"It is okay to have a world class athletic facility at a world class university."
–Tom Ryan, Chairman and CEO CVS/pharmacy
Ryan said that a couple of years ago. He had just been named to head a steering committee for the construction of a new Convocation Center and ice rink at his alma mater, the University of Rhode Island.
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The naysayers were out early and in force.
Was it necessary to build such a facility at URI? Would they be able to raise the money they needed? Wasn’t it enough that there was a Civic Center in Providence?
I remember sitting down with Ryan in late February of 1999 in his office at CVS/pharmacy headquarters in Woonsocket.
Forty-five minutes with him were convincing. This was a savvy businessman – an individual not accustomed to failure. We talked about the proposed Convocation Center and I asked him about the inferiority complex that Rhode Islanders tend to carry around like a weight. Would that be a deterrent, I wondered, to making the project happen?
He said he was convinced that Rhode Islanders were at least starting to feel better about themselves, that they were beginning to think bigger – believe bigger.
This is, in part, what he said; "The governor asked me to co-chair. Once I committed, there was never any question about whether it was going to happen. I wouldn’t have committed to something that I didn’t think had a chance of happening – or I couldn’t help to make happen…There is no question we are going to see an arena. You are never going to get me involved in a project to co-chair that we are not going to get. We’re going to have an arena. It is going to be a world class facility that people can be proud of. It’s going to be state of the art. And it is going to be something that other states look at as an example of a public/private partnership."
I remember thinking that afternoon that URI was on to something. And in the weeks and the months after that interview, a funny thing happened. Step by step, state officials and the university kept making the right decisions. They wisely included respected members of the business community – and URI graduates – like Ryan, Brad Boss, Frank Feraco, Robert Higgins and Anthony Rose, Jr. in the process.
HOK Sports, a nationally renowned firm that has designed some of the most famous sports arenas in the country, was hired to design the Convocation Center. Rhode Island’s own Gilbane Building Company, a nationally renowned construction company, was hired to build it. And Global Spectrum was hired to run it.
Now, nearly three years from that afternoon meeting in Woonsocket, Ryan’s words have proved prophetic.
The Convocation Center and ice rink projects are nearing completion. I toured the Convocation Center last week (see story on page 3). It is a world class facility.
The arena itself is the perfect size for sporting events or concerts. There isn’t a bad seat in the house. The luxury suites are new to venues here in Rhode Island, but a staple at arenas around the country. The Convocation Center is going to be clean and comfortable, and when it needs to be, very loud.
Rhode Islanders may have to get used to it, a bit. But when they visit their state university they should stand proud – and check any inferiority complex at the door. Because Tom Ryan was right three years ago.
It is okay to have a world class athletic facility at a world class university. Even in Rhode Island.
