Will building a new football stadium at CSU help boost our local economy? The naysayers don’t think so. They’re also doubtful that a new stadium will help CSU attract better coaches and athletes. And they’re not convinced that more out-of-state students, those who pay higher tuitions, will flock to the university if only it builds a new stadium.

Who’s right? Who’s wrong?

It barely matters. Here’s why:

CSU, if it goes through with this idea, plans to do so with private donations, not tax dollars.

CSU?has said this repeatedly. Regardless of how hard opponents will try, any effort to frame this as a frivolous, ill-conceived diversion of public dollars from academics is simply dishonest.

Some in the opposition obviously have come to understand this, because they appear in recent days to have embraced a new message, one that shifts the focus to saving Hughes Stadium rather than merely berating the supposedly anti-intellectual crowd as favoring the gridiron over the Classics.

That’s a PR ploy that might resonate in some quarters, but it would have worked far better if this community, in fact, felt any deep, emotional connection to Hughes.