JQH Arena Game Plan: Paying for a $67M facility

Construction is under way for an 11,000-seat JQH Arena immediately east of Hammons Student Center. The new athletics arena sports a $67 million price tag, and university officials have been hard at work to raise that money since the project was announced in February 2006.

“We’re right on target,” said Kent Kay, the university’s chief financial officer.

In fact, MSU was only $2.25 million shy of having all the money in place, as of April 17. That day, the university received $61 million from the sale of 25-year construction bonds through four underwriters – Raymond James, A.G. Edwards, George K. Baum & Co. and Valdes & Moreno. The bonds have a coupon rate of 4.42 percent.

Combine the bond revenues with $3.75 million in donations already made by local companies and businesspeople, and MSU is close to the finish line.

Donor breakdown

Springfield hotel magnate John Q. Hammons is the No. 1 donor – thus the arena’s name. He gave the university $1 million in construction seed money and will donate another $29 million in annual increments of $1.9 million to help MSU pay off its $4 million annual debt service.

Trucking firm Prime Inc. gave MSU $1 million to sponsor the arena’s Prime Overtime Club. Price Cutter, St. John’s Health System, Bill R. Foster and the Foster Family Foundation, and Tom Strong of The Strong Law Firm and the Strong family each gave six-figure gifts that total $1.75 million. Those firms will sponsor specific parts of JQH. For example, St. John’s will sponsor the arena’s south concourse and Strong is sponsoring the main entrance.

Great Southern Bank donated $1.7 million to purchase the arena’s video scoreboard, but that money is not being counted toward the main construction fund.

In the 1970s, Great Southern also paid for the scoreboard at Hammons Student Center, the school’s current primary athletics arena. Teresa Calhoun, Great Southern’s director of marketing, said the bank spends much of its marketing budget on sports sponsorships, and it naturally wanted to be involved with JQH.

“We really like the scoreboard aspect because it is a point of focus for anyone who attends the arena,” said Calhoun, noting four advertising panels that will be on the scoreboard.

Brent Dunn, assistant director of athletics and director of athletics development for MSU, said the final donations should come in during the next couple months.

Though Dunn didn’t disclose any potential donors, Springfield-based O’Reilly Automotive Inc. seems to be a possible fit. The $2 billion auto parts retail chain has courtside sponsorships in place at Hammons Student Center and more than 60 other college basketball arenas throughout the United States, including Texas Tech and Duke universities.

Chief Operating Officer Ted Wise said O’Reilly would likely continue courtside sponsorships at JQH and may contribute to the arena’s construction, though that’s still undetermined.

“We want to be a good community citizen,” Wise said.

Rumors squelched

Rumors have swirled that JQH donors attempted to sway the university’s decision about retaining men’s basketball coach Barry Hinson. Rumors even had some donors offering to pay for a portion of a new coach’s salary.

Amid the speculation, MSU announced March 16 that it was keeping Hinson for a ninth season.

“Do people have their ideas about what should happen? Well, of course,” said MSU President Michael Nietzel. “No donor in favor of Barry, of which there were many, and no donor opposed to Barry, of which there were some, ever said anything to me about their donation being connected to whether he stayed or left. It’s 100 percent false. If I could give a stronger denial, I’d try to think of it, but I don’t know how to.”

Faced with a similar situation, Saint Louis University officials chose to fire its men’s basketball coach, Brad Soderberg, almost a month to the day of MSU’s decision.

SLU is undergoing construction of an $80.5 million arena.