Nike's Phil Knight Oregon's super booster
January 7th, 2011 at 2:57 PM ^
Is this a problem, or even surprising?
January 7th, 2011 at 3:13 PM ^
"he can put on his headset and listen to the Ducks' coaches call plays. Then he can go over to the whiteboard in his suite and diagram the play for his guests -- before the Ducks run it."
"In the offseason, Oregon has been known to send its coaches to his office to give him a private tutorial: Offensive coaches one day, defensive coaches the next."
Michigan, completed in the winter of 2006: 38,000 square feet, $12 million.
Oregon: 37,000 square feet, $41.7 million.
Actually, that $41.7 million is a university estimate of how much the building cost. Knight paid for it himself and wouldn't say. The school may not even know.
What do you get for your extra $28 million? According to The Oregonian, the center features a three-story atrium, a 113-seat auditorium, "a room of bronze athlete-award statues commissioned by a Spanish artist whose sculptures are featured at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland" and a three-story-high etched steel mosaic of Albert Einstein. Naturally, it's not just any three-story-high etched steel mosaic of Albert Einstein. It is made out of thousands of photos of Oregon athletes taken by a photographer who followed them for a year. Also: "In the second- and third-floor women's bathrooms, facing the stalls is a larger-than-life mirror etching of Knight."
In 2000, Oregon joined the Workers Rights' Consortium, which has heavily criticized Nike's labor practices. Knight withdrew his donation for the Autzen Stadium renovation. Then the university withdrew from the consortium. And then Knight pledged his money again.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/michael_rosenberg/01/06/oregon.knight/index.html#ixzz1ANljXJf6
January 7th, 2011 at 3:00 PM ^
Darth Vader is also Luke Skywalker's FATHER!
January 7th, 2011 at 3:00 PM ^
This is what happens when billionaires graduate from your school. Phil Knight at Oregon, T. Boone Pickens at Okie St. both are super boosters, and Ross paid for a business school.
January 7th, 2011 at 3:05 PM ^
My brother is meeting him tomorrow. He said his whole store (Nike Scottsdale) is excited.
Brian should take MGoBlog public, become an mgobillionaire, and establish the mgoblog center for something.
January 7th, 2011 at 3:37 PM ^
How are the kids going to something if they can't fit in the building?
January 7th, 2011 at 3:10 PM ^
I think Oregon and Phil Knight have a different relationship than the average super-booster and university. Knight owes the creation of Nike to Bill Bowerman who was his track coach at Oregon. I'm not sure these other super-boosters have such a direct causal relationship with their school's athletic depts and their billions.
January 7th, 2011 at 3:14 PM ^
Sucks. Their Booster is richer than Our Booster, and can probably beat him up.
January 7th, 2011 at 3:22 PM ^
Gave Ok St.'s Athletic Dept over $100M, this is not new nor unprecedented levels of donation.
January 7th, 2011 at 4:22 PM ^
An article by Rosenberg that doesn't compare Rodriguez to Satan!
Good Job!
January 7th, 2011 at 4:42 PM ^
Phil Knight wins the award (every year) for Best Owner in College Football.
January 7th, 2011 at 5:01 PM ^
Not a new development. He's been their benefactor for a while.
January 7th, 2011 at 7:32 PM ^
January 7th, 2011 at 8:24 PM ^
Yeah. Hilarious that he can control what a university chooses to do intellectulaly though. Kind of pathetic when you think about it.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:38 AM ^
Remember when Phil Knight said on camera he would consider opening a Nike factory in Flint?
What's that? Oh. He kept them all in China.
What a capitalist pig scumbag.
January 8th, 2011 at 9:40 AM ^