Doesn’t have the same ring as Mac Court. Knight Arena. Meh.

For those who want more proof that Phil Knight and company own the University of Oregon, I refer you to the Register Guard and the Ol’ Dirty:

UO President Dave Frohnmayer was happy to comply and on Saturday, at a news conference in the Rose Garden arena just before the Papé Jam basketball double-header tipped off, he announced that excavation will begin on the Matthew Knight Arena this week. The $227 million stadium will replace 82-year-old McArthur Court — Mac Court to students and fans.

Maybe Susan Palmer just hates Nike and Phil Knight but I do enjoy the way she wrote the first sentence there. Frohny was happy to comply. Ha! Who wouldn’t be happy to comply with Phil Knight when he’s bankrolled 3 other buildings on this campus, two of which already hold the Knight name. Let’s list them: Knight Library, Lillis Business Complex, and Law School/Library.

I for one am not complaining about Knight’s money. The dude is rich, bored, and likes sports. However, other than the uniforms and various other Nike donations to UO athletics, the three buildings noted above are not athletic facilities and do support the entire campus.

Mostly I’m just waiting to hear the bitching and moaning from the rest of the UO campus and Eugene area.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 15:34 by Scott Younker and is filed under Campus, National, Ol' Dirty Emerald, Oregon, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.