(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 CantonThe 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...
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.Let's take a look at how our Roberts Stadium stacks up with Canton's Memorial Civic Center...
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.
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 eventshttp://www.cantonciviccenter.com/calendar.php
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)
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!
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