This isn’t on our calendar, and we can’t watch it, but next Wednesday and Thursday, Long Beach State will be in the biggest game of the year, with 35,000 participants on the field. That’s because next week, students will hit their keyboards to vote on the Beach Legacy Referendum, a proposed self-imposed student fee increase of $95 a semester, which would go towards improving the athletic department and sports programs at the university. The vote creates a fascinating story, as diehard fans of 49er athletics eagerly wait to see how it will play out—it could well determine the future of the university’s athletics programs, but because it’s a student vote, it hasn’t received much media attention, and the school’s diehards (those not currently enrolled, at least) can do nothing but sit and wait to see what happens.
The school’s athletic department has come up with some interesting ways to showcase the BLR to non-student athletes, and students who don’t particularly care about athletics. If it passes, the athletic department will stop drawing funds from ASI and IRA sources, essentially freeing up $1.6 million to be directed into other student organizations; there’s also the claim that improving the university’s athletic reputation will increase the value of Long Beach State degrees, using Gonzaga as an example. University president F. King Alexander, interviewed in the Union Weekly’s piece on the referendum, says that the BLR “Is something that can benefit more than the club sports, more than the athletes, but lots and lots of students who are in all of the different programs, from music to arts.”
The issue is obviously too complex to try and fully explore in this article, but it’s certainly worth going over some of the effects the referendum could have—if it passes and the fee is implemented in the Fall of 2010, the athletic department will be looking at a little under $7 million a year, up from the current $1.6 million they get now. The money will be used, according to athletics director Vic Cegles, to compete. “To compete at the highest level and to win championships requires proper funding,” he says. “Right now with all those costs moving up—we do a pretty good job raising money, but we can’t catch up.” Some of the costs he refers to are dorm costs for athletes, and scholarships—fans may be surprised to find that LBSU can’t currently fund many of its scholarships. For example, the Dirtbags actually spread their scholarships out over a number of players, so each player may get something like 2/3rds of a scholarship. The BLR would fully fund the athletics department’s student-athletes.
It would also provide money for a number of construction projects, including synthetic turf playing fields on campus (for club sports and general use), the construction of a small stadium for soccer and track to use (and lights to allow them to play at night), upgrades to the baseball practice field and the pool, a softball complex, and such extravagancies as locker rooms. “The Dirtbags change outside,” points out Alexander. “And I’ve seen nicer rodeo venues than our practice baseball field,” which skipper Mike Weathers has to avoid when showing recruits the campus.
“What we’ve been lacking at Long Beach, besides the Pyramid, has been the construction and maintenance of facilities. Without those it’s going to get harder and harder to compete—we have such a great legacy here, with Misty [May], and Evan [Longoria], but without those facilities and scholarships, I don’t know how we can continue to compete and win championships.”
Given that Long Beach is currently at the bottom of the fee-per-student for athletics in the Big West (the top school is higher than LBSU by $362, and the referendum would still only bring the university to the middle of the pack), it’s hard to feel like Cegles is exaggerating. That’s probably why the department has poured a lot of effort into getting it passed—if you’ve been in the Pyramid in the last month, you’ve probably noticed the signs hanging from the railings, or being held up by various teams on Senior Night. After thanking the students for their support on Senior Night, men’s basketball coach Dan Monson urged them to pass the referendum. Coaches haven’t been the only ones, as athletes have hit the bricks to try and get the vote out.
The campaign is being shepherded by campaign manager Wayne Stickney-Smith, a development coordinator who ran track and cross country at the university, and who helped architect the campaign that passed the Beach Pride Referendum a while back. Working with Dave Benedict, Cindy Masner, and Cegles, Stickney-Smith has been putting in 90-hour weeks this semester, making 80+ presentations to student groups and helping to craft the department’s message. He says he’s been very impressed with how the department has come together. “The way everyone has gelled, with every team and coach working together—I don’t think there’s been a singular goal on which our department has ever come together to accomplish so completely.”
If Cegles and his department are right about their assessment of how hard it will be to compete without the passage of the referendum, it’s no wonder everyone’s putting in hours. Some in the department have even mentioned that if the referendum passes, conversations about bringing football back start to become a reality—one sport addition that is guaranteed to become a reality is women’s crew, which will move from club to official status if the BLR passes, something we argued for way back when, after we realized how early those kids get up.
The online-only elections are next Wednesday and Thursday, and concerned Long Beach State fans nation-wide will be wishing for those 48 hours that there was some kind of live CNN tracking poll, so they could see how the referendum is faring. Everyone will just have to wait till voting is over, before the results are announced—it may be the biggest game the 49ers have played in years, but that doesn’t mean fans can watch.
