The USC Men's Basketball season ticket applications found their way into Trojan mailboxes this week and inside there were new drawings of the new arena, with the quote, "It's Closer Than You Think." That is about as close to a positive statement out of Heritage Hall since the original announcement in 1999. The project has had many ups and downs and after strong skepticism on the project started to be widespread the USC athletic department decided not to release much information, until early this year. I had this article written and then the Daily News came out with an article on Saturday with more information, some of it was outdated, some new and some incorrect. This article will try and explain where the project stands from what I have heard lately.

USC announced in the fall of 1999 their plans to build a brand new facility, which they hoped to have completed in 2002. That timeline was extremely optimistic considering the economy went in the tank shortly after the announcement. USC originally was looking for a sizeable naming rights sum in the 50 million dollar range. Considering the biggest single naming rights sum to that date was around half of that, USC clearly started off on the wrong foot. With USC president Steven Sample enforcing the university's policy that capital projects be paid for within 11 quarters of their approval the majority of the money had to be raised before the project could get off the ground. That has finally been done.

The most information released since the 1999 press conference was the April feature article in the OC Register, until the Daily News article today. The OC Register article earlier this year confirmed that USC's athletic department has secured more than 75 percent of the $70 million it needs for the first phase of the Events Center. A recent 10+ MIL donation has basically taken that to 100%. The Daily News incorrectly wrote the USC still needs $10 million to complete the funding of the project. None of my sources have given that sum to me. Phase 1 is 100% financed, Phase 2 is in the process of being financed. The Daily News might of been assigning the $10 million figure to the completion of Phase 2 financing, but I have yet to hear that. They also mention the change of the orginial plan to two phases, but from what I heard recently with more money expected soon (see below), USC is now leaning towards possibly building both phase 1 and 2 at the same time now. There are also plans for two parking structures that would be dedicated to the arena, around 4,000 spaces and expect Felix car dealership to be gone by the time the arena opens in 2005/06 and replaced with a mall featuring a huge SC Team Store like at Staples.

In the last two to three years, USC revamped their thinking on naming rights. With the contributions USC has secured in the last year, the importance of selling naming rights is less of a concern now. With 100% of the first phase financed it is no longer a necessity to sell naming rights. With President Sample is rumored to be against the facility being named after a corporation, it apparently has been decided at this point that corporate naming rights will not be sold. If accurate, this is outstanding news for USC fans as many have long been apposed to having the arena tied to a corporation, but also were willing to take just about anything like Purina Cat Chow Events Center just to get the facility built. The Daily News article incorrectly wrote that naming rights is still on the table. From what I have heard that is not true. Sample will not allow it at this point.

The OC Register article also mentioned USC was in the final stages of negotiations for four founding sponsorship agreements at 5 MIL a piece. As the summer ends, they appear very close to finalizing two 5 MIL donations, and they expect to finalize the other two in the future. The Daily News article fails to mention any of this.  

USChoops.com was the first to report this June that there was talk of downsizing the capacity from the original 12,000 estimate. That was selected because it was supposed to be the magic number to host NCAA regionals. That number has increased in the past couple years and with larger facilities like the Staples Center and Pond in the area, the Events Center would likely never hold a big basketball regional. It appears the magic number is now 10,400 seats and that is what has been rumored to be approved to build. It will also feature 24 suites and two levels of seating. The 10,400 seats will tie USC for 7th in the Pac-10 in facility size with Oregon State's Gill Coliseum. Washington's B of A Arena holds 10,000, Oregon's Mac Court holds 9,087 and Stanford's Maples Pavilion with 7,500 seats rounds out the top ten. Oregon is expected to open a new arena possibly a year after USC's opens. That facility will hold from 13 to 15,000 people.
 
While USChoops.com reported in June that multiple sources confirmed that baring any last minute hang-ups it is only a matter of when the new USC Events Center breaks ground this year not if, that appears to be not entirely accurate. There could be a ceremony or a sign placed at the site this year, there have been some rumors this summer of something happening in August or September. Despite that, the actual start of the building of the structure won't take place until sometime in 2004, probably late summer/early fall. The Daily News article confirms the August 2004 date as the target date that is set for groundbreaking and also goes on to say that there could be some sort of ceremony in September to formally announce the groundbreaking.
 
Currently, USC is expecting the final design plans from HNTB, the Kansas City architecture firm USC selected in November 1999, in the early fall and then the plans will be submitted for bids, permits, city zoning changes and an environmental impact report. Also, there are currently tanks under the parking lot that have to be dug up and removed as well as soil tested prior to the construction beginning in August of 2004. Construction is currently slated to take around 12-18 months. It is expected to take 18 months if both phases are completed at the same time.

The OC Register article quoted Carol Dougherty saying "If everything goes extremely well, our best hope would be to be ready for women's volleyball in 2005." The Daily News article quotes USC women's volleyball coach Mick Haley as saying, "I've heard by August 2005 we could be playing in it." That appears to be a stretch at this point. For that to occur, construction would have to begin in March of 2004 with the 18 month schedule, which it would take for both phases to be built at the same time. If they just build the first phase and keep on schedule to begin construction in August of 2004, it is possibly that it could be done in a year, but the August 2005 date appears to be an aggressive timeline at this point. According to sources, the arena is expected to be definately opened in time for 06-07 basketball season, possibly for the 2006 Pac-10 basketball season. A lot depends of how fast the process takes after the final design plans are in USC hands and if construction is able to begin right after groundbreaking in August of 2004. We will know a more accurate timeline a year from now.

"It's Closer Than You Think."