TCU's donor base skewing younger as Amon G. Carter Stadium renovation nears
In just over a month, towering cranes and heavy machinery are expected to be in full flurry around TCU's Amon G. Carter Stadium as the planned expansion of the east side begins.
The $100 million project, all funded by private donors, is sitting at about $50 million, TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati said. That's $30 million shy of the benchmark set to get the first shovels in the dirt. Donati, who took over in December after Chris Del Conte left for the same job at the University of Texas, and his team are pounding the pavement and racking up the airline miles tracking down the donors who will help them hit $80 million and beyond.
"We're well on pace to get there. We're working around the clock to get this done in a short amount of time," he said. "It's probably a shorter amount of time than you’d like. That’s the kind of history we've had. We’ve got a strong development culture and we certainly have the team to do it. We're just running pretty hard to get it done right now but I expect we will."
Some of the well-known donors who helped kickstart the massive, $164 million 2012 renovation to the stadium are again pledging large sums for the east side project, which was always part of the long-term plan during the original renovation.
This expensive finishing touch keeps TCU ahead of the curve in case conference instability arises again as it did less than a decade ago. The conference turmoil of 2010-11 helped land the Horned Frogs in the Big 12. But Donati, with an eye on the future, sees the commitment to the stadium — which is essentially a commitment to the football program — as a marker in the sand to show TCU's continued dedication to keeping up with the big football powerhouses in the Big 12, and the country.
"If being in a Power 5 conference and being in the Big 12 is one of the most important things that we can do as a university, then how do you do that," Donati posited. "Well, you win the national championship. That’s what Gary [Patterson] is setting out to do.
"What can I do to show a huge commitment to our football program? And that would be this. I tell people this all the time: I can't guarantee this keeps us in the Big 12 but this is the best thing to ensure that we do."
About 100 donors have combined to get Donati's team to the $50 million mark. The lowest contribution one can donate for two of the lower end club seats is $12,500 over five years.
While some of the same, well-heeled names are involved, Donati said a new generation of TCU alumnus are stepping up and assuming a bigger donor roll.
"It's great for TCU, great for the future of TCU," he said. "If you're a TCU alumnus you've got to be pretty excited about that. There’s a next generation of men and women in their 30s and 40s who will be called upon to be that next group and we've done a really good job of identifying those people and they're participating. They're making six- and seven-figure commitments that is really going to push this thing forward."
The east side renovation will add approximately 1,750 premium seats and is expected to be ready for the 2019 season. Donors can also make lesser contributions to earn priority points and get a tax write off in the process.
Donati and his team has been on the donor trail all over Texas, California, Chicago and other TCU alumni hotbeds.
"It's just a matter of closing those gifts and finalizing them," he said.
This story was originally published April 27, 2018 at 1:41 PM with the headline "TCU's donor base skewing younger as Amon G. Carter Stadium renovation nears."