The 4th Annual Plea For Temple To Build a Football Stadium On Campus

We’ve finally reached a day most of us at some point this year doubted we would make it to: the Temple football season opener. 

This is my 4th time writing this blog, begging Temple to build a stadium on their campus. But boy oh boy, would I be remiss if i didn’t acknowledge that a ton has changed since the last time I wrote one of these pleas.

For years, pretty much since the creation of the football program, we’ve made jokes at our own expense about fans not showing up for games. Now, staring a pandemic square in the face, all of us would give anything to walk into The Linc for a Temple game.

Admit it, you missed the feeling. You miss hopping off the subway and walking past Xfinity Live, knowing damn well you’ll end up there later in the game anyway. The bars inside play devil on your shoulder and tell you to come in right away. You hit the tailgate lots (or FDR park) and see seemingly every friend you ever made during your time in college. You take one swig of beer and the hangover clears like clouds in the sky. It’s football season.

The best lesson here is one you could probably take for this whole pandemic lockdown saga: don’t take anything for granted. We may never get to sing Wagon Wheel or Sweet Caroline at McGillin’s again. Made in America? Yeah, that’s not happening for a while. We probably took getting to watch this Temple team play for granted. But, the university has been taking it for granted for a long time too. 

Look around the city. Programs are being cut. Schools are struggling. (Shoutout to the kids at La Salle fighting tooth and nail to save the baseball team). Temple is fortunate enough to have the money that they’re going to be just fine. Any university that builds a skywalk from the business school to the health center just has stupid money. I mean, what is the purpose of that thing? So you can finish your risk management exam and then figure out what that rash on your thigh is all about in an efficient manner? They brought Chick-Fil-A to campus. They got rid of the owl in the middle of the campus and said to themselves, “what if we just spent these kids parents tuition checks on a BIGGER owl?!”

So Temple has the money. But do they have the dedication to the football program that they claim they do, or are they going to keep taking it for granted?

Universities that ACTUALLY care about their football program, have stadiums on campus that they can call their own. They don’t sign five year extensions to copy+paste a Temple T over another logo at midfield of someone else’s stadium. 

Now, the proactive idea to build your own stadium and have your own identity comes with a cherry on top: jobs.

Jobs would always be available in plenty if they build a multi-functional event complex in an enormous city, but we need it more than ever. Whether it’s construction of the stadium, or roles within the stadium on event day, the stadium itself is a unique job creator. We’ve been stuck in a society that has been failing to see any job creators outside of just about Instacart and nothing else. 

You wanted Morgan Hall to be the North Star, let the stadium be that. If you build it, they will come. Both fans and employees. Don’t let “stadium stompers’ stand in your way because they take offense to this proposal. Guess what? Everybody takes offense to everything. We’ve spent 6 months and counting having heated debates over a freaking piece of cloth on your face. If it’s taught us anything it’s that people are going to be mad one way or another. You can’t please everyone and as viewpoints get more extreme, decision makers have to make the big calls that they think will benefit the most people. And there is no doubt in my mind, a job creating stadium for the football team you cut seven sports to prop up, will benefit just about every group imaginable.

If you believe in this team, if you believe in this program, EXPRESS YOUR BELIEF. Build a stadium on Temple’s campus.