Ask the AD Transcript - September 13, 2019 - Kansas State University Athletics

K-State Director of Athletics Gene Taylor discusses a number of topics and fields a few submitted questions in the latest edition of Ask the AD, hosted by K-State's Brian Smoller. A partial transcript is below.

BS: Let's start first with the facilities that are nearing some completion soccer and baseball?

GT: We are in a really good spot Jeremy (Niederwerder) our Associate A.D. for Facilities and Capital Projects has really stepped up those projects along really well. Soccer is almost done; we anticipate completion of that sometime in October. Baseball is moving along at a great time frame. Both of them are under budget or on budget. We are going to add a video board this spring for baseball. A lot of good things are going to come with those projects. To the fans that have been to the soccer match it is awesome and we are going to get the team in the operation sometime in October. Thanks again, to all those construction crews working really hard to get that done.

BS: This one comes from Dan Burdett on Facebook and asking about the permanent seating in the south endzone. I think that is a big question and there is a lot of donors involved.

GT: That is a great question and we have had that with several other donors as we have talked about it and thanks to our wonderful donors who have been so generous so far. We appreciate everything that they do and have always done for us. The permanent seats will not be affected. There may be a little bit of an effect depending on how far we get in construction. Those are going to stay the same, nobody is going to lose those seats in the south endzone. The temporary seating will go away because that is where we are going to put the new video boards but the full permanent season ticket holders in that endzone will not be affected. In the long run there may be some temporary adjustments depending on how far we get next season but those will be temporary not permanent.

BS: The start of that construction will begin after basketball graduation and all of those things are done.

GT: Yeah we are going to start in May because by the time we get the construction company into place and the final design and by the time we get ready to put everything in place it is probably going to be May or June before we get started on the south endzone.

BS: The next question comes from our good friend scottwildcat asking about the Legends Room. He is asking if the donation to get into the legends room for a basketball fan be lowered at all.

GT: That is a great question. I don't know if we are ready to answer how that will be determined. It is certainly probably going to open it up to a lot more people and potential donors because of the size of it. What level donor will get in there I am not sure. There is going to be a lot of interest because it is going to be seven times larger. It will be a great potential pregame opportunity for donors and fans to come into and halftime opportunity. What that level is we don't know but we will definitely be expanding that opportunity to greater than what those could get into the Legends Room before.

BS: …and an additional multi-functional room used as well for football and basketball.

GT: Football and basketball and maybe even outside events as well down the road.

BS: Back to Facebook again for our next question about a sound system. This has been talked about some but I am not sure anyone has actually spoken to the sound system inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

GT: We are going to enhance it. It is going to be called a surround sound system basically. A complete sound system. So we will lose some of the echo that you have and the delay that you have in the stadium. So there will be an upgraded sound system that will affect everything in the stadium, which will be positive which will be part of that project along with the new video board. So a lot of upgrades technology wise as well so the fans will be able to listen and enjoy.

BS: On what happens to the parking spaces with the addition of a new indoor football practice facility. I know you have talked about this sometimes with the members of the media. As we look at this next question, how do you solve the problem of losing those parking spots. Do you acquire land across the street?

GT: Across the street is not our land, it is the agriculture department land. So that is theirs. You know that would be a lot of interest and negotiation to get that. They obviously park fans there. I am not sure that is going to be an option but if we do place it on the east side as currently shown we are going to take some parking which will be about four hundred spaces but we are going to make those up somewhere else in the lot. We are not going to displace you and say okay you no longer have a place to park. We will recreate those spots for the fans that will be affected. We are going to make sure that we have not only the same amount of parking potentially more depending on how we configure everything. We will get that all figured out and come up with a plan. Everyone will know that well in advance before we put a shovel in the ground on that particular project. As to where we are going to be and how it will affect parking.

BS: The question that we next go to is from Ryan Erickson also on Facebook. It is about moving the visitors section. This was apparent in the Bowling Green game because it was a noticeable open area with the return of tickets back from Bowling Green. I know this has come up in years past about moving the visitors section. Are there any requirements from where you have to put the visitors section?

GT: No because if you see where we go with some of the Big 12 schools they are not where we put our visiting fans. We do have a new rule in the Big 12 that they have to give us a certain number in advance. They used to be able to say we want 3,000 tickets and have about ten days to turn those back in. Now they have until July 1st so well know those numbers much sooner. So we are now talking about what the best location is for the visiting fans and how do we adjust those seats so they don't sit empty. I don't know if we are going to move them anytime soon but it is a requirement that they have to be in the lower level. We have talked about providing as many as 400 seats for the visiting team behind the bench but again those are things that we haven't fully decided on but it is something to think about. Because we will see if the Big 12 members are even lower in the past as well for some of these games.

BS: Speaking of football and Chris Klieman, what a great start.

GT: Yeah there has been a lot of excitement about the team and how they have played in the first two games. Not only just the score but just how they played. They made few mistakes, they played hard, they ran hard, they played aggressive defense. There is a lot of energy with the team and hopefully we can get another win down the road before we come back to face Baylor and sell that out as well. A sold-out Bill Snyder Family Stadium is a tremendous asset for our football team.

BS: Speaking of atmosphere and home games we did have a question from Brad Martin. This is a story that was in the Kansas City Star a couple weeks ago about the possibility of playing a neutral site game either at Arrowhead or down in Dallas at AT&T stadium. What are your thoughts on season tickets whether that package or game is included.

GT: Typically, they are not. A neutral site game you do not use that as a separate ticket for any reason. You utilize in your seating and still use priority points and things like donation levels. There are some times that that is an option for a fanbase but it is always going to be based on ticket price, agreement with the stadium, how it affects the cost of season tickets, so there is a lot of factors that go into it. I would say generally speaking, it is not included but it doesn't mean that it can't be depending on the situation. Right now we haven't even got that far in our conversations at any level.

BS: The second part of this is that is does not seem like it is anything imminent?

GT: Nothing imminent that I know of right now.

BS: So we move forward out of that to our last question which is a good one. How do you not get overwhelmed when you have so many things going on a daily basis. This comes from Andrew Pruitt; appreciate the question. Boy there are so many things going on as you crank up the new season.

GT (laughing): Boy it is fortunate because I have a tremendous staff. I get to come to work every day with people that care greatly about K-State Athletics. Their priorities are the same which is what can we do for our student-athletes to make it the best place it can be. You have a lot of staff that you delegate to and ask for help and they are a tremendous staff that I get to work with every day. I do not feel that pressure necessarily there are times when I go home and say I hope I got everything done today but when you come to work with the group you get to work with every day I am pretty fortunate

Kansas State University Athletics

Ask the AD Transcript - September 13, 2019

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