An arena on ice.

Byline: The Register-Guard

University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer's decision to shelve plans to build a $190 million basketball arena is cause for neither celebration nor mourning.

Fulfilling his responsibilities as the university's chief administrative officer, Frohnmayer put the arena on "indefinite hold." In doing so, he cited financial and timing complications that made it impossible to produce a project that would meet the specific requirements of a small group of mega-donors.

While it appears the UO made some key miscalculations early in the planning process, Frohnmayer had no other responsible choice at this juncture. To have allowed the project to proceed would have been the equivalent of a general sending his troops marching boldly off into a minefield.

Originally envisioned as a relatively simple $90 million to $130 million project that was supposed to start construction this summer, the arena had become mired in complications that recently reached critical mass.

After the selection of Howe Field as the site, the cost estimate grew first to $165 million and then to $180 million. After the $10 million cost of relocating athletic facilities from the Howe site was added in, the cost was edging close to $200 million - and that didn't include the hefty price tag for new parking garages.

With the UO anticipating $130 million in donations, the university would need at least $50 million in state bonds to complete the funding package for just the basic arena. That, in turn, created further complications, including the prospect of doubling the athletic department's bonded debt and potentially endangering its hard-won self-supporting status.

Other snarls included delays in securing the bonds and in following the required public bidding process. Although Frohnmayer didn't mention it, there was another very real complication - that of going to the state Legislature's Emergency Board and asking for a big bond issue at the same time the state's higher education budget is shrinking and tuition rates are soaring.

It was becoming obvious that the arena project could not be completed by the 2006 deadline set by the donors. While that issue might have been resolved by scaling back the project to the point where it required only donated funds (and no lengthy public process), such a move would have breached the donors' other primary requirement: that the facility be among the best in the country.

While it's tempting to point fingers, there are no clear villains in this piece. In retrospect, UO officials should have questioned the accuracy of original cost estimates; doing so might have enabled them to recognize the need for public funding and to begin that process earlier. But that's Monday morning quarterbacking (or, in this case, point- guarding).

As for the donors, anyone with the ability to give away millions of dollars like Snickers at Halloween has the right to set any conditions that the university agrees to accept. Again, in retrospect, UO officials might have asked for a more flexible time line, but there's no guarantee that the donors would have consented.

Doom-and-gloomers, as well as those who view the new arena as a symbol of overspending in college athletics, should remember that Frohnmayer has emphasized that he is delaying, not killing, the arena project. Read his words carefully: "Rather than attempt to rush something that we don't want to do in an inappropriate way, we thought it would be more important to postpone it until we can make sure that the right elements can come together all at the same time."

Frohnmayer also took care not to alienate donors. Unlike four years ago, when the UO affiliated itself with the Worker Rights Consortium without first notifying the school's premier donor of the decision, this time Frohnmayer made the call to Nike co-founder Phil Knight and other donors; the UO president says they understood and agreed with his decision.

Clearly, Frohnmayer hopes all the parties involved will come back with a new proposal in the not-too-distant future. Given the shared desire of all the principals involved to replace the beloved but increasingly inadequate McArthur Court, there's no reason to think that can't happen - and happen soon.