Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1987)
Curran’s Corner Sports Dome to be built on Clackamas campus “We aren’t out to take any teams away from Portland, we’re just giving them a higher quality place to play,” said McGriff. The dome should be complete by the end of 1988 and ticket prices will be about $20 a piece so there will be a lot of demand for good seats for the college’s 1989 spring sports. by Christopher Curran Sports Editor Plans are underway and con- truction began on the “Clackadome” on the Clackamas Community College campus Monday afternoon. The Clackadome will be built on the site where the track field currently resides. The site was picked by a three member com mittee composed of college Athletic Director Dale McGaff, president John Keyser, and Paul Kyllo. Funds for the dome came from a recent plea to the tax payers of Clackamas, Washington, and Multnomah counties from the college’s basketball teams. “Please send|us $70 million or the lord will call our basketball team home.” pleaded represenatives of both Cougar teams during halftime at the Feb. 25 Portland Trailblazer game in the Memorial Col iseum. The plea worked perfectly for the first three weeks. In that time, $48.7 million was col lected, then spring break came and donations were few; only $38 was collected during that week. The cause was saved last Monday when Las Vegas casinc owner Michael Johnson per sonally delivered his check fo: $21,199,962. It took even longei to confirm the donation, because Johnson originally i didn’t include two current pieces of identification with his check. But, the check was even tually cleared and the project was underway. “It got close there for iwhile,” stated women’s basketball coach Phil Garver, “at one point I thought I saw our ball defated.” The 62,00 seat dome will be home to the college’s athletic teams, including two new col lege sports; soccer and football. “I’m really excited about ob taining this facility,” expressed McGriff^ “the dome will help expand the sports program at Clackamas and increase enroll ment.” Within three to five years the dome could host professional football games for a Portland based team. In addition to foot ball, the Clackadome could became home to the Portland Beavers and could even host concerts. However, the biggest factor Problem follows dome In a little over a year Clackamas Community College sports :ould skyrocket in attendance at games. The new Clackadome is scheduled for completion at the end of 1988, but how well will the college be able to accept the importance of such a project. Not only will the new dome bring more sports to the college pro gram (football and soccer to name two), but the dome will soon become home to the pro basketball team, the Portland Trailblazers. Possibly more pro teams will want to move to play in the dome and this poses a big problem. The dome will have enough seating to house 62,000 people, but where on campus is there enough parking to accommodate the vehicles of this many people? It has been suggested that the trailers be sold and moved and the tennis courts and Randall Hall demolished in order to make room for the black asphalt that will create some of the estimated 40,000 parking spaces needed. A committee has been chosen to study the problem in depth, in cluding Athletic Director Dale McGriff and Sports Editor of The Print, Christopher Curran. The committee feels that without the parking the dome will not be the success it is hoped to become and has therefore claimed that the sacrifice of the trailers, tennis courts, and Randall Hall is “not that big a deal.” The elimination of these buildings is going to be a burden on the rest of the college because the programs will have to be transferred to other buildings, but if it will bring pro sports and a football team to Clackamas it’s worth it. of the dome would be in 1991 when the Trailblazers would begin playing their games in the dome after 20 years in the Memorial Coliseum. “Whoop whoop. I think it’s a bad idea to build a dome out in the boonies,” said Portland Mayor Bud Clark, “it will take all of the business away from the city.” In the dome the Trailblazers would be able to charge higher ticket prices and more people would be able to at tend games. Last Nights Results Paul 83 Kyllo 28 St. Louis 117 John Denver 105 Highway 213 Interstate 205 Lotto 2,000,000 MeO Indiana 1 Syracuse 2 United States 27 California 15 McLoughlin 33 Oatfield 32 St. Helens 80 Airport 77 Aliens 2 Alien 1 David v. Letterman Late night game New video