Let's Make Funding Personal

(www.real-estate-marketing-link.info)

In an era of intense scrutiny over government projects, finding funding to renovate a sports venue or for a completely new one is becoming harder each year. Because of this obstacle, many cities and organizations have begun to get creative with their financing sources. We should do the same.

I have been to many sports venues and have seen many different sources for financing. Some sources produce several thousands of dollars while some may produce only a few hundred dollars. Either way, all of these sources have helped build or renovate facilities that may not get their proper funding otherwise.

The following is a list of funding ideas that I have compiled that I feel we can implement with our Roberts Stadium project. Some of these ideas can produce a sufficient amount of revenue while others can serve as fillers for those last needed dollars...

#1 Sell The Seats That Will Need To Be Removed: If we go with the plan that requires raising the floor so that capacity is scaled down, the pumps are turned off, and the floor is wide enough for football and soccer, we will need to remove at least 5,000-6,000 seats. Instead of throwing these seats away, we need to use them as an asset.

Many ballparks, stadiums, and arenas that have been renovated or demolished have sold their seats to finance their projects. Here are just a few seats removed from various ballparks around the U.S...

http://www.ballparkseats.com/

It has been my belief since day 1 that selling the seats would finance the majority, if not all, of the immediate renovations and a good chunk of raising the floor. However, I have not gone public with this financing model because I did not want this to happen...

http://sports-venue.info/Demolitions/Tiger_Stadium_Detroit.html

Instead of listening to Detroit legend Ernie Harwell and the Tiger Stadium Conservancy ( http://savetigerstadium.wordpress.com/ ), Detroit ended up bowing to political pressure and demolished historic Tiger Stadium. Even worse is the fact that they demolished the stadium with money from those who supported Tiger Stadium. I do not want Roberts Stadium's seats to be a part of city hall's demolition funding!

How much would selling Roberts Stadium's seats yield? Right now, the market for stadium seats ranges from $200 to $400 and upward for a seat from some of America's greatest facilities. Since Roberts Stadium is a much smaller market than those types of facilities, I predict we could get $25 t0 $100 for a seat. If we scale Roberts Stadium down to 6,000 or so seats, this will yield us $150,000 to $600,000 from the 6,000 seats removed.

There is three ways we could go do this...

1. Sell all of the removed seats to the general public.
2. Sell all of the seats to whatever government entity is undertaking the ball fields project (hopefully at Kleymeyer) in exchange for funding from the Innkeepers Tax.
3. Sell some seats to the general public and use the rest for the ball fields project.

If you've ever been to the Mesker Park Amphitheatre, you will see that a lot of the bleachers there are from Roberts Stadium before the last renovation. Wouldn't you rather sit in nice plastic seats than hard medal bleachers if you were attending an outdoor ballgame?

Let's use our removed seats wisely!

#2 Sell The Court In 3x5 Chunks: Currently, I do not know what the status is of the basketball court used by the Aces at Roberts Stadium. One thing I do know is that they will not be able to use it in the new arena since it has Roberts Stadium written on the court, nor do I expect them to use an older court on a new arena's floor.

Some of you may remember that the Aces have done this before...

http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=666123

I, like most others around Evansville, wish I could find a piece of the court from that auction!

Why can't we do it again? Why can't we cut the court up in 3x5 pieces and sell them to the public as a fundraiser for Roberts Stadium?

Many teams are doing this around the sports industry. Just to name a few...

University of Illinois

http://store.cstv.com/store_contents.cfm?store_id=479&product_id=183437

University of Connecticut

http://www.fansedge.com/Connecticut-Huskies-2011-Final-Four-12x16-Game-Used-Court-Piece-with-Championship-Bracket-Logo-_517979080_PD.html

Loyola University

http://loyola-chicago-floor.cbscollegestore.com/store_contents.cfm?store_id=493&dept_id=-1&product_id=194086

Syracuse

http://syracusesteiner.suathletics.com/product.aspx?id=874

If the Aces aren't going to use this court, why don't they donate it to Roberts Stadium as a last thank you gift for all of the hard work this stadium has given the university?

How much would this yield? A traditional basketball court is 94' x 50 '. If we cut it into 1,600 pieces like the Aces did in 1982, we can then sell these pieces for $40 to yield $64,000.

If we tack on some more goodies from the Aces, we will have our 1,600 pieces sold in no time. Furthermore, moving this court out of Roberts Stadium will allow us to purchase a new larger court to mold with a Roberts Stadium that would have a larger floor once its floor is raised.

We have a nice Aces basketball court that will go down in history as being the last Roberts Stadium court the Aces played on. Let's take advantage of it!

#3 Build Two Statues And Sell Bricks Around Them: No matter where you go, you will always be next to a building that was built by a non-profit group through a brick campaign.

The sports industry is no different. Many cities, teams, and universities have begun selling bricks to help finance construction of their new facilities. These include...

St. Louis Cardinals
http://mlb.mlb.com/stl/fan_forum/bricks.jsp

War Memorial Stadium
http://www.wmstadium.com/stadium-info/brick-program

Indiana University
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/c-capital/spec-rel/brick-campaign.html

Creighton University
http://www.gocreighton.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1000&ATCLID=1147255

Ohio State University
https://www.giveto.osu.edu/igive/stadiumbrick/StadiumBricks.asp?DB_OEM_ID=17300

Georgia Bulldogs
http://www.thegeorgiabulldogclub.com/campaigns/sanford.php

Atlanta Braves
http://mlb.mlb.com/atl/ballpark/abf_legacybrick_form.jsp

University of Missouri-St.Louis
http://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2010/08/03/brickcampaign/

As you can see, brick campaigns are very popular around the U.S. Here in Evansville, we have many, many people that respect Roberts Stadium. Why don't we let them help us keep this building standing?

At the same time we are conducting our brick campaign, why don't we pay tribute to Hank Roberts and Ralph Legeman at the same time? If you ever go to Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium, you will see giant statues of Panthers for their NFL franchise...

http://panthersfanz.com/dg_panther_statue_web.jpg

If you look closely, you will see on the bottom all of the names of those fans who bought PSLs (Permanent Seat Licenses) to get Bank of America Stadium built. This is by far and away the best capital improvement campaign I have ever seen.

At Roberts Stadium, we can construct a statue of Hank Roberts and a statue of Ralph Legeman. Underneath their statues would be nice and shiny name plaque with the names of all of those donors who want to have their name next to Evansville's most popular landmark. This would allow us to reach both those who want to spend a lot and a little by...

1. Selling the plaques for several hundred dollars.
2. Sell the bricks for $100 or less.

With this system, we can make it affordable for everyone to participate in saving Roberts Stadium. Let's do a brick and statue program!

#4 Host Autograph Sessions: One fundraiser that is always popular with the locals is an autograph signing. Here in Evansville, we are always seeing our local sports heroes come back and do autograph signings to help our community. Now, let's ask them to save Roberts Stadium.

There are several different paths we can take with this project. We can...

1. Host a general signing of all of Evansville's sports legends whether it be MLB, NBA, NFL, NCAA, or any other sport.
2. Host a session with only Roberts Stadium and Aces legends and players
3. Unveil a commemorative item of a certain player and have that player sign the item for everyone.

When I attended the University of Kentucky, the Markey Cancer Center joined forces with Makers Mark whiskey bottlers to release a special UK basketball bottle each year. The bottle was a limited edition and whoever was on the bottle would autograph it at an autograph session that was held once a year at the Keeneland racetrack. Here is the Joe B. Hall bottle...

http://news.uky.edu/news/Media/Hxsid2.jpeg

Like other basketball fans, I enjoyed collecting these bottles and getting them signed. I firmly believe that both the Evansville Aces and Roberts Stadium have both the resources and the history to pull off a project like this as well.

We need to get our local athletes involved in saving Roberts Stadium.

#5 Sell Naming Rights To The Four Entrances At Roberts Stadium: Make no mistake, Roberts Stadium is Roberts Stadium and shall always be Roberts Stadium. Hank Roberts served us well and his family name should never ever be taken down from the building.

With that being said, there are places inside Roberts Stadium that we can sell naming rights to without losing the Roberts Stadium name. Take a look at a diagram of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis...

http://www.colts.com/images/lucasoil_map.jpg

Indianapolis uses this concept perfectly. While keeping the name Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis also sold naming rights to Sprint, HHGregg, Huntington, and Lucas Oil again for the 4 entrance gates. We have the perfect opportunity to do the same.

Roberts Stadium is extremely unique in the sense that all four of its entrances are basically separate rooms. For a fair amount of sponsorship money, we can sell naming rights to all four rooms. Even better is the fact that these four sponsors will be able to deck their room out without bothering the general area of Roberts Stadium, they will be able to stage meetings there without affecting the rest of the stadium, and none of these sponsors will affect the name Roberts Stadium. A win-win for everyone.

#6 Host Benefit Concerts: A few months ago, I was talking with the interested investor about possible funding ideas for Roberts Stadium. One of the ideas he came up with was his deep connections to mid-size concerts. He even said he could have been ready to host the concerts this summer. Unfortunately, we will have to wait til next year to get the concerts going, but the idea is definitely a good one.

Since Roberts Stadium would be hosting a lot of mid-size concerts if its floor is raised, why don't we put on concerts to raise revenue to renovate Roberts Stadium? It would make perfect sense. It would also give the Evansville community a sneak peak at a reinvented Roberts Stadium.

#7 Open Up A Small Roberts Stadium Team Store: One thing that never made it to the market this past year was a line of Roberts Stadium gear. I found that to be quite interesting that very few things with Roberts Stadium on them made it to the market in the final year of Roberts Stadium. I think we need to change that. Would a team store make a ton of money that would be able to handle the majority of our renovations? Probably not. But would it put a fair dent in the amount of money we need to renovate Roberts Stadium? Yes, I believe so.

If you to Rememberthespectrum.com you will see that they did a great job for Philadelphia's Spectrum in its final season.

What would a Roberts Stadium team store have in it? I believe the following should be considered...

-Posters
-Shirts
-Pennants
-Pins
- Sell Replica's of Roberts Stadium. The Book Broker did this promotion with Bosse Field ( I have one) and it went over really well. I'd like to see replica's of the first Roberts, the current Roberts, and the new arena. I have a ton of these replica's and they bring in a lot of money for teams looking to raise funds.

We could do the team store inside the current Roberts Stadium ticket office. The whole system is already set up for us. It would also allow us to set up our shop without having to pay rent to another entity.

Once we raise enough money we can start the renovations. If worse comes to worse, we can ask city hall for the remainder of the . However, if we give an effort to do this taxpayer free AND pitch this as "this your opportunity to come out and support Roberts by buying something" than I feel like we will have a really good plan going forward.

Let's make funding personal, LET'S SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!

Nashville Did The Right Thing

(ams-net.org)

Like Evansville now, Nashville had an arena dilemma back in the 1990s. The city was desperate to bring the NHL to town and knew they needed a new arena to make this happen. In 1996, Nashville constructed a brand new 20,000 seat arena now known as Bridgestone Arena. In turn, this move attracted the Nashville Predators as a NHL expansion team.

Once construction of Bridgestone Arena was complete, Nashville had two arenas. Let's take a look at how they handled it.

Meet The Nashville Municipal Auditorium

(cranchedfornow.blogspot.com)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_Municipal_Auditorium

Constructed in 1962, the Auditorium was the first public assembly facility in the Mid-South with air-conditioning.

In 1967, the auditorium accommodated the Country Music Association's first CMA Awards festivities, before the ceremonies moved to the Grand Ole Opry House the following year.

The walls of the upper and lower concourses are decorated with enlarged ticket stubs for events and concerts the auditorium has hosted between the venue's debut in 1962 and 2010.

You can view a full list of events hosted at Nashville Municipal Auditorium here...

http://www.google.com/search?q=nashville+municipal+auditorium&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=&rlz=1I7GGLL_en#q=nashville+municipal+auditorium+history&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&prmd=ivns&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=iUAuTsO0Asbj0QH44aHdAQ&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=12&sqi=2&ved=0CH8Q5wIwCw&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=54beadcffa8a1ca5&biw=1280&bih=603

Due to its aging structure, Nashville Municipal Auditorium lacked modern amenities to attract premier concerts, NHL hockey, and NBA basketball. This prompted the city of Nashville to begin construction of Bridgestone Arena instead of renovating the current arena.

Meet The Bridgestone Arena

(stadiumjourney.com)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgestone_Arena

The Bridgestone Arena is owned by the Sports Authority of Nashville and Davidson County and operated by Powers Management Company, a subsidiary of the Nashville Predators National Hockey League franchise, which has been its primary tenant since 1998. The Predators hosted the NHL Entry Draft here in 2003.

In 1997, it was the venue of the United States Figure Skating Association national championships, and in 2004 hosted the U.S. Gymnastics championships. It was the home of the Nashville Kats franchise of the Arena Football League from 1997 until 2001, and hosted the team's revival from 2005 to 2007, when the Kats folded.

The venue has also hosted numerous concerts and religious gatherings, and some major basketball events, including both men's (2001, 2006, 2010) and women's tournaments of the Southeastern Conference and the Ohio Valley Conference. Since 2002, it has also hosted a PBR Built Ford Tough Series bull riding event every year (except in 2005 and 2006) until 2010. The event moved to this venue in 2002 after having previously occupied the Municipal Auditorium from 1994 to 2001; during the venue's first year hosting this event, the Built Ford Tough Series was known as the Bud Light Cup.

The venue hosted numerous WWE events since 1997, including Judgment Day in 2002.

In odd-numbered years, the arena was regularly one of eight sites to host the first and second rounds of the men's NCAA Basketball Tournament for the first ten years of its existence, though it was taken out of the rotation for several years (the arena will host the event again in 2012), partly due to the obsolete octagonal mid-1990s-style scoreboard that hung above the arena floor. It was replaced in the summer of 2007 by a new $5 million scoreboard and digital control room.

Currently, Bridgestone Arena serves as Nashville's premier arena. It currently hosts the Nashville Predators and may one day welcome a NBA team to town.

Once Bridgestone Arena took many of Municipal Auditorium's events such as professional bull riding, premier concerts, NCAA tournaments, and other miscellaneous events to go with its figure skating championships and professional hockey, the big question of what to do with Municipal Auditorium loomed large over Nashville. Should it be torn down, renovated, or kept as is?

In my opinion, Nashville made the best decision for their community. After undergoing a small renovation in 1993, Municipal Auditorium was repositioned as a mid-size arena.

From the Nashville Municipal Auditorium article again....

Having served the greater Nashville area with many diverse events for almost 50 years, today the Auditorium is a popular venue in Nashville for major touring family shows, such as Sesame Street Live, The Wiggles, The Doodlebops, Barney, Bob the Builder,Disney Live, Harlem Globetrotters, and the annual Al Menah Temple Shrine Circus.

The venue continues to serve niche concert markets, such as alternative rock, rock'n' roll, heavy metal, pop, R&B, urban, oldies and Hispanic concerts.

Due to the damage incurred to the Grand Ole Opry House during the May 2010 Tennessee floods, the NMA hosted the June 8, 2010 edition of the Grand Ole Opry. NMA also hosted an Opry show in 1973.

The Auditorium is also a popular venue for religious events, having hosted Mt. Zion Baptist Church New Day Conference, Teenmania's Acquire the Fire, Dare 2 Share Ministries, and the Tennessee Baptist Convention Youth Evangelism Conference.

The Music City Stars, then known as the Nashville Broncs, an American Basketball Association expansion team, began its inaugural season at the NMA in November 2008.

It is currently home to the Nashville Roller Girls, a flat track roller derby league, and a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.

Sometime in 2012, the auditorium will begin housing the Musician's Hall of Fame and Museum. The museum was forced from its previous building as a result of the construction of the Music City Center. The Hall of Fame will move into the sparsely-used Exhibit Hall on the bottom floor of the Auditorium building, and the official name of the entire building will change to Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum at Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

Having Municipal Auditorium as the new home for the Musician's Hall of Fame and Museum turned out to be a major asset for downtown Nashville...

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/15127264/musicians-hall-of-fame-museum-moving-to-municipal-audituriom

These past few years, Nashville has decided to build a new convention center and a new convention center hotel (sound familiar?) next to Bridgestone Arena without demolishing their current convention center and hotel (which will become a medical trade show building). To accomplish this, Nashville needed the land where the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum sat on.

If Nashville would not have kept their Municipal Auditorium, they would not have had a place to relocate the museum too and most likely would have lost it. Now, an estimated 30,000 tourists will be coming to the museum each year. Although the two arenas don't have a no-compete clause, all of this was accomplished without harming each others business.

We're always being told that we should replicate Corpus Christi and Toledo who demolished their arenas. But why not replicate cities such as Nashville and Canton. The following are lessons I think we can learn from Nashville.

1. Just because you have two arenas doesn't mean that they will compete. Like Canton, Nashville uses their new arena for premier activities and their old arena for mid-size events. Nashville has the market cornered on two different entertainment markets.

2. Evansville will be mixed up in a Cause & Effect model. In an earlier post, I talked about how one of our projects will affect our other projects. This was the case in Nashville. Without Municipal Auditorium, Nashville would not be breaking ground on their new convention center and hotel without sacrificing a museum that attracts 30,000 visitors a year. We too need to make sure all of our buildings and parks are working together so that we can corner the mid-size arena market, the premier arena market, and the softball fields market at the same time.

3. Patience will pay off. If you look at Municipal Auditorium during the 1990s, you will notice it was holding on for dear life. However, team by team, event by event, Municipal Auditorium has filled up the majority of its schedule. We too must be patient with our Roberts Stadium project.

4. A no-compete clause solves nothing. Instead of fearing that our two arenas will compete, why don't we make sure they compliment each other? Nashville does this perfectly. When organizers are considering where to host their event, Nashville uses both arenas as a package deal to attract these organizers to town AND IT WORKS! We need to use our arenas as a package deal as well.

5. Old arenas are an asset not a liability. Nashville has treated their Municipal Auditorium as an asset to their community. As a result, the arena is filled on a daily basis and the area around it is growing while Bridgestone Arena and the area around it is growing as well. Everyone is winning in Nashville.

Lately, our local leaders have looked at Nashville to replicate various projects such as city-county consolidation and our ball fields project. If these same city leaders would look at how Nashville handled their transition from one to two arenas, they would see just how we need to handle our current situation.

Let's make sure our two arenas work together, LET'S SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!

City Hall's Next Move: SABOTAGE!

(Beastie Boys album via virginmedia.com)

Despite the fact that city hall's support for demolition is becoming more and more unpopular each day, they have decided to try one last trick to undercut Roberts Stadium and her supporters.

Our local watchdog the City-County Observer is reporting that city hall has set yet another closing date for Roberts Stadium...

http://city-countyobserver.com/2011/07/20/roberts-stadium-to-be-shuttered-on-september-17th/

Sources within SMG have advised the City County Observer that they have
been given notice to vacate the building by September 17, 2011. The 60 day
notice was served upon SMG officials as is consistent with their operating
agreement.

A few weeks ago, the Parks Department decided to take it upon themselves to set a closing date of August 3rd...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/jun/17/evansville-proposes-closing-date-roberts-stadium/

As soon as it was revealed that the Parks Department and city hall had decided to start closing down Roberts Stadium before the new arena is even scheduled to open, a red flag has gone up in the minds of most local residents.

What sense does it make to close down Roberts Stadium before the new arena opens? What sense does it make to close down Roberts Stadium PERIOD if you don't have a plan for it?

Only city hall knows the answer to these questions, but now we may have an idea of why they are doing it....

(From the CCO link above)

Earlier this week we also learned that key pieces of the infrastructure of Roberts Stadium were being removed just after the upcoming Kenney Chesney concert making Roberts incapable of hosting any events.

This new piece of information makes you wonder if sabotage is the whole reason behind this early closing. What is sabotage?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabotage

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through
subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction.

Since both arenas are owned by our city, we could be witnessing self-sabotage of Roberts Stadium so that it cannot compete with the new arena. If true, this action would seem to be the last hope of demolition supporters inside city hall to take one last shot at knocking down Roberts Stadium.

Those who support demolition know they are losing this battle. They know Roberts Stadium is in a much better condition than they want you to believe, they know it makes much more sense financially to simply raise Roberts Stadium's floor and bring in 2-3 minor league teams, trade shows, mid-size concerts, and youth sports tournaments, and they know the residents of Evansville want this local icon preserved so that this building will tell Evansville's story to future generations.

City hall's latest move is a move straight out of a Beastie Boys music video...



Now, instead of demolishing Roberts Stadium from the outside, those in city hall who support demolition have decided to gut Roberts Stadium from within. Once they have taken all that they can get, they will then tell you that there is nothing left to save. Once more, they will fail.

I am being told that items such as curtains and maintenance equipment will be removed from Roberts Stadium and placed inside the new arena. While this will certainly be a hindrance to future Roberts Stadium events, it WILL NOT be enough to prevent us from reusing this great arena as a mid-sized arena.

Demolition supporters have severely underestimated the knowledge, the will to speak up, and the desire to fight for preservation that almost all of our local residents possess. They are firmly betting against the people of Evansville and it will back fire on them miserably.

I found one part of this article to be highly ironic given the recent developments...

http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=286997

One could say the termination of the city's contract with SMG is far from surprising. The city hired VenuWorks earlier this year to run the new downtown arena. That decision came after the city said SMG was doing a poor job running the stadium. It complained of everything from broken toilets and chipped walls, to damaged equipment and littered storage areas.

Yet, they are pulling all kinds of goodies out of Roberts Stadium to take to the new arena. If SMG managed Roberts Stadium that bad, wouldn't all the equipment be beyond repair? If you were managing both arenas and you felt like SMG let Roberts Stadium fall apart, would you put any of their equipment in your brand new $127 million arena? Of course not. I am proud of the decades of service SMG has given us, and I am embarrassed that my city is treating them this way.

Most importantly, a broken toilet(s), a chipped wall(s), a littered storage area(s), and damaged equipment is nothing that cannot be repaired (especially if the damaged equipment ends up moving downtown). If the roof was falling in on Roberts Stadium, if the walls were knocked in, or if the ground was torn up, we might have trouble renovating Roberts Stadium, but they aren't.

I support the new arena 110%, but I truly expect a broken toilet, a chipped wall, or a littered storage area to happen right out of the gate. It happens. These are facilities that handle thousands upon thousands of guests at one time. Minor things like that are going to happen constantly. You repair them and you go on. Like Mr. Rick Davis said on the show Newsmakers...

" If you have a leaky basement, you don't tear down the house."

Also, it appears that those who insist on sabotaging Roberts Stadium and closing it down early don't even have the guts to go public with their plan.

Closing down Roberts Stadium NEVER APPEARED on the Parks Department's agenda...

http://city-countyobserver.com/2011/07/20/parks-board-meeting-agenda-july-20-2011/

This begs the question: What government entity inside city hall is really behind the decision to close Roberts Stadium down early?

We may or may not ever know the answer to that question, but if there is one organization that can find the answer , it is the City-County Observer. I will keep you posted on anything they find out about the early closing of Roberts Stadium.

In the meantime, I want you the supporters of Roberts Stadium to remain patient, active, and supportive of Roberts Stadium. It's going to be many, many months before we get our chance to put together a plan for Roberts Stadium so I hope you will be willing to be patient with this process as we will have several more storms to weather.

I appreciate all of the support you the viewers have given this blog. I never would have dreamed nearly 12,000 people would come to this site, but you showed up and you showed up in mass quantities. I thank you and ask for your continued support as we continue the battle to Save Roberts Stadium!

Email Mayor Weinzapfel, the Courier & Press, both councils, the Vanderburgh County Commissioners, the Parks Department, and anyone else you believe can make a difference inside city hall. Let them know, you want city hall to stop the self-sabotage!

(dvdtrainingvideo.com)

Just How Much Is Roberts Stadium Worth?

(www.latrishajacobs.com)

"Just How Much Is Roberts Stadium Worth?" That has been a question many have wondered about. There have been rumors that a study was commissioned to answer this exact question and came up with $19-$20 million for Roberts Stadium and $5 million for the parking lot.

For the record, I have never seen this study/report so I cannot confirm this rumor to be true. If you have knowledge of this study please send it my way (JordanBaer1@gmail.com). If someone shows me the study/report, I will pass it on to you the viewers of this blog.

In the meantime, we will take a stroll through the Vanderburgh County Assessor's website...

http://www.vanderburghassessor.org/GeneralSearch.aspx

If you look at the interactive map of Evansville, you will see that Roberts Stadium and its parking lot falls on two different parcels. They are 82-06-22-017-034-004-027 & 82-06-22-017-034-003-027.

You can view the details of each parcel here...

http://www.vanderburghassessor.org/Default.aspx?PID=82-06-22-017-034.004-027

http://www.vanderburghassessor.org/Default.aspx?PID=82-06-22-017-034.003-027

You will see that the first parcel, which includes the vast majority of Roberts Stadium and its eastern parking lot, has the following value...

Valuation Record

True Tax Values:

Land:$5,437,200
Improvements: $9,711,200
Total: $15,148,400

You will see that the second parcel, which includes a small chunk of Roberts Stadium, its western parking lot, and Swonder Ice Rink & Hartke Pool, has the following value...

Valuation Record

True Tax Values:

Land:$3,839,800
Improvements: $491,500
Total: $4,331,300

With land values and improvements of both parcels, we get a grand total of $19, 479,700.

(On a side note: Kleymeyer Park is divided into 2 parcels as well. The parcel that would contain our 8 ball fields is worth $8.3 million)

With that being said, it is important to understand several disclaimers here...

1. The second parcel includes both Swonder Ice Rink and Hartke Pool, thus the overall value is lower than the $19 million + figure.

2. If you go to the Vanderburgh County Assessor's website, you will see that this is just a rough estimate. It is not intended to give us a concrete figure that will replace any official appraisals.

So that we can make a fair argument against demolition supporters, I will take the following two steps...

1. Since we do not know what the land value of Roberts Stadium would be with a different structure on it, I will eliminate both land values from the estimate.

2. Since the western parcel contains both Swonder Ice Rink and Hartke Pool, I will eliminate the western parcel entirely from our argument.

After taking these two steps, we are left with the improvements made to the eastern parcel since it was acquired by the Hank Roberts administration in 1954. This figure is $9,711,200.

Although the stadium is worth much more when you factor in the other outside factors, we will use the rough estimate of $9,711,200.

To me, this estimate speaks for itself. Why would we pay $1 million, $1.25 million, $1.5 million, $2 million +, or whatever the current demolition estimate is to demolish a building that is worth nearly $10 million? That doesn't make sense at all.

Of course, demolition supporters will say that they will build a structure worth more on the land. Yet, here we are over a year into the Roberts Stadium debate and they have failed the produce anything that will compete with Roberts Stadium.

First they tried the ball fields. Yet these fields were $18 million to construct. Then they claimed they wanted a park. Yet, we saw first hand during the ball fields debate that maintenance costs would either be the same or higher than maintaining Roberts Stadium (which will be significantly lower if we raise the floor) while the Parks Department has told us they cannot take on any new parks.

If we were to demolish Roberts Stadium, we wouldn't be just demolishing great memories, great history, and great architecture. We would also be demolishing a building worth much more than it would cost to demolish it and construct something new.

It should be very clear to the city of Evansville that we need to save our $9,711,200 stadium!

(financialhack.com)

Now Canton, Ohio Is Moving Ahead Of Us

(nbdl.com)

As we sit here and debate if Roberts Stadium can continue to serve the Evansville community, yet another city has decided to move ahead of us.

Canton, Ohio, with a population of 73,007 residents, has stepped up to the plate to keep their vintage arena going strong.

On July 7th, the NBDL announced that the Cleveland Cavaliers have purchased the NBDL's New Mexico Thunderbirds and will relocate the franchise to Canton, Ohio this fall...

http://www.nba.com/dleague/canton/cavaliers_canton_110707.html (nbdl.com)

“We are very excited and looking forward to a great partnership with the City of Canton, fans and the surrounding community,” said Cavaliers President Len Komoroski. “We have a strong connection with the Canton regional market and we are excited to further engage our fans with a first-class basketball and entertainment experience. We will be active in the community and will work hard to earn support from our fans here.”

So where will this new NBDL team be playing?

"The Cavaliers’ new affiliate will play the 2011-12 season at the Canton
Memorial Civic Center. "

The fact that the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to move their top minor league affiliate to Canton's Memorial Civic Center speaks VOLUMES about what we can do here with Roberts Stadium. Let's take a look at Canton's Memorial Civic Center...

(iavm.org)

http://www.cantonciviccenter.com/civcentinf.php

(Note: I have bolded the lines and words that I want you to compare to our Roberts Stadium situation)

The Canton Memorial Civic Center has been located in the heart of downtown Canton, Ohio, since 1951.

The Canton Memorial Civic Center is owned by the City of Canton, and managed by SMG. SMG manages over 200 buildings worldwide, including the Huntington Center in Toledo, the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, and the Louisiana Superdome, just to name a few.

Under the new direction of SMG, the Canton Memorial Civic Center has turned itself
around and is positioned to be the premiere entertainment stopping point in the area for concerts of every genre, family shows, sporting events, as well as many community and civic events.

In 2010, the Ultimate Indoor Football League called the Canton Memorial Civic Center the home of a new team in their league, the Canton Cougars.

The Canton Memorial Civic Center can hold up to 5,200 guests in the arena, and up to 600 guests in the McKinley Room, which is the banquet facility on-site. The McKinley Room hosts many wedding receptions, meetings, and dinners, annually.

Let's take a look at how our Roberts Stadium stacks up with Canton's Memorial Civic Center...

Year Built:
Civic Center: 1951
Roberts Stadium: 1956

Arena Operator:
Civic Center: SMG
Roberts Stadium: SMG

Seating Capacity:
Civic Center: 5,200 capacity: 3,500 permanent & 1,700 floor seating
Roberts Stadium: Fixed Seats 11,176 & Retractables 1040 (Note: It would be around 5,000-6,000 if the floor is raised)

On-Site Parking:
Civic Center: 1,500
Roberts Stadium: 4,000

On-Site Banquet Room(s):
Civic Center: McKinley Room holds 600
Roberts Stadium: Two Rooms for a combined capacity of 378

Tenants for 2012:
Civic Center: Canton Cougars (Indoor Football), Ohio Vortex (Indoor Soccer), Canton NBDL ( Minor League Basketball)
Roberts Stadium: TBA

The last line pretty much sums up why Canton is welcoming a NBDL team this week and we are not. While city hall refuses to study reuse alternatives for Roberts Stadium, such as raising the floor and bringing in indoor soccer, indoor football, and minor league basketball, Canton is giving SMG and Civic Center activists the green light to pursue as many tenants as possible.

Make no mistake, Canton is struggling. According to the 2010 census, Canton's population declined 9.7%. Canton has decided to hold off on building a new arena, which would attract premium concerts and shows. Currently, those events go to Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena which is 60 miles from Canton, or the Covelli Centre in Youngstown which is 58 miles from Canton.

Some of you are probably still saying, " Yea, that's great but all Canton did was make their Civic Center their premier arena instead of building a new one. If Canton does build a new arena they will be forced to close their Civic Center as well."

Well, let's take a look at some of the events that have performed at the newly built Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio (which is managed by SMG as well), and let's take a look at the events that are being hosted at Canton's Civic Center....

(wikipedia.org)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covelli_Centre

Selected events

October 17, 2009 - Kelly Clarkson
November 4, 2009 - Daughtry
November 12, 2009 - Gaither Vocal Band
February 2, 2010 - Shinedown, Puddle of Mudd & Skillet
March 18, 2010 - Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Red & Thousand Foot Krutch
May 1, 2010 - Elton John (Sold out in 30 minutes)
June 26, 2010 - WWE Raw World Tour
September 18, 2010 - Montgomery Gentry
October 9, 2010 - Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper
April 12, 2011 - Goo Goo Dolls
May 6, 2011 - Tim Mcgraw
May 22, 2011 - Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top
July 29, 2011 - Mötley Crüe and Poison
October 7, 2011 - Gaither Homecoming 2011 Tour



(both photos obtained from cantonciviccenter.com)

http://www.cantonciviccenter.com/calendar.php

Upcoming Events:

Friday, August 5th Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival's Fashion Show Luncheon

Friday, August 5th- Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival's Enshrinee's
Dinner

Sunday, August 7th-Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival's Gameday
Roundtable

Wed, Aug 17 - Sun, Aug 21 35th Annual Grecian Festival Drive-in

Tuesday, October 11th-Star kCounty College and Career Fair

If you scan through the rest of the Civic Center's schedule, you will notice cheerleading sessions, dances, and more career fairs. As you can see, there is a HUGE difference in the trade shows, dinners, fashion shows, drive-ins, and career fairs at Canton's Civic Center than the Kelly Clarkson, Elton John, Montgomery Gentry, Rob Zombie, Tim Mcgraw, and Motley Crue concerts at Youngstown's Covelli Centre just down the road.

In a nutshell, this is EXACTLY the case I have been trying to make for Roberts Stadium as a mid-sized arena. In no way, shape, or form should Roberts Stadium or our new arena compete. In fact they should compliment each other.

In Canton, the NFL Hall of Fame Game is played at Fawcett Stadium while the newest members to the Hall of Fame are inducted right in front of the NFL Hall of Fame building. However, the events leading up to these two big moments are held at Canton's Civic Center.

While we will never ever get the NFL Hall of Fame here, we too must allow Roberts Stadium to work hand-in-hand with our new arena. If done correctly, Roberts Stadium will host the dinners, lunches, and preliminary events leading up to the large ceremonies being conducted at our new arena which I hope will one day be NCAA basketball tournament games.

I have been making the case that we need the NBDL here for some time now...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2010/11/making-case-for-nbdl.html

I talked to Commissioner Winnecke and Mayor Weinzapfel about placing a NBDL team in our new arena. Neither official was familiar with the NBDL and both believed that there would not be enough open dates at the new arena for the NBDL due to the fact the men's and women's Aces basketball teams and the Evansville Icemen were already moving in.

As you can see from the Canton situation, we are better off with the NBDL moving into Roberts Stadium anyways. Currently, the NBDL is looking at medium capacity, non-premium sized arenas for their business model. This is why it is vitally important to keep Roberts Stadium. We have a small arena in the Soldiers & Sailors Coliseum and we have a large, premium arena under construction in our downtown. If we demolish Roberts Stadium, we will be left with NO medium capacity, non-premium sized arena. Why would we want to pay almost $2 million to demolish this golden opportunity?

Lastly, some of you are still saying, " Well, that's great as well, but we don't have the Cleveland Cavaliers to buy a team and move it here."

Here in Indiana, the only current NBDL team we have is the Fort Wayne Mad Ants...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wayne_Mad_Ants

The Mad Ants are affiliated with three teams: The Milwaukee Bucks, the Indiana Pacers, and the Detroit Pistons. Currently, the NBDL is trying to realign so that each NBA team purchases one NBDL team and has an exclusive affiliation with them.

Take a look at the list of NBDL teams

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Development_League

Obviously, the Mad Ants are the closest franchise to Detroit.

Also, before the NBA's Pistons were the Detroit Pistons, they were the Fort Wayne Pistons...

(stores.homestead.com)

With that being said, it makes perfect sense for two things to happen now...

1. The Detroit Pistons purchase the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and obtain the exclusive rights to stock the team with their prospects.

2. The Indiana Pacers purchase the rights to an expansion team or purchase a current team and move it to Evansville's Roberts Stadium where they obtain the exclusive rights.

Like I said in my original post talking about the NBDL, Evansville is in a perfect basketball market. We have UK fans, IU fans, Purdue fans, Notre Dame fans, Ball State fans, UL fans, and KWC fans around us. Locally, we have UE and USI fans as well. Former UE Purple Ace Shy Ely plays for the Iowa Energy who just won the NBDL Title!

We can be like Canton. We can bring in NBDL basketball, indoor soccer, indoor football, trade shows, mid-size concerts, and small events in our meeting rooms at Roberts Stadium to go with the occasional youth indoor soccer and indoor basketball tournaments.

However, if we choose to demolish Roberts Stadium, we will be bypassed by yet another city. Back in the day, Evansville was as big as cities such as Cincinnati and Louisville. Today we aren't even close. Every time you propose doing something big around here, the response is always the same, " We aren't Cincinnati! We aren't Louisville!"

Well, if we demolish historic Roberts Stadium, we won't even be Canton, Ohio! Let's do the right thing, let's bring the NBDL to town and let's SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!

Why Are We Not Involving Our Local MLB Stars In Our Ball Fields Project?

(Major League Baseball)

As just about everyone within a hundred miles radius of Evansville knows, I am fighting with all my might to convince city hall to construct the ball fields at Kleymeyer Park, which is next to Bosse Field, instead of demolishing historic Roberts Stadium and building them at Wesselman Park.

I have given many, many reasons why I believe we should do this. If you look at the post below this one, you will see that we have the opportunity to help 12 groups. We have the opportunity to ....

1. Help Hamilton Golf Course
2. Help the current North High School building
3. Help EYFL
4. Help Bob Walthers
5. Help the Bosse Field District
6. Help Roberts Stadium
7. Help North Main Street finally connect to downtown Main Street
8. Help Wesselman Park grow around Roberts Stadium
9. Help increase the Innkeepers Tax revenue
10. Help the Parks Dept clean up a current park
11. Help the new arena with parking
12. Help the Evansville Otters find more revenue

With that being said, there still is one other group that I believe we need to reach out to, pay tribute to them, and ask them for guidance and help with our ball fields project. Who is this group and why should we reach out to them?

This group is none other than our local MLB stars. If you take a look at the list wikipedia has generated for us, you will notice that over the course of time we have had many MLB players either live here in Evansville, live in one of Evansville's surrounding counties, or play in Evansville at historic Bosse Field...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_in_Evansville

Notable Evansville athletes

Baseball

Alan Benes, MLB baseball player
Andy Benes, MLB baseball player
Jamey Carroll, MLB baseball player
Bob Coleman, MLB manager, Evansville minor league baseball coach, Indiana Baseball Hall of Famer
Charlie Dexter, MLB baseball player
Ervin "Pete" Fox, MLB player
Hank Greenberg, MLB Baseball Hall of Famer
Charles Knoll, MLB baseball player
Clarence "Big Boy" Kraft, MLB baseball player
Don Mattingly, MLB baseball player and coach
Edd Roush, MLB Baseball Hall of Famer
Jack Warner, MLB baseball player
Jeff Schulz, MLB baseball player
Jim "Lefty" Wallace, MLB baseball player
Paul Splittorff, MLB baseball player
Ray Newman, MLB baseball player
Sam Thompson, MLB Baseball Hall of Fame
Scott Rolen, MLB baseball player and 1997 NL Rookie of the Year
Al Schellhase, MLB baseball player
Syl "Sammy" Simon, MLB baseball player
Warren Spahn, MLB Baseball Hall of Fame

As I look through this list, I see many names on there that stick out to me. It makes you wonder: With all of these great players, why isn't Evansville reaching out to the current batch of MLB players for assistance in our ball fields project, and why isn't Evansville paying tribute to past MLB greats from the area?

If you will recall, the 8 fields that I propose the fields replicate are Tiger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Crosley Field, Sportsman's Park, the Polo Grounds, and Ebbets Field ( Take a look at these fields: http://www.bigleaguedreams.com/replica-fields ). Most of the players on the list above (if not all) have played in one of those parks during their career. Don't you think they would want to be a part of this project if we are going to replicate these fields at Kleymeyer Park?

One of the main people I would like the city to reach out to for this project is Mr. Don Mattingly.

Mr. Mattingly has done many great things for our city and for the game of baseball ( not counting his legendary career).

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mattingly was the owner of a restaurant here called "Mattingly's 23", after the uniform number he wore for most of his career.

In 2005, Mattingly launched Mattingly Sports, a baseball and softball equipment company, based primarily around the patented V-Grip baseball and softball bats. After watching his kids and their friends struggle to maintain the proper hitting grip, Don, along with co-inventor Jim Wells, created the V-Grip as a way to ensure the proper alignment of the hands and to keep the bat out in the hitter's fingertips.

Mattingly has also appeared in public service announcements airing on the Spike TV network advocating fathers spending time with their children as part of the "True Dads" campaign to encourage men to take an active role in their children's lives.

You can always find Mr. Mattingly doing something good for our local baseball organizations whether it be fundraisers, autograph signings, or hosting training camps.

If we are going to construct a ball fields project that replicates vintage MLB fields such as Yankee Stadium where Mr. Mattingly played his entire career for the Yankees, don't you think Mr. Mattingly might be interested in helping us get this project off the ground especially since the little league field he played at here in Evansville is in Garvin Park as well? Don't you think this would be the PERFECT opportunity to pay tribute to Mr. Mattingly as well as our other great MLB stars? Wouldn't that attract a whole lot more tourists and tournaments than Dunn's proposed fields at Wesselman Park?

To me, the answer to all of those questions is YES! We have an absolute golden opportunity with this ball fields project to do something special for our city. We need to pay tribute to those local residents who have played at the highest level of baseball.

If you recall, I talked about the opportunities we missed when we cancelled our new downtown ballpark project back in 2003...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/06/now-you-will-know-rest-of-story.html

As you see, the team that would be playing in that ballpark right now would be owned by Don Mattingly and Cal Ripken Jr.

Mr. Ripken, like Mr. Mattingly, has done so many wonderful things for the game of baseball. Ripken has made donations to many charity causes, including donations supporting research on Lou Gehrig's disease. Along with his brother Billy, he formed the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation to give underprivileged children the opportunity to attend baseball camps around the country and learn the game. The Foundation is a branch of Ripken Baseball.

In addition to controlling these camps and Ripken's minor league teams, Ripken Baseball operates for-profit camps and designs ball fields for youth, college, and professional teams. Cal Ripken youth leagues compete with Little League and are growing in importance while Little League shrinks.

Ripken gives speeches about his time in baseball and some of the lessons he has learned. Between 2001 and 2004, inclusive, Ripken served as commissioner of the White House Tee Ball Initiative of President George W. Bush, in which capacity he worked to promote the value of teamwork amongst players and volunteership amongst the public and helped to teach tee ball fundamentals to teams of children at the White House.

When we cancelled our downtown ballpark, we missed out on two great MLB All-Stars! However, this is our one opportunity to make up for that missed opportunity. If we reach out to athletes such as Scott Rolen, Jamey Carroll, Andy & Alan Benes, Don Mattingly, and Cal Ripken Jr., they will have the respect and the attention of Major League Baseball who can be an enormous asset to us if we are going to take back our Bosse Field district from the decay and despair that is diminishing it.

Do I know for a fact if these players will be willing to work with us to get this project done? No. But do I believe that we have a golden opportunity to pay tribute to each and every one of these men as well as give them a golden opportunity to serve their hometown once more? Yes, YES I DO!

Instead of demolishing historic Roberts Stadium and constructing 8 dull and boring ball fields on the site, why don't we do the correct thing? Why don't we build 8 ball fields at Kleymeyer Park that replicate vintage MLB ballparks so that we can pay tribute to our local MLB stars?

If city hall was smart, they would realize that it is time to make one more phone call to our bullpen to bring in our local legends to seal the deal on our ball fields project!

(eyefetch.com)

Wouldn't A Land Swap Make Much More Sense?

For those of you who have not been to Kleymeyer Park, it is important to understand what is currently on the land, how big the land is, and what surrounds the land.

Take a look at the aeriel photo of Kleymeyer Park here...

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=37.9965347&lon=-87.5685883&z=15&l=0&m=b

A couple of things to note from the photo....

1. If you use the ruler bar on the top right to measure the square footage of the land you will notice that the site is bigger than Roberts Stadium and its parking lot. When I measured the site, I came up with 1.4 miles for Kleymeyer Park and .8 miles for Roberts Stadium and its parking lot. When I included Swonder Ice Rink, Hartke Pool, the current baseball fields, and the Par 3 golf course, I came up with 1.2 miles for the original ball fields project.

2. There are several things on the land currently. There is Bob Walther's driving range, Bob Walther's Golf & Fun, 3 softball fields, and a EYFL field as well as a parking lot. All of these activities thrive in their area with no problems at all from the old landfill.

3. According to my research I did at Williard Library, Kleymeyer Park is approximately 108 acres.

Now that we have established the perimeters, the details, and the design of Kleymeyer Park, we can then begin to determine how we should construct our 8 softball fields that replicate vintage MLB ballparks ( Note: For those who haven't been following this blog, this is what they need to look like: http://www.bigleaguedreams.com/replica-fields ).

Obviously, it makes the most sense to construct 4 of our 8 fields on the land currently occupied by the existing 3 fields. There also is a nice pyramid building in the middle that is already established...



For the other four fields, it would make the most sense to construct them in the northeast corner of Kleymeyer Park between the driving range and Pigeon Creek. It is important to note that regardless of what happens to the driving range or the EYFL field we can fit these 8 fields with this layout.

However, this past week I was remembering some of the locations the past ECVB had for their ball fields project before the plan fell apart...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/jun/04/hamilton-tees-off-course-open-again-but-still/

Don Schumacher & Associates Inc., a Cincinnati-based sports marketing,
management and consulting company, recommended converting the nine-hole Red
Course along both sides of Pigeon Creek into a recreational area. Others have
said nine holes at the golf course could be leased to the Evansville Convention
& Visitors Bureau for development of the softball and baseball complex that
the bureau tried unsuccessfully to build at Wesselman Park.

When the ECVB finally pulled their plan to place the ball fields on the Roberts Stadium site, they told the media that they were looking at 4 new locations that were all in the county. You would have to believe that Hamilton Golf Course was on the top of that list.

For years and years and years, we've been told that Evansville is backwards. If the ball fields were to be constructed at Hamilton Golf Course, this would confirm that notion as we would have a golf course on land next to a baseball field at Kleymeyer while having baseball fields on land that use to be a golf course at Hamilton Golf Course. Doesn't make any sense at all. It would fail for many reasons such as...

1. Hamilton Golf Course isn't even in the city. It is too far for the city to reap the economic benefits of the complex.
2. It would lack a theme. At the Bosse Field district, we can replicate our fields to look like vintage MLB parks but at Hamilton they would have to be dull and boring with no theme.
3. Building the fields at Hamilton would contribute to urban sprawl and would prevent us from doing an urban renewal project at the Bosse Field district.

Again, while we do not need Mr. Bob Walthers to move his driving range, it seems to me that it would make much more sense if he were to leave his Golf & Fun business at Kleymeyer and move his driving range to the area either next to or on the former Hamilton Golf Course.

What would be the benefits of this land swap?

1. Mr. Walthers gives us more land to build the ball fields. With those ball fields, we will be bringing in thousands of kids that will play putt-putt, eat pizza, play laser tag, and/or play in the arcade at his Golf & Fun business at Kleymeyer Park.

2. We can work with Mr. Walthers to expand his Golf & Fun. With our ball fields project, it would seem logical that Mr. Walthers would want to expand his Golf & Fun business to include recreational activities such as indoor basketball, batting cages, Go-Kart racing, etc,etc. Mr. Walters and the city would both win from this land swap.

3. Both Hamilton Golf Course and Kleymeyer Park are owned by a local government entity. Therefore, it would not be hard to do a land swap as no additional land would need to be acquired. Yes, there currently is a golf course at Hamilton ( http://www.thunderboltpass.com/) but if you look at the map of the golf course, you will notice that there is ample amount of land to build a new driving range for Mr. Walthers.

4. Mr. Walther's driving range would do better at Hamilton Golf Course. Unlike at Kleymeyer Park, Mr. Walthers would be right next to a golf course which is where his target market is for his driving range. Mr. Walther's driving range would do much better next to a golf course instead of a putt-putt.

5. Mr. Walthers wouldn't lose any business if any at all. How many tourists do you think come to Evansville to go to a driving range? I haven't found a single one. The majority of Mr. Walthers' target market lives in or around Evansville. If the driving range was moved to Hamilton, they would still be able to locate it as it is just down Diamond Avenue and up US 41 from the current site. This would also allow us to construct ball fields on the current site that will bring in tourists to the area.

6. Moving the driving range will allow for future expansion. If this project is a success (I'm highly confident it will be), we will want to expand to build more parks so that we have a 12, 15, 18, 24, or more complex of fields. With this land swap, we will have additional land to do this.

7. Mr. Walters will be able to get a new driving range. His driving range has been at its current location longer than I have been alive. While I am thankful that Mr. Walthers took the Kleymeyer Park land and did something nice with it, the truth is, it is probably time for a new driving range. With this land swap, Mr. Walthers will get just that.

8. We will finally have at least part of a solution for the Hamilton Golf Course land. It seems like every year, the airport is trying to figure out what to do with the Hamilton Golf Course land. With this land swap, we will be placing a successful driving range on part of the lot which can only help the success of any golf course business that opens up on the land. We will be killing two birds with one stone.

9. The land swap will allow us to display our ballparks to motorists on Diamond Avenue. Diamond Avenue is a high traffic road. Wouldn't it be nice to display replicas of Yankee Stadium, Tiger Stadium, Crosley Field, The Polo Grounds, Ebbets Field, Fenway Park, Sportsmans Park, and Wrigley Field along Diamond Avenue?

10. The land swap is affordable. Mr. Walthers wouldn't have to construct or move very much to relocate his driving range. Only a small building, some fences, some markers, and some tees would be needed to move the driving range. In turn, we wouldn't have to demolish much either to clear the site for the ball fields.

Since we are on the topic of Kleymeyer Park land swaps, we shouldn't stop there. Once more, if you look at the aerial map of Kleymeyer Park, you will notice that there is an EYFL field in the southwest corner next to First Avenue.

Many, many years ago, I played in an all-star game on that field. I will be the first to tell you that it is next to impossible to gain any traction on the field after it has rained or flooded Pigeon Creek. Unlike the driving range and the current ball fields, the EYFL field sits in a very low level plain that is right next to Pigeon Creek. As a result, each time Pigeon Creek floods, the EYFL field is the first place the water heads for.

So what can we do for EYFL?

If you drive up Diamond Avenue from Kleymeyer Park, you will notice the current North High School. Starting this fall, North High School will be moved to a new building on US 41 not too far from I-64. The future of the current building is now unknown as the original school projected to go into the building has since backed out.

One thing the current North High School has is a nice football field. Wouldn't it seem logical to let EYFL use that field instead? To me, it makes sense for the following reasons...

1. Playing at North gives EYFL a nicer field with room to grow around it.

2. Playing at North, allows us to use at least part of the current high school until a tenant is found for the building as well.

3. EYFL uses their field after school hours and on the weekends. They would not run into a conflict with a grade school if one went into the current North High School.

4. North's field is on much higher ground. Therefore, flooding will not be a problem. This will make the game safer for the players as well.

5. Both fields are run by local government departments. Just like the driving range, no new land would need to be acquired.

6. With the current EYFL field, we can expand our parking lot at Kleymeyer Park or build a new turn lane to handle the excessive flow of traffic.

7. There wouldn't be much for EYFL to move. To replicate their current field, all they would need to do is construct a small concession stand building.

8. We can use the EYFL field as a gateway to a canoe center. While the ball fields have games going on, other kids will want activities to do. Why not let Canoe Evansville build a new canoe dock next to the EYFL field?

9. It's time for a new field. Like I said earlier, the current EYFL field has seen better days. Why not allow this organization to utilize the current North High School field?

10. EYFL stays in the area. The current EYFL field and the current North High School field are only a handful of blocks apart. In fact, they are only separated by Diamond Avenue. This will allow EYFL to continue to serve the north side of Evansville.

While it does not need to happen for us to construct the ball fields at Kleymeyer Park, it is my opinion that two simple land swaps would allow us solve many more problems in the Evansville area while helping more organizations at the same time.

A few posts ago, I talked about the fact this project is at the top of the Cause & Effect model. This project will have an impact on our entire community. We have the opportunity to...

1. Help Hamilton Golf Course
2. Help the current North High School building
3. Help EYFL
4. Help Bob Walthers
5. Help the Bosse Field District
6. Help Roberts Stadium
7. Help North Main Street finally connect to downtown Main Street
8. Help Wesselman Park grow around Roberts Stadium
9. Help increase the Innkeepers Tax revenue
10. Help the Parks Dept clean up a current park
11. Help the new arena with parking
12. Help the Evansville Otters find more revenue

No matter, which course we take, this project will have a lasting effect on Evansville for a lifetime. Instead of placing these fields that require the demolition of historic Roberts Stadium or out on a golf course miles away from Evansville, let's do the right thing and build them at Kleymeyer Park.

Everyone will win!

(attainable-utopias.org)

Sports Venue Opponents Just Can't Help Themselves

(arenayes.com)

Since the beginning of time, sports venues have been the main target of groups who love to complain about paying taxes. As each ballpark, arena, and stadium is built, these groups get louder and louder against constructing these projects.

They want you to believe that if only we would quit building these facilities, we would have a more fiscal government. All we have to do is quit building sports facilities to make taxes go down, school funding go up, police and fire coverage increased, and more beautiful, profitable roads could be built.

They never tell you that roads don't make money, public schools allow millionaires to attend school tuition free, or the fact that property taxes are rarely used to finance sports facilities. No, these facilities are nothing but money pits and they are dragging each and every one of us down.

Today, one of those articles made its way onto our local City-County Observer...

http://city-countyobserver.com/2011/07/12/cincinnati-taxpayers-left-holding-the-bag-for-stadiums-financial-failures/

Cincinnati.com reports that the Bengals are have requested a $43 Million infusion for repairs and improvements to Paul Brown Stadium that was only opened 10 years ago.

At the same time the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the sales tax revenues in Hamilton County, where one in seven people lives beneath the poverty line and budget cuts have left gaps in the schools and sheriffs department, has residents bracing for more belt-tightening. The county is being forced to consider a rollback of a property-tax break promised as part of a 1996 plan to entice voters to pay for two new stadiums.

So here we go again, those dreaded stadiums are on attack again. This time, they decided to make Cincinnati, Ohio their latest victim. Paul Brown Stadium and the Cincinnati Bengals are requesting $43 million for repairs and $8 million for a new scoreboard. Surely, it would be unwise to approve these funds right? After all, shouldn't we be placing these funds in the public schools so that Jerry Springer can send his kids to school taxpayer free?

Well, think again.

A few posts ago, I talked about the enormous economic impact a sports facility has on its city...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/07/cause-effect-chain-of-events.html

Cincinnati is no different than the three cities listed in the post above...

http://www.economicscenter.org/pressroom/articles/top-tourist-attractions-make-1b-local-impact

One big attraction for non-local visitors is the Cincinnati Reds where more than half of all fans attending the games reside outside of the metro area. The Cincinnati Bengals and the Freedom Center also draw heavily from outside of our area. Kings Island attracts more people than the Reds, but its impact, while significant, may not be quite as large as the Reds because fewer of their visitors are from outside the metro area.

We estimate that the seven most popular local attractions, each having an annual attendance of more than 1,000,000, produce an annual combined economic impact of $1.1 billion. These venues include Hamilton County Parks, Kings Island, Summer Festivals (including Taste of Cincinnati, Riverfest, Summerfair, Oktoberfest, and others), the Fine Arts Fund organizations, Cincinnati Reds, the Cincinnati Museum Center, and the Cincinnati Zoo. Adding in the Aronoff, Freedom Center, US Bank Arena and the Cincinnati Bengals raises that number to $1.35 billion.

We estimate that these eleven attractions directly generate 13,000 jobs. The employees who receive income from these jobs and businesses who receive revenue from sales to these attractions spend much of this money in our region which creates an additional 9,500 jobs. Directly or indirectly, approximately 22,500 jobs are associated with these attractions. This accounts for 2.25 percent of total employment in our metro area.

http://www.business.uc.edu/PDF/EconEd/2003-EI-1006%20Cincinnati%20Reds%20Impact.pdf

The Cincinnati Reds will directly and indirectly account for over $253 million of economic activity in the Greater Cincinnati region in 2003.

Although different organizations have estimated the economic impact of the Bengals and Reds differently, none of them have the figure less than $245 million a year. Therefore, the Bengals and the Reds generate almost five times the cost of the needed repairs in one single season.

It's no surprise that this type of article would come from Wall Street, an area that has been no stranger to bailouts that aren't paid off.

If we are going to truly to make the old Soldiers & Sailors Coliseum, Roberts Stadium, and the new arena a success, we MUST ignore these naysayers who refuse to tell the whole truth about sports venues.

It makes me sick to my stomach to watch these naysayers blast the new arena, blast Roberts Stadium, and even sometimes suggest that perhaps we might be better off without the Coliseum as well. On top of that, they refuse to draw up a plan to revitalize the Bosse Field district. Each time a sports venue is constructed, these critics are left looking like fools.

Government funding for sports venues has and always will make sense. If your town doesn't realize this, it will be left behind in the dust by other neighboring cities. For too many years, we have watched Evansville go down this path. While other cities like Indianapolis said yes to sports venues, we said no. Today, we are miles behind those cities that were once behind us.

We have a very special privilege of being THE residents who can change Evansville's path. We have the opportunity to make our brand new arena a success which will revitalize our downtown. We have the opportunity to save our legendary and historic Roberts Stadium which will allow us to bring in events that cannot afford the new arena. Also, we have the opportunity to give the Coliseum a boost so that it tells the history of Evansville for many more years going forward. Lastly, we have the opportunity to be the first generation of Evansville residents that begins the process of taking our Bosse Field district back from despair. All of this will generate direct and indirect revenue, jobs, and revitalization.

I don't know about you, but I refuse to believe the lies being spread by sports venue opponents. We must invest in our venues, and we must SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!

(www.gasolinealleyantiques.com)