Initial Arena Proposal Too Costly for CSUN

Cal State Northridge has sent the Ogden Corp. back to the drawing board.

The New York-based firm’s preliminary draft of a study on the construction of an all-purpose stadium and a sports arena has been returned for further “consultation, refinement, and analysis,” the school announced Tuesday.

The Ogden report, delivered to CSUN last month, recommended which facility should be given priority and also examined methods of financing and managing such venues.

It advised that construction of a 12,000-seat arena get under way first, but Ogden’s estimated cost--$30 million to $35 million--has been deemed unacceptable by the school.

Elliott Mininberg, CSUN’s vice president for administration, said that Ogden’s arena proposal was “far too grand in character.”

Northridge officials believe construction of a suitable arena should cost between $12-15 million.

Sources familiar with the report said Ogden’s plan required $10 million from the school to start construction, with the balance--more than $20 million--to be raised by a special tax of students. Such an arrangement would have cost each CSUN student about $100 annually.

Northridge had hoped that Ogden would offer to help fund the arena, perhaps in exchange for management or concession rights.

Mininberg said that Northridge is still committed to “producing an arena or stadium in as rapid a fashion as can responsibly be produced.”

Northridge is scheduled to move to Division I in all sports but football in the fall of 1990, and an indoor arena is considered a prerequisite for a school to successfully recruit at that level and to draw top quality opponents.