I think you’re right it would greatly benefit their economy but these are old rich people they don’t really care. They’d rather not have 50k rolling down lancaster on a Saturday afternoon drinking and going to a football game even if it would bring in business.

The laws aren’t some archaic ordinances from the turn of the twentieth century. They are most likely far more recent. At some point when they saw Villanova was going to start really expanded (I don’t know when this was 70s 80s?) they wanted to curtail giant structures being built near their homes so they passed ordinances that limit the height of structures. So building stadiums, whether it be basketball or football gets effected the most.

St. Thomas of Villanova Church is probably the largest structure on campus right? And that was build in the 1800s when there were only farms surrounding us. I wonder would that fly today.

Eventually these ordinances will have to be bend, broken or voted out. Villanova will become too big and will have too much swag, I think we’re getting close.

I get that when these laws were made, the people were probably there before the school really got big, so they wanted to control it.

But all of those people have to be dead or moved away by now. Did Villanova really get involved with a law that says they can’t build – EVER AGAIN?

If so, that’s atrocious management by the school itself, and frankly, wouldn’t be terribly surprising.

While I was in school I wrote a paper about how even though Radnor hates Villanova, their economy depends on it a lot more than they realize, and how an increase in people for football would actually benefit the town as a whole, because they would be flooded with more money.

Although at some point they expanded and made that press box which is nice and relatively new I don’t know when that was.

The town has all sorts of limitations on how ‘Nova can build. For instance there are some zoning ordinances for height, that is why the pavilion is shaped like a Circus big top and why the Football stadium cannot be built upwards. Also it is why the apts on West are only three floors.

There are also time ordinances. West apts were finished around 2000-2001 I believe and part of us being allowed to build them was that the town of Villanova required that we were not allowed to build on west for 20 years (when all the people in mansions near west (like Allen Iverson haha) would be dead or moved out). There was a big debate when ‘Nova build the new law school b/c although we might call that West, legally the school doesn’t so it didn’t fall into the 20 yr ordinance. Needless to say the town was pissed.

There are a lot of things they need to do, like build more dorms in main lot and make pike a garage but the town nixes these things as eyesores on Lancaster before blueprints are even draw.

Long story short I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some agreement where Villanova cannot add capacity to the stadium ever or for a certain number of years as part of a deal that allowed them to build the press box.

1. Fanbase – will end up being the largest problem. I definitely agree the attendance will jump if we join Big East football however it will still be tough. Remember we are only a school of about 6,500 undergrads. So pulling from that bunch is going to be tough, not a lot of students to pull from in the football fan world. Alumni participation will be really important and having the big teams on the other side of the bill will help this (instead of UNH and W&M). But its hard to equate yourself with schools with big student bodies. Even a comparable Div. I-A Catholic School like BC has 9.5k undergrads.

2. Stadium – Villanova Stadium is too small. I thought it was a bigger problem as well but if Chris is right and we only need 15k than small additions could make it possible. A massive overhaul on Villanova Stadium is out of the question b/c the town of Villanova will not allow it. The Linc is their second option and something the Athletic Dept has thought about. Renting it on Saturdays (lord knows how much that costs) but it would be massive for years for our initial fanbase. The soccer stadium in Chester is a nice thought but I think that would be even more difficult than the Linc to get fans too b/c it is not centrally located. However, its true we pull 20k pretty easily for big WAC games so we could do well with football after a few years (optimism here).

3. Money – The football team does consistently lose money. Last figure I heard was roughly 500k a year (that might not be as bad this year). However, I think almost every sport except Men’s bball loses money but Men’s bball pulls in such an ungodly sum that it funds the rest of the athletic dept. Joining the BE would hopefully get the -500k to at least break even with energized fans, merchandise sales and of course most important … TV contracts. It is a big decision the school has to make, whether to invest in it and push it all the way or let it linger in college football purgatory

One of my biggest complaints about ‘Nova when I was there was the lack of a big-time football atmosphere.