There is a Group Willing to Study Roberts Stadium

Although I have provided 8 proposals for what to do with Roberts Stadium to keep it intact, I believe that a formal study needs to be conducted for the simple fact that they have the resources I do not have to put together a plan that will convince everyone just how profitable saving Roberts Stadium can be.

I've been sending out emails this week to gauge the interest in doing a study for Roberts Stadium and I was pleasantly surprised to hear back from a group.

In my opinion, it will not be too costly to figure out if we can save Roberts Stadium. Around $32,000 is the estimate which will not break the budget of this project, especially given the fact that the estimated costs to demolish Roberts Stadium have gone from $1.25 million to $1.5 million in the last presentation we have heard from David Dunn ( http://media.courierpress.com/media/static/The_Park_Construction_Budget-1029.pdf ).

If you were opening up a business and you were considering financing a project where the cost had risen from $1.25 million to $1.5 million don't you think you would spend $32,000 on a study to make sure you weren't throwing a million and a half dollars down the drain?

I firmly believe this study will provide several options for the city to undertake in order to save Roberts Stadium and increase tourism, but even if the study said nothing can be done for Roberts Stadium the city would still have the $1.5 million to demolish it. Roberts Stadium is going to be open for about a year from today so there is plenty of time for the city to perform this study.

Lastly, after I spoke at the county council meeting last weekend about this ballfield project, the Evansville Convention & Visitor's Bureau ( the group who is undertaking this project) went back up infront of the council to request $10,000 more dollars from the council. Why? Because their Executive Director position, which has been vacated by Marilee Fowler, isn't attracting anyone they want to take the position for $88,000.

I found this VERY INTERESTING given the fact that I myself have applied for this position. For the record, I have a degree in marketing and management and I even provided them with my blog which has almost 50 ideas for getting Evansvile moving forward (EvansvilleMovingForward.blogspot.com). However, I was never interviewed and the EVCB said their recruiting team interviewed feverishly here locally and found no one they wanted to take the position, thus they now need to bump the salary up to $98,000 and add relocation expenses if the candidate is out of the area. This is almost 1/12th the budget of the EVCB for one person.

As a recent graduate, I'm willing to accept this position for $60,000 so that the remaining $28,000 can be saved for this study to save Roberts Stadium, as well as saving the council the additional $10,000. If after the end of the year the EVCB and the city aren't satisfied, they can simple let me go and start back to where they are today. It's a win-win solution that will help save Roberts Stadium. As the email said, now is the time to find a solution for Roberts Stadium!