IU Press Conference transcript

[hawkeye12345]

Q. You mentioned that you declined
the Pacers offer to play at Bankers Life
Fieldhouse. What was the communication
process as far as talking with Iowa about that,
and did they have any sort of say or input as
far as supporting your decision on that?
FRED GLASS: Jim Morris contacted my
office, but my phone went down because I was out doing things and my secretary reached out to me
and said, hey, Jim's calling and here's the offer.
So I pow-wowed with our event staff to make that
work logistically and all of that. But the feeling was
on a 24- to 48-hour turn around, that just didn't
make sense.
Iowa was open to playing at Bankers Life
Fieldhouse if it worked. I mean, they were here
and would have been happy to stay and that
normally would have made sense if we were able
to preplan that. But as the host, I think it was our
responsibility to decide whether we host a Big
Ten game on that short notice and my conclusion
based on advice from our event staff was that we
could not.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...013-14/misc_non_event/Feb18RoofTranscript.pdf

 

[hawkeye12345]

Q. You mentioned the logistics. I
guess elaborate on that. What all would have
to be done and what makes it impossible to
do?
FRED GLASS: Well, we have all of our
season ticket holders who would have to transfer
their seating arrangement here to Bankers Life
Fieldhouse. It's not all apples to apples. People
have scheduled their lives to some extent around
when the game is going to be, and it would be very
short notice that the game is turning around on a
couple day's notice. Just the collective efforts that
need to go in to putting on a Big Ten game, our
event staff felt like we couldn't do it in a way that
they were comfortable with.

 

[JonnyGuido]

If I were him, I'd have made the same decision.

 

[bcl20]

Well you probably shouldn't have let your building fall apart then.

 

[hawkeye12345]

He should have simply kept his mouth shut about the possibility of using Bankers Life.

Trustee of IU: Here is a viable opportunity, Mr. Glass.....and they probably were going to write it off as a charitable contribution to the University (or at least tried).

Fred GlASS: Awww, thanks for the offer but do you really think we would want to throw a general admission ticket out there in lieu of our current assigned seats? Oh the humanity!


This game should be played tomorrow night in Indianapolis. No doubt about it.

 

[JonnyGuido]

Well you probably shouldn't have let your building fall apart then.

Come on man. If this was like a piece of crown molding peeling off, how is the AD suppose to have prevented that? Things happen. From IU's perspective, it was unfortunate but they still want to fight for their home game. I get that and so should any rational thinker. I also get that we were inconvenienced and want some acknowledgement of that. I see both sides. If I was him, I would not agree to something that hurts my team if I do not have to agree to it.

 

[ssckelley]

Q. You mentioned the logistics. I
guess elaborate on that. What all would have
to be done and what makes it impossible to
do?
FRED GLASS: Well, we have all of our
season ticket holders who would have to transfer
their seating arrangement here to Bankers Life
Fieldhouse. It's not all apples to apples. People
have scheduled their lives to some extent around
when the game is going to be, and it would be very
short notice that the game is turning around on a
couple day's notice. Just the collective efforts that
need to go in to putting on a Big Ten game, our
event staff felt like we couldn't do it in a way that
they were comfortable with.

Is this real? If so this is ********! The first priority should be to play the game.

 

[bcl20]

Fine. He shouldn't. I still get to call him out for having his piece of **** building fall apart.

 

[bcl20]

Come on man. If this was like a piece of crown molding peeling off, how is the AD suppose to have prevented that? Things happen. From IU's perspective, it was unfortunate but they still want to fight for their home game. I get that and so should any rational thinker. I also get that we were inconvenienced and want some acknowledgement of that. I see both sides. If I was him, I would not agree to something that hurts my team if I do not have to agree to it.

Also, I find it really convenient that you state the words "logical thinker" or "rational thinker" into a lot of your posts and then you make up some rules basically saying that if you don't follow my made up rules and wisdom you don't fit the mold of "rational thinker" It's almost like you're trying to convince yourself you're right with every post.

 

[ssckelley]

Come on man. If this was like a piece of crown molding peeling off, how is the AD suppose to have prevented that? Things happen. From IU's perspective, it was unfortunate but they still want to fight for their home game. I get that and so should any rational thinker. I also get that we were inconvenienced and want some acknowledgement of that. I see both sides. If I was him, I would not agree to something that hurts my team if I do not have to agree to it.

Then who is responsible? You see the video? The corner where that fell out of looked like crap. Had that came down during a game people would have died. I would hope someone has these types of facilities inspected once in a while.

 

[H8IAST8]

This AD is talking out of his ***. That arena is pretty embarrassing for such a prestigious basketball program.

 

[bcl20]

Assembly Hall is looking like Wrigley field. Both highly praised dumps with a lot of history.

 

[NCHawker]

If they can't play the game in a reasonably short time, with an available venue they they should be forced to forfit the game. tohell with the season ticket holders and mapping their seats to the new venue.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

I would have said if you have a ticket to the game or are a season ticket holder (regardless) seating is open to first come, first serve. That is the least they can do for their screw up.

I get the safety thing, but they had a viable option for tomorrow. They said no. IU Administration is the bad guy here. Smells of being a chicken *hit.

 

[H8IAST8]

The only comparison I can think of is when the Metrodome caved in, the Vikings played a home game on a neutral field (Detroit). This happened days before the game, and the game was pushed back one day. The only team that inconvenienced was the team whose facility failed.

Finally they also refunded ticket holders and allowed free admittance to locals.
Ticket holders for the game will be admitted and given preferred seating along the 50-yard line, the Vikings said in a statement. Free general admission tickets will be available at the Ford Field box office beginning at 9 a.m. ET. Refunds will also be given to original ticket holders.

Metrodome's Inflatable Roof Collapses, Moves Game to Detroit | Fox News
Metrodome roof deflates under snow; New York Giants-Minnesota Vikings game to Detroit - ESPN

 

[LawVHawk]

If they can't play the game in a reasonably short time, with an available venue they they should be forced to forfit the game. tohell with the season ticket holders and mapping their seats to the new venue.

Both organizations have large computers to handle arena seating, for Chrissakes. This could have been done in an hour tops. Glass is a wuss -- obviously doesn't want to make Crean play on a "neutral" court or to lose home game revenues. What an ***.

 

[IhateISU]

Come on man. If this was like a piece of crown molding peeling off, how is the AD suppose to have prevented that? Things happen. From IU's perspective, it was unfortunate but they still want to fight for their home game. I get that and so should any rational thinker. I also get that we were inconvenienced and want some acknowledgement of that. I see both sides. If I was him, I would not agree to something that hurts my team if I do not have to agree to it.

Also any rational thinker, meaning season ticket holders and the AD, knows that when thing like this happens there are going to be inconveniences. Those inconveniences should go both ways being game is played the following day and Iowa has to stay an extra day and season ticket holders don't get your normal seats. The AD is just being a Dbag. If this game is played at a later date Iowa takes on most of the inconveniences.

 

[TheDude]

Glass screwed the pooch on this one. They had a good solution and said no. They could have gotten some interns together and had them map sections from Assembly Hall to Bankers Life and just had open seating within the sections. If they aren't smart enough to do this at IU, they could have gotten some kids from Purdue to do it.

It seems to me IU has made the decision to put the decision in the hands of the B1G office. They had to have made the calculation that Iowa would not agree to come back voluntarily. I think B1G Jim Delaney makes the decision that IU has to be held accountable for their decision to reject the easy solution. I see the game either in CHA on a short turn around for IU, or a forfeit. I just don't see Delaney letting them get away with such a selfish decision. For Delaney, the needs of the B1G outweighs the needs of IU.

 

[bcl20]

Glass screwed the pooch on this one. They had a good solution and said no. They could have gotten some interns together and had them map sections from Assembly Hall to Bankers Life and just had open seating within the sections. If they aren't smart enough to do this at IU, they could have gotten some kids from Purdue to do it.

It seems to me IU has made the decision to put the decision in the hands of the B1G office. They had to have made the calculation that Iowa would not agree to come back voluntarily. I think B1G Jim Delaney makes the decision that IU has to be held accountable for their decision to reject the easy solution. I see the game either in CHA on a short turn around for IU or a forfeit. I just don't see Delaney letting them get away with such a selfish decision. For Delaney, the needs of the B1G outweighs the needs of IU.

I don't see a way that this game is played at Carver and a forfeit for sure isn't going to happen (when's the last time a forfeit happened in a major sporting event aside from vacated victories.) Our best case scenario would have been Indy tomorrow but I'm sure we'll be playing in Bloomington next Thursday.

 

[HawksMN]

If that transcript is indeed word for word...wow, just wow.
The AD didn't want to play a day later, just an hour away from home, when the other team advised they would be willing to do that. Trying to pack in all their fans to an alternative site. Sorry man, your arena had structural 'difficulties', therefore you should be willing to make due.

Could have just stated all those IU fans with a ticket can come to the game as general admission seating. It wouldn't have been full but IU would still have had far more fans there than Iowa.
What was so bad about this solution?

If this comes back to bite Iowa I'm going to be kinda PO'd.