I'll be the first to admit, I am EXTREMELY anti-jock cause of what I went through in Jr. High. They were my worst bullies and helped make me extremely suicidal and were basically coddled and protected by the school so I've always had a lot of resentment towards them. I was a nerd and got put through pure hell for it. I've got about as much respect for jock culture as they had for me. The building was being blown up to build a bigger, newer, more fancy building.
The article was basically a complaint that half a billion dollars just to build a fancy new stadium seemed like a ridiculous waste of money, particularly with the Chinese breathing down our necks and trying to take us over economically and technologically.