97-08-01 Schottenstein Center Suites to be Leased

SCHOTTENSTEIN CENTER SUITES TO BE LEASED

     COLUMBUS -- Today some friends of The Ohio State University
are receiving a packet of information offering them the
opportunity to lease a hospitality suite in the Schottenstein
Center.

     Thirty suites are now being offered for lease to individuals
and corporations with a history of "contributing generously to
Ohio State in the past," David Williams II, vice president for
student affairs, announced today.  The Department of Athletics,
as well as the Schottenstein Center, report to Williams.

     "At $45,000 to $65,000 each per year, hospitality suites
represent a major portion of the private support for Ohio State
University's new $93 million Schottenstein Center," Williams
said.  Leases are available for five-, seven-, or nine-year
terms.

     Williams said the university expects "a huge demand for the
suites, even though we are limiting opportunities to friends who
already support Ohio State."  They include major contributors to
the university's current $850 million capital campaign - which
has been emphasizing student scholarships and faculty chairs and
professorships - and to its last campaign which raised more than
$450 million.

     "The funding of Ohio State is a public-private partnership,"
Williams said.  "Support from our friends in the private sector
is the critical difference between good and excellent across the
university.  Thanks to that partnership, there will be no finer
collegiate arena in the nation."  Depending upon the event, the
multi-purpose Schottenstein Center will hold from 17,000 for
hockey to 21,000 spectators for concerts.  The hospitality suites
will form a ring around the arena at the mezzanine.  Most will
have 12 seats and include television monitors, a fully furnished
lounge area, and access to the club level (a hospitality center
recently funded by a $5 million gift from The Huntington National
Bank).

     The cost of the Schottenstein Center originally was
estimated at $75 million.  It is now $93 million.  A $12.5
million naming gift, a $15 million capital appropriation from the
State of Ohio, and the remainder from bonds sales and private
fund-raising is funding construction.  The center will open for
the 1998-99 basketball and hockey seasons.

     "Private support has become fundamental to financing this
kind of facility," Williams said. "Our friends who buy the seat
licenses and suites are allowing Ohio State to remain one among a
handful of universities that do not drain academic resources to
fund athletic programs or to build a new state-of-the-art arena."

     Williams said beer and wine would be available at Ohio State
events in the suites and the club level "under controlled
circumstances.  There will be no sales or service on Sunday, none
at any high school events, events that are family fare, and none
at NCAA championships."

     There will be no alcohol sales in other areas of the arena
at Ohio State athletic events, but beer and wine could be
available throughout the center at select events, such as some
concerts, Williams said.

     The university currently, he said, "maintains a policy of
sales in special environments and circumstances," including the
golf course clubhouse, Faculty Club, Fawcett Center, and Ohio
Union.

     "The university administration researched the financing and
cash flow of new arenas throughout the country, and the various
alcohol policies currently in place, and made a business
decision," Williams said.  "The sale of alcoholic beverages
enhances the sale of corporate entertainment areas.  Without
adding student fees or using state general funds, a facility such
as this no longer can be financed without corporate and business
support."

                                 #

Contact:        David Williams II (614) 292-9334
Written By:     Malcolm S. Baroway


[Submitted by: Von Vargas  (vargas.12@osu.edu)
               
Fri, 1 Aug 1997 14:56:10 -0400 (EDT)]
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