Five months after opening, the Univ. of Houston's TDECU Stadium has "drummed up as much anger and recriminations as school spirit," according to Benjamin Wermund of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. Students are "calling for the resignation" of UH Exec VP/Administration & Finance Carl Carlucci, who they "contend hired an unqualified contractor to run events" at the venue. Audits are under way to "investigate stadium funding and the bidding process for the contract in question." E-mails show that Aramark and VenuWorks -- responsible for running events at the stadium -- have "butted heads with administrators." The e-mails show that Carlucci "did not heed warnings from a UH attorney and a top athletics official when he signed a five-year contract with the companies last year." Student gov't "plans to cast a vote of no confidence in Carlucci next week -- listing, among other concerns, Carlucci's failure to listen to the warnings about the contractor." UH Associate General Counsel Eric Bentley, in a memo sent before the contract was signed, wrote that the companies submitted a bid that "did not conform with the university's request for proposals." UH Associate AD/Capital & Special Projects T.J. Meagher in the same memo noted that VenuWorks had "never operated a facility larger than 22,000 seats" or "competed in a major metropolitan area for booking outside events." Athletics department officials wrote an e-mail to Carlucci saying that the two firms were "dismissive and difficult to work with" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/7).
