If you read today's Evansville Courier & Press, and if you haven't shame on you it's only a few quarters yet tells you everything you want to know about Evansville, you will have seen yet another article supporting the idea of Evansville having two sports venues. First, here is a part of the article ( I want you to go to their website for the whole thing)...
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/feb/17/no-headline---174/
City could do well with two arenas
To the editor:
Back in 1990 when we were renovating Roberts Stadium — a renovation that was supposed to last for 50 years — we felt confident that this facility would be able to handle all future events.
That is, if we could work it into the 365-day calendar, without conflicting dates.
The argument we used back then on the renovation was simple: We needed more seats and more flexibility. We actually started working on this back in 1986. That plan was scrapped and the present Stadium renovation was adopted.
What the renovation did not do was add more days to the calendar. The new Downtown arena will not do this, either.
Jon Hill, a former stadium manager, once reported that many events that the Evansville could host are lost — not just because of the stadium's size or accommodations — but due to conflicting dates.
It was a dilemma that the renovation did not solve. Jon mentioned several large regional trade shows, equestrian events, conventions and other events on the same day or week that were lost.
Bill Hazelip
Evansville
First of all, thank you very much Bill Hazelip for writing in. I appreciate your article. I hope this encourages you the reader to write in to the C&P. For only a few minutes of your time, you too can write a letter to the C&P that will let everyone know that we want to save Roberts Stadium.
In regards to the article, this is exactly correct. The important thing to remember is that if we raise the floor back up and scale Roberts Stadium down to 6,000 or so seats it will NOT compete with the new arena.
Why do I know that? Because Roberts Stadium would not have adequate seating capacity, would not have strong enough steel on the roof, and would not have as much floor space as the new arena would which would prevent it from going after the premier concerts and such. Think about it, if Lady Gaga is coming to town, do you honestly think she is going to pick a 6,000 seat arena with only 60,000 lbs of steel roof support and a basketball sized floor when the new arena will have 180,000 lbs of steel roof support, 11,000 seat capacity, and a hockey sized floor? It's pretty simple, the two will not compete.
What Roberts Stadium will provide is the opportunity for concerts, sports teams, and trade shows who cannot afford the new arena but need something a little bigger than the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Coliseum. Indoor football, indoor soccer, local bands and concerts will not be able to finance an event at the new arena, thus these events will never happen if we don't have a mid-size arena.
The most frustrating thing I have noticed in Evansville is that every resident has decided to only be on one side or the other. One group likes the new arena but believes that Roberts Stadium should be demolished. On the other side is the group that thought Roberts Stadium should have been renovated/rebuilt and are strictly opposed to the new arena.
I support BOTH. I believe it was the correct decision to build a completely new arena than to renovate Roberts Stadium which would have basically been demolishing it and building a new one. Furthermore, it is the correct decision to build downtown as that is the most important area in this city and we desperately need to revitalize it. I can't wait til November when it opens up.
However, that doesn't mean we should tear down Roberts Stadium. Roberts Stadium means a lot to a lot of people including me. Hank Roberts fought very hard for this facility and we need to appreciate his work and Roberts Stadium's great history. We need to convert it to a mid-size arena.
I long for the day when this city decides that when it takes one step forward it will not take another step backward at the same time. That is what we will be doing if we demolish Roberts Stadium. We need to take TWO STEPS FORWARD by opening this great new arena and Save Roberts Stadium!
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