| I have lived in New Jersey practically all of my life. | | | | the current and future stadiums support two National |
| The Garden State has been in fiscal crisis practically all | | | | Football League teams. There are only so many days |
| of my academic life and my working life. I realized this | | | | that they will allow college football to tear up their field. |
| almost thirty years ago, as a student taxpayer; the | | | | Two third of Rutgers alumni reside in New Jersey. The |
| tuition at Rutgers tripled between from my freshman | | | | current Rutgers Stadium is, if nothing else, in a |
| year to my senior year. | | | | convenient location for alumni to fill the seats. The |
| All that time the campus looked the same, the | | | | Meadowlands is far less convenient. |
| complaints about the campus were the same. The | | | | Rutgers allows 8,000 students to attend games free |
| complaints about traffic, large lecture classes, deferred | | | | of charge; this is unique in college football. After I |
| maintenance, and so on, were the same. | | | | graduated from Rutgers in 1982, I went to the |
| I know that the extra tuition I paid didn't end up in the | | | | University of Illinois, a school that had a Rose Bowl |
| professor's pockets; it was used to make up cuts in | | | | team. I paid $60 a season for my seats - in 1982. That |
| state aid. Higher education received a lower priority in | | | | was the same price for a young Rutgers alum - in |
| a recessionary economy. | | | | 1994! |
| I didn't like it; I was paid triple the tuition to get the same | | | | I don't think the Sports and Exposition Authority will |
| education, but I learned to grit my teeth and bear it. So | | | | allow Rutgers students to attend games in an NFL |
| did my classmates; the alternatives were less | | | | stadium for free; they didn't thirty years ago. |
| attractive. | | | | Go "down league" as the Rutgers 1000 has suggested |
| I know that extra tuition didn't support the football | | | | in the past? |
| program. In the late 70's, early 80's, the team was just | | | | The opportunity to play for a national championship |
| starting to play the major football schools. Rutgers had | | | | puts "meat in the seats." I sincerely doubt that Rutgers |
| to play the major games on the road, or at Giants | | | | would reverse direction after receiving three |
| Stadium (sorry Jet fans) in the Meadowlands. Rutgers | | | | consecutive bowl bids and playing to capacity crowds. |
| Stadium was too small to host the major powers on | | | | Obviously, fans can't count on the quality of play at |
| campus. It still is, even with twice the seating we had | | | | season's eve, but expectations for Rutgers football |
| back in our student days. | | | | have risen higher. Optimism breeds enthusiasm, which |
| I understand the economic arguments against stadium | | | | fills the seats. |
| expansion - but Rutgers will not be taking the wraps of | | | | Who, at Rutgers, in the 21st century, would be excited |
| a new stadium today. Public construction projects | | | | about a "Championship Subdivision" schedule, now that |
| have a bid process, a design process, a construction | | | | the Scarlet Knights have a legitimate shot at something |
| management process. We're talking about a project | | | | better, something more likely to change the perception |
| that won't be completed for two or three years. | | | | of the school for the better? |
| A better economy and a better football team can pay | | | | Alumni who graduated before me might be pleased; |
| it off - and what's the alternative? | | | | they were used to watching their teams play |
| Play at the Meadowlands? | | | | Princeton. |
| That's less possible now than it was thirty years ago; | | | | |