Why Won't They Connect The Dots?

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These past few weeks, we've sat and watched as our Evansville Icemen hockey organization battled the City of Evansville for a fair lease at the new arena. Today, both sides agreed to a lease they feel comfortable with. For the record, I'm glad the Icemen got this deal done with the city to play in the new arena. I have never felt like Roberts Stadium was an option for the Icemen.

During this battle, we have seen comments that confirm most of what I have been saying all along. Let's dig into some quotes...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/aug/11/no-headline---ev_icemenmeeting/?partner=popular

Geary said the financial arrangements the city offered the IceMen made it
impossible for the team to survive.

This is exactly why the Bluecats folded. While the Icemen are in a league strong enough to attract enough fans to keep up with the demands of the city of Evansville, other sports such as indoor football, indoor soccer, minor league basketball, small trade shows, and small concerts are simply to small to afford to rent the new arena. Where are they going to go? If we demolish Roberts Stadium none of these events will happen, NONE!

In that deal, if more than 3,500 people attended a game, rent would go down. If fewer than 3,500 attended, rent would go up. The scale was based on the prediction that each person physically attending the game would spend about $6 on concessions, Kish had said.

The investor I have identified who is interested in bringing 2 + teams to Roberts Stadium as well as concerts has said that he too is willing to split concession and ticket sales revenue with the city. Why hasn't the city explored a deal for Roberts Stadium as well? How can you recommend demolition if you haven't listened to offers for teams interested in renting Roberts Stadium?

Geary had told the Redevelopment Commission, "It was like the city doesn't even want us here," adding the city gave his team some of the weakest dates to play.

However, he conceded that many of the prime dates his team sought instead were given to the University of Evansville for Purple Aces basketball.

This proves once and for all why the new arena and Roberts Stadium are not competitors. Simply put, there are few, if any, premium dates at the new arena that are still open. If the Icemen are having to take dates that aren't on the top of their list, what makes anyone believe that there are going to be enough dates for an indoor soccer team, an indoor football team, and a NBDL team?

The Icemen and Aces will account for approximately 68 events at the new arena. They alone will take up over 1/6th of the calendar year at the new arena before you even consider the open dates needed to convert the arena over to another event, concert events, and miscellaneous events such as the circus and Jehovah Witness' convention. In fact, commissioner Winnecke and Mayor Weinzapfel both told me they don't believe there are enough dates for a NBDL team. So why not let them play at Roberts Stadium?

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/aug/12/city-icemen-reach-agreement-hockey-new-arena/

Geary said the IceMen will open their season at the arena on Nov. 5 against their state rival, the Fort Wayne Komets.

“It’ll be a great game,” Geary said. “Evansville is going to love it.”

This quote confirms that our biggest rival in hockey will be the city of Fort Wayne. Keep this in mind as I will be coming back to it in a few moments.

For those who don't know, I have been advocating for bringing the NBDL to Evansville for quiet some time now...

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

Last month, we watched Canton, Ohio bypass us by acquiring a NBDL team for their arena that just happens to be older than Roberts Stadium...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/07/now-canton-ohio-is-moving-ahead-of-us.html

Why would our city leaders let this happen? How can they look the residents of Evansville straight in the eye and tell them that we need to demolish Roberts Stadium when Canton, Ohio just acquired a team that will compete in the NBA's premier development league with an arena that is older that Roberts Stadium, managed by SMG as well, and contains a fraction of the seating that Roberts Stadium has? What reason can they give for not going after the NBDL?

With that being said, there still is time to make things right. That's because there are now rumors circling around the NBA community that the Indiana Pacers are looking to purchase a team so that they can have exclusive affiliation with it...

http://www.ridiculousupside.com/2011/5/5/2154540/d-league-hybrid-affiliation-nba-teams

According to two league sources, both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers have seriously looked into buying into the D-League while the New York Knicks are also still being batted around as a team that is interested in signing on with a D-League squad.

As far as the Pacers are concerned, two people contacted on Wednesday told Ridiculous Upside that Indiana has contacted at least one D-League team about interest with the idea being to begin a hybrid affiliation.

Given this bit of knowledge, the time to act is now. While the current plan is to mothball Roberts Stadium until next year, there is no reason why our city cannot at least give the Indiana Pacers a phone call to see if they would be interested in bringing their NBDL team to Roberts Stadium.

If we don't act soon, we will be bypassed by either South Bend, Gary, West Lafayette, Muncie, Bloomington, Terre Haute, or Fort Wayne who already has a NBDL team. Currently, the Pacers are affiliated with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. However, both the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks are affiliated with the Mad Ants as well. The Pacers are looking to own a team that would give them an exclusive affiliation. Therefore, there is a huge gap Evansville could fill by supplying the Pacers with a team that is exclusively Pacers prospects.

Earlier, I asked you to keep in mind that we will be having a rivalry with Fort Wayne in hockey. If we are able to acquire a NBDL team, we will also have a rivalry with Fort Wayne in basketball. This will keep transportation costs down for the team while giving the fans a reason to come to the games.

Why should we pursue the NBDL? There are many reasons but the main ones are these...

1. Evansville is a basketball town surrounded by more basketball towns.

2. If the NBDL fails, we can simply fill in these empty dates with other events from other teams, trade shows, youth sports, or concerts.

3. The NBDL economics work perfectly with a scaled down Roberts Stadium.

So let's now take a look at the "dots" we have been given...

Dot #1: The Icemen and Aces have taken the premier dates for the new arena as well as 1/6th of the entire calendar.

Dot #2: The city of Evansville needs a tenant to go with an indoor soccer team, an indoor football team, trade shows, youth sports, and mid-sized concerts.

Dot #3: The Indiana Pacers are looking for a city to relocate their NBDL team to.

Dot #4: Evansville has an arena that is comparable in age and management organization as well as capacity if the floor is raised to Canton's Civic Center which just got a NBDL team.

Dot #5: A NBDL team is extremely low risk.

Dot #6: Evansville is a basketball city surrounded by other basketball cities.

Dot #7: Evansville already has city officials hired to acquire teams for the city.

Although many Evansville residents don't consider themselves to be rocket scientists, the truth is, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to connect these dots. That is the main point that our city government needs to understand.

We need to connect the dots and we need to connect them soon. We need to bring the NBDL to Roberts Stadium!

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