Deja vu: Four decades ago, Syracuse community fought over plans to build an SU stadium

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A September 1979 photo shows the skeletal frame of the Carrier Dome as it was being constructed on the Syracuse University campus, following a 10-year battle over where the locate the arena. The battle over the Carrier Dome, which opened in 1980, could hold lessons for Syracuse area leaders and residents as the community debates a proposal to build a new $500 million sports arena for SU on the former Kennedy Square public housing complex in Syracuse.

(Syracuse University archives)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The need to replace Syracuse University's out-of-date sports arena was pressing.

Secret discussions had been underway for years between officials from SU, the city of Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York state and business leaders. Grand plans, various locations, traffic issues and funding scenarios were talked about. Not everyone was on board. Deals that seemed imminent were scotched by people holding out for different answers. Money designated for the new sports arena was spent somewhere else.

Sound familiar?

These weren't discussions about replacing the Carrier Dome. These were discussions about building the Carrier Dome.

Last month, Syracuse.com reported how Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney had been discussing with Gov. Andrew Cuomo a plan

to provide more than $300 million in state and county support for a new SU sports arena.

Pursuit of the plan was suspended after

the proposal met with skepticism from Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner

.

Cuomo and Mahoney later announced $100 million in state and county support for a
development project in suburban Geddes that includes a concert amphitheater.

SU's Chancellor Kent Syverud subsequently declined to appoint anyone to Miner's task force on building a new sports stadium, saying there is no rush because the opportunity for state and county funding had passed.

But that's not likely to end the debate.

And there are forgotten lessons from the past - from when SU built the Carrier Dome - that may help the Syracuse community as it weighs whether a new stadium should be built. Spoiler alert: The process can take years.

Four decades ago

Syracuse University has been here before - 40-some years ago.

"I remember (Chancellor Melvin) Eggers' frustration trying to reach consensus," Joe Nicoletti said recently. Nicoletti was then a Syracuse common councilor-at-large. "There was a lot of rancor not unlike what we hear today. Once the chancellor made up his mind, they moved quickly."

"As soon as (then governor) Hugh Carey had indicated he was willing to be a player, it suddenly became a very exciting opportunity," said Michael Bragman.

Bragman was then a county legislator representing Cicero.

"People pushed everything else aside and it was a seized opportunity," he said.

The complicated story that led to the Carrier Dome is detailed in Cazenovia College professor John Robert Greene's history, "Syracuse University - The Eggers Years."

Here's what happened:

Archbold Stadium was crumbling. And, by NCAA standards it was small. It seated 26,000. NCAA Division I standards for football venues required seating for 35,000.

So in 1969, SU's athletic governing board directed that a site be designated for a new stadium.

Chancellor John E. Corbally Jr., hired that year, faced a $1 million budget deficit and a $12 million debt for the spate of building projects that had preceded him. A new stadium was not a priority for him.

In 1970, the Metropolitan Development Authority (MDA) proposed building a county-owned stadium for which SU would be a tenant. Corbally left the SU chancellor's job in March, 1971, and was replaced by Melvin Eggers, who had been at SU since 1950 and had served as provost under Corbally.

Eggers supported the county-owned stadium proposal and in 1976, the Arena Group, a SU and MDA partnership, released a feasibility study proposing a 50,000-seat stadium costing $13.7 million. Three sites near the New York State Fairgrounds were considered, but the group settled on a site in the town of Salina near Electronics Park.

Salina town board members opposed the site, saying it would lower property values and create traffic problems. The county Legislature widened its site search, considering 38 alternatives.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford signed the Public Works Employment Act, through which Onondaga County could apply for a $5 million grant for a new arena. Additional funding would come from $7 million in bonding from Onondaga County and $3 million in private financing.
To meet the grant deadline, SU and the MDA agreed to build on 80 acres in the town of Van Buren, land donated by Anthony Centaur.

But Van Buren residents opposed the arena for the same reasons Salina residents had, and in a November referendum, voted down the arena proposal. Subsequently, the county Legislature defeated the county bonding resolution.

Discussions continued. In the spring of 1977, the Arena Group revealed it was considering a domed stadium.

Frustrated with the lack of progress, several groups formed alternate committees.

The Onondaga County Legislature, at Bragman's urging, formed its own Onondaga County Stadium Commission. SU had two members on the commission.

SU's Orange Pack and Varsity Club, both sports boosters, formed their own stadium committee. In October, 1977, the Orange Pack/Varsity Club committee released its plan for a 50,000-seat open air stadium behind Skytop hill in the town of Onondaga. It was later scaled down to a 48,000 seat stadium costing $7.5 million. SU's board of trustees' executive committee agreed to make available 120 acres at Skytop. Eggers approved.

Cut out of the plan, the county's stadium commission was miffed. In March, 1978, the county commission proposed the county and SU join in funding either a 50,000 seat open-air stadium at Skytop, or a domed stadium on Bridge Street in East Syracuse or at the state fairgrounds.

Eggers supported the revised Skytop proposal, which included $3.5 million in federal highway funds the state would divert for road improvements along Ainsley Drive, Comstock Avenue and Colvin Street. But Skytop neighbors opposed it.

Stymied again, Eggers decided to build a domed stadium right where Archbold was. The campus' institutional zoning district would allow construction to begin sooner than if the site were somewhere else, where zoning would have to be modified.

Eggers lobbied Gov. Carey for funding, proposing that the Urban Development Corporation give $10 million. SU would raise the balance.

The state Legislature approved UDC funding in September 1978. Historian Greene writes that the funding approval was a tradeoff, with Upstate Senate Republicans agreeing to support $300 million for the Jacob Javits Center in New York City if downstate Democrats approved the Dome project.

SU sought donations and sold preferred seating and naming rights for rooms and boxes inside the Dome. In February, 1979, Eggers announced the arena would be named the Carrier Dome, for the corporation's $2.75 million gift.

Campus neighbors opposed the Dome's construction, citing concerns about traffic and parking. Student and faculty groups worried about the Dome's impact on academic life. Lawsuits were filed. SU prevailed and construction continued.

Eleven years after the directive of SU's athletic governing to choose a site for a new stadium, SU's football team played its first game in the Carrier Dome on Sept. 20, 1980. SU beat Miami of Ohio, 36-24.

The Carrier Dome's final price tag of $26.85 million for an indoor stadium that seats nearly 50,000 is far less than the $500 million being talked about for a new arena with a retractable roof.

Money was only part of the cost of getting the Dome up. And money has been only part of the good that's come from the Dome, over and over.

Contact Dave Tobin at dtobin@syracuse.com or 315-470-3277.