We asked Temple students if they would still want an on-campus stadium

Since the day Temple University proposed the idea of building an on-campus football stadium, there has been an uproar amongst the North Philadelphia community and students.

There have been several protests opposing the idea of a new stadium arguing that it will do more harm than good, create a negative impact on the surrounding community and create a high cost for it all.

The Tab Temple has covered several protests against this proposed stadium and while Temple is currently still contemplating the idea by making “careful efforts” in their thoughts of a new stadium, we asked a couple students if they continue to show support towards this idea or if it’s not welcomed into 2017.

Sheridan Milazzo, Junior, Tourism and Hospitality

“I feel like having a stadium closer to campus would be good for the students but not for the community because the stadium will cause so much traffic and it’s going to push a lot of people out of their homes.”

“Even though the city is trying to develop, it shouldn’t be at the cost of people who have been here for, maybe, generations. I know it’s a lot of money to pay to use the Linc, but I think that it’s more beneficial for everyone to just continue using the Linc or to find a better option, rather than knocking down homes and continuously expanding.”

Eileen Wickline, Sophomore, Journalism and Sports Management

“I feel as if the football program won’t be a competitive program without a stadium but I also enjoy attending games at the Linc. As for students like myself, who are active within sports journalism, it’s a cool opportunity to be able to report and broadcast from a professional football stadium.”

Andrew Bailey, Senior, Engineering

“I don’t even know where it’s supposed to go. I know there are a lot of issues with gentrification of the area. Personally, it doesn’t bother me. I think it’d be kind of cool and it would bring more people to the stadium because right now people don’t go to the Linc for games just because it’s so far. I think it would bring better recruits for the football team. I don’t really have an issue with it.”

Brayden Smith, Junior, Marketing 

“I’m not super informed about the whole thing, but I’m for it because I think it’d be cool! A lot more people would attend games if they were right on campus. The presence of 20,000 people in a stadium that barely holds that many compared to 20,000 people in a stadium that holds 70,000 people, like the Linc, is a cooler, louder atmosphere – it’s more hype.”

Janae Grier, Senior, Media Studies and Production and Spanish  and Maddy McDonnell, Junior, Sports Management and Spanish

Janae (left) and Maddy (right)

Janae: “I’m graduating so it doesn’t really affect me as much. But it does make me sad because I have family in the area and I know they’re always worried about students and their property being trashed.”

Maddy: “I’m a little bit on the fence about it just because I have the same feelings as other people seem to have with the limitations of it. But I’m also a sports management major so I think I have a little bit of a different insight on some of the reasons why they want to do it. I have hesitations, but I also have a different understanding than I think the general public might. I hope people can keep an open mind and work towards an actual solution. I don’t really agree with the idea right now, but I think that there could be a better solution.”

Antonio Perales, Junior, Finance and Real Estate

“I mean for me personally I’m not too involved with Temple sports so I think it could be a good thing for the community. It could be a good thing to get people more involved. It could attract some people and the residents of the local communities to Temple.”

Maddie Reid, Junior, Strategic Communications 

“I think the stadium is simply inappropriate for North Philly. The Linc isn’t in the middle of the city for a good reason because of the traffic, the beer and the noise. If Temple builds this stadium, it would need its own area and a subway stop, for example. If there was to be a stadium in North Philly, there would be a lot of disruption for students and local residents alike. It’s going to be ugly too. It’s too big for our smaller campus.”

Parsh Jain, Junior, Biology

“I hate the idea. I could talk forever about how much I don’t want this stadium. I think that it will kill all of the project houses and cause a lot of capitalization in the area, which is not good for Philadelphia. Things will begin to trickle down and affect the prices of other things in the community. I also think that it would cause a huge tuition increase for all the students.”