedule and performance of the team had that much bearing on it," Katstra said.

Seventh-year men's basketball coach Pete Gillen was en route to College Park, Md., for the Cavaliers' game tonight with Maryland and did not attend the news conference. It is widely believed that Virginia (9-5, 0-4 ACC) must make the NCAA tournament to ensure Gillen's return.

"The season will tell the story," Littlepage said. "I don't think it's a stretch to say we haven't gotten to the point where we want to be, and it's my job, in part, to make sure that we are poised and on an upward movement as we go into the new arena. We will be there. I guarantee that."

Block party

Opponents have blocked 40 Virginia shots in the past four games, including 12 off the fingertips of senior center Elton Brown. That's compared to a total of 29 blocks by UVa opponents in the first 10 games.

Georgia Tech and Duke each had 14 blocks against Virginia, with the Blue Devils reaching that figure with 9:13 remaining. Senior Devin Smith was the victim of five blocked shots Sunday in an 80-66 loss at Duke, where four different players rejected Smith shots.

Slump partners

Smith and sophomore guard J.R. Reynolds, generally two of the most consistent players on the team, were a combined 2-for-16 from the field against the Blue Devils. Reynolds is 1-for-11 from the field in two games since a starring effort in an 80-79 double-overtime victory over Western Kentucky.

In fact, in 60 minutes of playing time, Reynolds has had more fouls in the past two games (nine) than points, assists and rebounds combined (eight). Reynolds was visibly upset after Sunday night's affair at Cameron Indoor Stadium but insisted that he had not lost confidence.

Reynolds left the impression that he wasn't part of the offense, a perception with which Gillen would not argue. Gillen said the Cavaliers needed to do a better job of setting up Smith and Reynolds, but that Reynolds also needed to create space by putting the ball on the floor.

Show time in the ACC: TV ratings top equality
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 19, 2005

Year in and year out, Duke is the top TV draw among ACC basketball teams.

This is both a no-brainer and a reminder that Roy Williams still has a little more work to do at North Carolina.

television package when fans rarely have to wait more than 48 hours for another ACC game or doubleheader to brighten their screens?

Well, ACC coaches care. Coaches who aren’t named Mike Krzyzewski. Also caring enough to express concerns about the TV schedule is a coach named Williams. Not Roy, but Maryland’s Gary.

“The league has been set up for Carolina and Duke since that became the featured game,” the testy Terp recently said. “All the schedules are off of those two games and set up for television.”

Williams was quoted in an ESPN.com story by Andy Katz that explains why Duke begins its season with a relatively soft conference schedule, while other ACC teams are thrown into the deep end of the pool.

Teams such as Clemson, which has opened the last four seasons against Duke.

“I understand the importance of ratings,” Clemson coach Oliver Purnell complained, “but at the same time, there needs to be some equitable competitiveness as well. Let’s face it, we don’t want to open with the best team in the league every year.”

Clemson, however, is not at the top of the wish list submitted each year by the national and regional networks. Duke and North Carolina are.

The Blue Devils play a more forgiving early season schedule because the networks want to save the best, highest-rated attractions for later in the year. For some, this preferential treatment is unfair; for others, it just makes good showbiz sense.

While injury-depleted Duke eased into conference play with victories over Clemson, North Carolina State and Virginia, Maryland has had to play at North Carolina and Wake Forest, the league’s most talented teams — in a three-day span. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech went to Chapel Hill and was soundly beaten.

Duke, on the other hand, doesn’t visit Wake Forest, Maryland or Georgia Tech until February, then plays at North Carolina on March 6.

Fred Barakat, who handles the ACC’s TV schedule, told ESPN, “We have so many TV partners that it’s hard to make this work because we have to satisfy Fox, ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, CBS and Raycom, and then regional cable.”

It’s not as if Duke can avoid the tough road games; they just come later in the year. Whether this constitutes a big advantage or not might depend on injuries and other variables that can’t be anticipated when the schedule is drawn up.

Not too many people complained about the timing of last Saturday’s nationally televised meeting between Wake Forest and North Carolina. The game lacked only a dramatic finish, as the athletic, energized Deacons and Tar Heels delivered an exciting display of up-and-down basketball.

For sheer entertainment value, Wake and Carolina upstaged the weekend’s NFL playoffs, which, on the whole, were uninspiring to anyone without a rooting interest or a stake in the point spreads.

Even so, pro football never fails to attract robust ratings this time of year. It’s an exaggeration to call the ACC the NFL of college roundball, but maybe not by much. As for scheduling inequities, it’s hard for some of us to get too worked up over the protests now that the expanded conference has sold its basketball soul for football’s pot of gold.

Taking into account the ACC’s new priorities, the positioning of Duke (and North Carolina) basketball games should not be at the top of anybody’s list of complaints.

U.Va. will take your $$$ now
AD Craig Littlepage pledges a basketball program "on an upswing" as Virginia increases its arena fund-raising effort.
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published January 19, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage made it clear that he expects more of the men's basketball program as he announced the final phase of a fund-raising campaign to finance a $130 million multi-purpose facility.

Coach Pete Gillen, on his way to College Park for tonight's game at Maryland, didn't attend the press conference. And though the coach's name wasn't mentioned, Littlepage said the Cavaliers' three-year NCAA tournament drought and 0-4 start in ACC play are not acceptable.

"I think it would not be a stretch to say we haven't quite gotten to the point where we want to be," Littlepage said. "I'm ready and our staff is ready and the university community is ready to put us in a position where we will have the kind of basketball program that is on an upswing. We will be there; I guarantee that."

Virginia officials are already proud of the John Paul Jones Arena, which will be the ACC's first privately funded facility since the Smith Center at North Carolina was constructed in 1986. Dirk Katstra, the executive director of the Virginia Athletics Foundation, said $94 million has been pledged through 258 separate gifts.

This week, the VAF began sending out packets that contain brochures, a DVD and a pledge form to its 10,000-member donor base. The VAF had been targeting donors who were capable of gifts worth at least $100,000. Now, the group is beginning its mass-marketing campaign, which Katstra called "the most aggressive in the country."

Katstra said U.Va. has received 12 gifts of at least $1 million, including $35 million from U.Va. alumnus Paul Tudor Jones, who chose to name the arena after his father. Another 11 have pledged at least $500,000. And of the 17 suites available for sale (at between $65,000 and $75,000 per), four remain.

The focus of this drive will be on premium seating, which the VAF hopes will generate $27 million. To get two seats in the arena's lower level, donors must make a pledge of at least $25,000 along with an annual contribution of $2,200 to the VAF's scholarship fund.

"It's all built around the premise that it's on our shoulders to do the heavy lifting and on our fans' and donors' shoulders to help us build this project by responding with generous gifts," Katstra said. "By and large, this is a project that will secure Virginia athletics long into the future. It's the signature piece for our athletics program, as well as, hopefully, a sense of pride for our donor base."

Katstra said the VAF's goal is to have the entire $130 million raised by the time the arena opens in May 2006. Littlepage adds that total doesn't just cover the arena, but also a parking garage, coaches offices and an access road off Route 250.

Ground-breaking for the facility, which is located across Massie Road from University Hall, was May 30, 2003.

"We're building a facility that's about 17 months from being a reality," Littlepage said. "What we're striving for is building the best multi-use arena in the country. Not one of the best; we're going to build the finest facility anywhere in the country."

An obvious question is, will Gillen be around to see the opening?

Though he will have six years remaining on his contract after this season, Gillen is under mounting pressure from a fan base that isn't happy. Virginia hasn't made an NCAA tournament appearance since 2001, Gillen's third season, and he is in last place in the ACC standings.

"This season will tell the story," Littlepage said.

Arena goes up; coach's stock falls
Gillen's status questioned again after U.Va.'s 0-4 start in the ACC
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Jan 19, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The University of Virginia's beleaguered basketball coach wasn't present yesterday when Athletic Director Craig Littlepage updated reporters on the John Paul Jones Arena. Had Pete Gillen attended the McCue Center presentation, he probably wouldn't have felt encouraged about his prospects for coaching in the new arena.

"For this project to reach a successful conclusion," Littlepage said, "we're going to need for everything to be on target. We're going to need for everybody to be on board. We're going to need the [men's and women's] teams' performances to be on an upswing. We need for the enthusiasm to be growing among our fans and our student body.

"Everything needs to be moving in a positive direction."

Gillen nearly lost his job after last season, and his seventh team at U.Va. is no longer moving in a positive direction. The Cavaliers (0-4, 9-5), who play at Maryland tonight, have lost four of their past five games and are the only ACC team without a conference victory. U.Va.'s record in ACC road games under Gillen is 10-40.

Attendance has dipped at 8,392-seat University Hall, and calls for Gillen's dismissal are heard from U.Va. fans throughout the state. In Gillen's tenure, the Cavaliers have reached the NCAA tournament only once, in 2000-01.

The 15,000-seat John Paul Jones Arena, the centerpiece of a $129.8 million project, is scheduled to be completed in May 2006.

Littlepage didn't mention Gillen in his comments yesterday. But when asked about the state of the men's program, Littlepage said, "I think it would not be a stretch to say we don't feel as though we've quite gotten to the point that we want to be, and it's part of my job to make sure that we are poised and on an upward movement in our program going into the new arena.

"It's not something that at this point in time is a concern, because I think that I'm ready and our staff is ready and the university community is ready to put us in a position where we will have the kind of basketball program that is on the upswing.

"But we will be there. I guarantee that. That's part of my job, and we're going to have the kind of facility and the kind of team that's in that facility that everybody will be proud of."

Arena offers seat belt
Cost of seeing U.Va. up close will start at more than $25,000
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Jan 19, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Want a great seat at the University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena when it opens in 2006? Be prepared to spend big bucks.

The school's seating plan is "basically built upon the premise that in order to have a very good seat in the new arena, a gift to help support the building project is required, as well as an ongoing annual gift [to the general athletic-scholarship fund]," said Dirk Katstra, executive director of the Virginia Athletics Foundation, the fund-raising arm of U.Va.'s athletic department.

At the McCue Center yesterday, Katstra and Athletic Director Craig Littlepage gave reporters a progress update on the arena, which is being built across Massie Road from 8,392-seat University Hall.

The 15,000-seat John Paul Jones Arena is the jewel of a $129.8 million project that also includes a practice facility, access road and parking garage. U.Va. has received 258 gifts and commitments totaling about $94 million, Katstra said. They include pledges of $35 million from U.Va. alumnus Paul Tudor Jones II, for whose father the arena is named, and $20 million from an anonymous donor. Nine other donors have given at least $1 million each.

"Our focus up to now has been one-on-one solicitations with donors who have the capacity -- or we hope have the capacity -- to give $100,000 gifts and above," said Katstra, a former U.Va. basketball player.

The school hopes to generate at least $27 million more through sales of the prime seats in the arena's lower bowl, which also includes seating for 1,500 students. This week marks the start of Virginia's mass fund-raising campaign. To its donor base, U.Va. is sending 10,000 brochures and DVDs about the arena and the seating plan.

Prospective donors can expect to learn that landing a "premium seat" in the arena's lower level, between the baselines, will require at "least a $25,000 commitment to the building project" payable over five years -- as well as "an ongoing annual commitment of at least $2,200" to the VAF, Katstra said. A donor would have rights to that seat for 20 years.

"We know that people, as they react to what we send out this week, some will react positively, and some won't," Katstra said.

This plan is "a step up from what people are used to seeing in University Hall," he said, "although when we implemented that seating plan back in the early'90s, that was perceived as fairly aggressive at that point."

About 3,500 seats will be set aside for students in the John Paul Jones Arena, whose features include 20 suites, 17 of which U.Va. is leasing for $65,000 to $75,000 annually. Four suites still are available. A gift of $500,000 or more gets a donor a courtside seat. Only eight (of 84) of those seats remain.

"This is by far the most aggressive campaign that we'll probably ever do and has ever been done before [at U.Va.]," Katstra said.

U.Va. officials hope to have raised all of the money for the arena -- none of which may come from the state or public sources -- by its opening in the spring of 2006, Katstra said. The rights to name several parts of the arena, including the court, are for sale or lease, and corporate contributions are expected to help cover the project's cost.

The struggles of the Virginia men's team have not made fund-raisers' jobs any easier, but "I think the excitement around the new building will hopefully carry the day here," Katstra said.

"You always want to be further ahead than where you are when you're in fund-raising. The faster you can get the dollars committed and gifts in, helps everything, but we're not behind by any means. . . . We're in good shape."

UVa seeks money for arena
By Andy Bitter / Lynchburg News & Advance
January 19, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE - John Paul Jones Arena is 16 months away from completion and the University of Virginia athletic department wants to get the word out.

UVa launched the mass marketing component of its fund-raising campaign on Tuesday, seeking donations for the $129.8 million, privately funded basketball arena, which is set for completion in May of 2006. The university has raised $94 million to date, largely from high-end donations of over $100,000.

"With this week, we really begin the mass effort," said Dirk Katstra, executive director of the Virginia Athletics Foundation. "Though (the donations are) somewhat less in magnitude, they're not less in importance."

Virginia has an estimated donor base of around 10,000, about average compared to other ACC schools. Ninety-nine percent of the arena funding will come from private sources. The other 1 percent is from built-in student fees.

There was some speculation that Tuesday's press conference was called because fund-raising efforts had stalled in part due to the men's basketball team's 0-4 start in the ACC. Athletic director Craig Littlepage said that wasn't true and reaffirmed his commitment to getting UVa on the right course.

"I think there's been a general desire to make sure that when we go into the new arena that we are on an upswing," Littlepage said. "We don't feel we've gotten quite to the point where we want to be. We will be there. I guarantee that. That's part of my job. And we're going to have the facility and the kind of team in that facility everybody is going to be proud of."

Littlepage said the school has been encouraged by the response it has been getting. The numbers Katstra cited Tuesday back that up:

There have been 11 gifts at the million-dollar level or above, including a $35 million donation from alumnus Paul Tudor Jones, who named the arena after his father, another UVa alum, and an anonymous $20 million donation that jump-started the project.

There have been 48 commitments at the $100,000 level. The goal is to have 60.

There have been 20 commitments at the quarter-million-dollar level. The goal is 30.

There have been 11 commitments at the half-million-dollar level. The goal is 15.

Of the 17 suites that were available for lease beginning in July, only four remain at an annual price of $65-75,000.

The school hopes to raise the remaining $35 million from smaller donations, largely tied to seating preference. UVa projects $27 million will come from the premium seating packages, what Katstra called the "collegiate version of the personal seat license."

"For donors that want the very best seats, they'll have to make an arena payment payable over five years, and then each year make an annual commitment to support our scholarship program," Katstra said.

Anticipated stadium donations for lower-level seating ranges from $10,000 for seats in the end zone on the baseline and up to $250,000 for sideline seats. The 84 courtside seats are for the most generous benefactors, requiring a gift of $500,000 or more. Only eight remain available.

An annual gift to UVa's scholarship program, which was a record high of $11.6 million this year, would determine the number of seats a donor would receive.

"It's a step up from what people are used to at University Hall," Katstra said. "We know that people, as they react to what we send out this week, that some will react positively and some won't."

Other revenue could be earned from naming rights. Though the arena name is set in stone, components of the stadium such as the locker rooms, weight rooms, concourses or the court itself could be sponsored for prices ranging from $1 million to $10 million, Littlepage said.

The arena, which had its groundbreaking on May 30, 2003, will seat 15,000, nearly double the capacity of the 40-year-old University Hall. Around 1,500 lower-level seats will be allocated for students along the baseline and behind the benches. Additional student seating will be in the upper deck.

Included in the $129.8 million price tag is the main arena, practice facilities for both the men and women, athletic offices, a 900-space parking garage, an access road from the Route 250 bypass and a retention pond. The arena also can be used for concerts, speaking engagements, conventions and family engagements, such as circuses.

"What we're striving for is building the best multi-use facility in the country," Littlepage said. "Not one of the best. Not one of the finest.

"We're going to build the best and finest facility anywhere in the country."

Terps, Improving Jones Try to Zone Out Chatter
By Eric Prisbell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 19, 2005; Page D03

Maryland forward Mike Jones won't turn 21 for another six months, but he already has been celebrated as a future star and branded a disappointing failure -- in some cases by the same people. He has been scrutinized on message boards and rumored to be transferring, all the while trying to find consistency, diversify his game and block out negative influences.

Jones arrived in College Park last season amid enormous hype, but the Dorchester, Mass., native played sporadically. This season, his production has improved, reaching a high mark against Temple on Saturday, when the sophomore scored a season-high 21 points while playing key minutes down the stretch. Jones again could be relied upon tonight against Virginia because guards Chris McCray (bruised tailbone) and D.J. Strawberry (knee) are nursing injuries.

Jones was one of 24 McDonald's All-Americans in the high school class of 2003. In April of that year, a national newspaper writer answered a question about Maryland's recruiting class in an online chat by typing, "As for Mike Jones, he's a sleek player that will go down in the annals of Terrapin basketball as one of the greats. Provided he doesn't leave early for the NBA."

Since then, eight of those 24 players have pursued professional basketball careers. Of the 16 remaining in college, the only one who does not start for his team is Jones. "I definitely feel comfortable in my role right now," Jones said.

The state of the college game, though, does not allow for a grace period in the eyes of many fans. Players are defined by the time they are midway through their high school careers and definitively judged by their freshman years in college, if not sooner.

"People have to realize that it's like the 14th game of his sophomore year," Maryland Coach Gary Williams said. "If you don't tear it up your freshman year, that doesn't mean you're not a good player. But that's the attitude of a lot of people nowadays."

Williams and others cite the advent of the Internet, which features scores of Web sites ranking players as young as 8, and the influence of sports television, which promotes an increasing number of analysts who offer immediate opinions or judgments on players.

Such a system paints a player such as John Gilchrist, who wasn't as highly rated, as a diamond in the rough, while Jones is viewed by some as a disappointment.

Two weeks ago, a North Carolina Web site bantered about ACC basketball. One blog read in part: "By the way, does anybody else remember that Maryland forward Mike Jones was the #2 ranked player in high school two years ago, behind LeBron James?"

But as players note, they have no control over their ranking, and the legitimacy of the ratings rarely is called into question.

"It's not fair, but that's just part of the business," Gilchrist said. "You' d rather want people to follow your ups and downs than forget about them. Without fans and people following us like that, college basketball wouldn't be as big as it is."

Jones said the hype did not prove a burden, saying, "All the hype, I definitely think, was there for a reason."

Talent evaluators deemed Jones, who averaged nearly 25 points at Thayer Academy (Mass.), one of the best shooters in the senior class two years ago. As a Maryland freshman, his shooting was erratic early on. In December 2003, he conceded, "It's been difficult." Not even the key three-pointer he made in the ACC title game against Duke could fully put a positive spin on the season.

Jones, asked to pinpoint the biggest improvement he has made in college, said, "It pretty much started with focusing on basketball. Last season, I think I was thrown off by little comments [by media and fans]. This year, I'm focused a lot more."

That was apparent after Maryland's victory over North Carolina Asheville last month. Jones made only 1 of 9 shots, yet addressed the media at length afterward, pledging to remain with the Maryland program, ignoring criticism from outsiders and taking responsibility for his play.

There have been more tangible improvements as well. When Jones arrived in College Park, Williams said, he was a one-dimensional player. His defense has improved "light years," Williams said. So has his ability to penetrate, which negates a defender's tendency to overplay his shot.

At its best, his shot is silk. Nik Caner-Medley has seen Jones get hot in practice and knew Saturday that he seemingly could not miss regardless of who covered him or where he shot. "I told him, 'If you're near half court, just shoot,' " Caner-Medley said.

By all accounts, the Temple game was not a one-game breakthrough, but rather the result of Jones's confidence gradually improving in practice over the last month, beginning in mid-December, when he made a three-pointer to put Maryland up by two in the final minute of a 90-88 overtime victory over Florida State.

Reserves Jones, James Gist and Will Bowers have played particularly well together the past two games. Williams said at times they have shown more energy than the starters. Jones, for example, danced after each of his four three-pointers against Temple.

"I really get a kick out of people judging Mike and Will by their freshman years," Williams said. "A lot of people had them written off because they didn't play a lot last year. But there is a history around here of guys improving as they've been here."