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Jaqua Jock Box cost taxpayers $20 million

8/7/2010: From Rachel Bachman in the Oregonian. $41,677,868 total. Almost 20% more than a Gehry.

I’m no economist, but after tax deductions, this breaks down to about $22 million from Phil Knight, $16 million from US taxpayers, and $4 million from Oregon taxpayers. The gift that keeps on taking. The US Senate Finance Committee has been looking into ending the tax-deductibility of donations to university sports, when they next revisit it, this and the Arena will likely be prime exhibits.

Tack on a few more million for the value of the land UO gave Knight for $1 and the costs to the university of running, staffing, and providing parking. Not to mention the 17 page RLB consultants report that came up with the $42 million estimate. My guess is that the academic side paid that bill.

The next question would be how much the athletic boosters had to give Dave Frohnmayer to get him to approve this bizarre egofice – somewhere north of $1,440,000, just as a guess. Of course, the donors probably got tax deductions for that too!

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