Amid federal funding uncertainty and rising operating costs, Northeastern has been forced to face some very difficult financial decisions in the past few years. Perhaps most controversially, NEU made the decision to demolish the historic 115 year old Matthews Arena and sell it for parts. “Bricks are valuable. And Marymount Manhattan College isn’t just going to buy itself!” a spokesperson for the university told The Trusty Husky.
University administrators have insisted that Matthews Arena will be replaced with a larger, more impressive, more historically significant arena. While Matthews 2 has captured the imaginations of students and alumni alike, it seems increasingly likely that such an arena will be short lived. In a recent press conference, Northeastern administration completely backtracked on this original promise. “We asked Claude and it said that this new arena is also worth more as scrap than as an actual ice hockey arena. Given that we can resell each brick for $150, it really just makes sense for us to tear the arena down again and start over. We’ll get around to having a functioning arena… eventually.”
Administration plans to finish construction on Matthews 2 “as soon as possible” and demolish it after a two-in-one grand opening/closing. Revenues from the sale will be used to fund the acquisition of more small liberal arts colleges around the US. An internal university source indicated that plans were already underway for Matthews 3, which will contain over 50% more bricks than any of its predecessors.
Efrain Ortiz contributed reporting for this article.
