As mentioned this am, UCLA is planning to unveil more information this week about their plans to renovate Pauley. Apparently Dan Guerrero sat down with few of the beat writers today to give everyone a preview. We already have some nuggets out courtesy of the Daily News and the OC Register. Dohn's early post has some info on fundraising update:
UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said the school has $53 million in pledges, meaning they are more than halfway to the goal of $100 million.
He also said naming rights (UCLA is using a more politically appealing term) for the arena could go for $40 million, but that could be used to offset the cost of bonds rather than toward the "Campaign of Champions" goal of raising the $100 million.
IMHO even though we are talking about pledges the numbers here is fairly positive (given the current state of the economy). Should be interesting to see what term UCLA will be using. The information is going to be posted sometime Wednesday afternoon on the official site. I guess I am somewhat ambivalent about naming rights. Before making any judgment on the current efforts, I'd like to see the details on what does it entail when it comes to naming rights.
Also DG mentioned that Forum will likely be the venue for 2011-12 season. From the OC Register's UCLA Blog:
UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero told reporters Tuesday that the Forum likely will be the primary venue during the 2011-12 season while Pauley Pavilion undergoes renovation.
The Bruins also expect to play at Pac-10 weekend at Honda Center in Anaheim as well as some games at Staples Center.
We already kind of knew that's where we were headed though. I kind of like the idea of UCLA basketball spreading around the greater Southern California area (including the OC where the fans tend to be lot more livelier) further strengthening the connection with the communities beyond LA. Guess we will find out more details on the plan tomorrow.
GO BRUINS.