(news4uonline.com; PLEASE SUPPORT THEM!)As we sit less than a month away from the Ace's first home game at the new Downtown arena (it's hard to believe), there are many things most local residents still don't know about the 20+ year battle to both save Roberts Stadium and construct a new facility downtown at the same time. Let's take a look through the history books to examine a few of these unknown story lines.
Many local residents do not realize that this was the third time the city of Evansville tried to build a downtown arena. The third time appears to be the charm as the first two tries were unsuccessful. Previously, the city tried in 1989 to build a Downtown arena instead of renovating Roberts Stadium...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=804568
This plan would eventually fail as city leaders decided to undertake the cheaper option (does that surprise you) of renovating Roberts Stadium. Although this appeared to be a good move for Roberts Stadium itself, in the long run it simply hasn't been a good idea for either Roberts Stadium or the city of Evansville. We now have a Roberts Stadium that has lost a part of its original structure and a downtown that has laid dormant for years.
Even worse is the fact that then mayor Michael Vandeveer had an AWESOME plan to build a 15,000 seat dome instead of a small arena...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=713473
As you can see from the article mayor Vandeveer had the vision our current city leaders just don't have. He had the vision of working out the details on a hotel before the arena/stadium got underway, and he had the vision to build it with at least 15,000 seats so that Evansville could bring the NCAA to town. He also had the vision to make it a multi-purpose dome. But in the end, everyone lost!
Then in 1998, a group of Downtown developers attempted to revitalize the idea of building an arena Downtown...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=839183
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=839184
The idea failed to gain political support, but this brings up to our next unknown fact- this project was originally intended to house USI not UE.
In 1998, USI, along with SIGEO and a few major banks in Evansville, pledged funds to study the idea of a new arena. At the time, they were just a few years removed from winning the Division II national championship in men's basketball.
The mid and late 90s were a good time to be a USI basketball fan. Led by Bruce Pearl, USI was unstoppable at PAC Arena as greats Stan Guourd, Sean Gilbert, and Marc Hostettler (I'm sure I spelled these names wrong) just to name a few dominated the court every game. I am lucky to have had front row season tickets behind the visitors bench during those seasons. If you watch replays of USI games on WAZ, you will see me at every single game.
But like every thing else in Evansville, USI basketball has taken a few steps back since the 90s. Two years ago, the NCAA put USI on probation, and that has proven to be a substantial hole for USI to dig itself back out of. Will USI return to the top? Only time will tell.
Although USI hasn't gotten its men's basketball program back to where it needs to be, the program is definitely at a crossroads once more. Just this past week, arch rival Kentucky Wesleyan announced that it will bolt from the GLVC for a newly formed conference. This comes just 6 months after Northern Kentucky University voted to apply to the NCAA for Division I affiliation.
USI has enjoyed tremendous success in the Division II ranks these past two decades. USI sponsors 15 varsity intercollegiate sports. Since 1990, all 15 Screaming Eagles teams have participated in their respective national tournaments and/or were ranked at the national level. USI has claimed two national championships (men's basketball, 1995 under head coach Bruce Pearl; men's baseball under coach Tracy Archuleta, 2010), finished three times as the national finalist (men's basketball, 1994 and 2004; and women's basketball, 1997), and earned one third-place finish (men's cross country, 1982). The men's and women's cross country/track teams have produced six national championships since 1997.
NKU, which usually trails both Kentucky Wesleyan and USI in the GLVC standings is making the aggressive move to Division I while the other two aren't. Why are they?
http://www.fox19.com/story/15299110/nku-one-step-closer-to-becoming-a-division-i-school
But Cole says NKU is unique in that it already has the minimum requirement for sports and a number of facilities like it's new soccer field and The Bank of Kentucky Center that keeps the school ahead of the D-I game.Simply put, USI needs to be competitive with their facilities, not just with their team accomplishments. Although USI may be enjoying success at the Division II level, they will need to upgrade their facilities to make this type of success sustainable. Since 1995, two other GLVC schools have made the jump to Division I. Both of these schools never came close to overtaking USI in men's basketball but made the jump due to improved facilities.
USI, like NKU, has an immediate goal of increasing enrollment to 20,000 students. And like NKU, USI drew up a master plan in 2006 to improve their campus. The master plan called for renovating PAC Arena. I'm glad to see this as PAC Arena is to USI basketball what apple pie is to America.
http://www.usi.edu/phyplant/mstrplan/USI%20Master%20Plan%20Report.pdf
But with that being said, PAC Arena can only be renovated so much. It will never make sense to expand it to 10,000 + seats without basically demolishing the structure. The Screaming Eagles will need to find a new arena while using PAC Arena as their practice facility. This is exactly what NKU is doing with their former home court Regents Hall.
So where would USI go? They basically only have three options.
1. Build a new arena on campus next to PAC Arena
2. Move into the new Downtown arena with the Aces
3. Move into Roberts Stadium.
If we break the options down further, we will need to eliminate option 1. Currently, USI probably does not have, nor wants to commit, adequate funds to construct an entirely new arena on campus. And we know for sure that the city of Evansville and Vanderburgh County have already committed their funds to the Ford Center. Not to mention, building an arena on campus is really not a good idea as there are few, if any, businesses next to the USI campus that would enjoy the economic benefits of a new arena. Therefore, we will eliminate Option 1
Option 2 is possible but still a long shot. To move USI into the Ford Center, we would have to get both UE and the Icemen to share their premier dates. Previously, our city leaders have balked at ideas such as a NBDL team at the Ford Center due to scheduling conflicts. USI takes up over twice as many dates as a NBDL team. Lastly, renting the Ford Center is quite expensive and would put a strain on USI's budget which will prevent them from dedicating resources to other facilities that need to be on the Division I level. Playing a few USI games at the Ford Center- good idea. Playing all of USI's home games at the Ford Center- terrible idea.
Besides, sharing facilities has never been supported by the fans. This past year, the San Francisco 49ers have received full approval to build and then move into a new football stadium in Santa Clara, California which would require them to vacate Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
As it stands, the 49ers just don't have the funds to complete the stadium. To find the last amount of funding, the 49ers have reached across the bay to the Oakland Raiders who are looking for a new stadium as well. They also got the NFL involved who released a statement that both teams should share a stadium, which would mean that both teams would leave their home cities for Santa Clara.
For those who don't watch football, moving the Raiders, who are known to have rough, inner city, and blue collar fans in with the 49ers who are known to have easy going, rich, and white collar fans is not a good idea at all. We saw this first hand at a 49ers-Raiders PRESEASON game this year which doesn't even count towards the year's record...
Teams and fans that share the same facility just don't like each other. We've also seen this with...
New York Giants- New York Jets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1IWGht36g
Los Angeles Clippers- Los Angeles Lakers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAChOZebcRA
Here in Evansville, westsiders call eastsiders "cake eaters," while eastsiders call westsiders " fish eaters." Each side is a 180 degrees different than the other side. It's like the Dr. Seuss Butter Battle where Butter Side Up and Butter Side Down were always trying to top the other side...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Butter_Battle_Book
Let's not mix these two sides. Let's let them have their own facilities to leave their own marks on!
This takes us to our final option- Option 3: Move into Roberts Stadium. Obviously, the first problem that critics of Roberts Stadium will say is this, " Roberts Stadium is an east side facility that shouldn't be used for a west side team." True, Roberts Stadium and Aces basketball go hand-in-hand, BUT starting next month the Aces will be the Ford Center's team. The Ace's will be moving most of their stuff to the "Corridor of Champions" section at the Ford Center.
Moving USI into Roberts Stadium will allow us to pay tribute to the 1977 Aces, as well as mayor Hank Roberts and architect Ralph Legeman, while recognizing the 1995-1996 USI Screaming Eagles at the same time (what a great thing for walkers, joggers, and cyclists to see on the Roberts Stadium indoor Greenway!). I think this cartoon sums it up best...
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmRcV1-u9-6tZLBap8zWtLQPJywIw28u-SDtIYBV7dXn8JVbzh6s37zbz-xcGb7LXuUilm_zSQOpvOLkfWE70MkYiZme2pSucWIJuIPpeBtnbTvDRLLK61fhzJHC6jQIg7Eip2Wo-ZrY/s400/jeron+lewis+remembered.jpg
So why should USI move into Roberts Stadium? For many reasons including the following...
1. Roberts Stadium is a major upgrade over PAC Arena which can now serve as the Eagles practice facility.
2. Roberts Stadium is already constructed so USI can move in right away (Although a small renovation may be needed to raise the floor).
3. Roberts Stadium is PAID OFF. No need for USI to take on anymore debt. This is huge for USI if they are going to make the jump to Division I.
4. USI can build a botanical garden next door which will generate research dollars for the university. This will work perfectly with their New Harmony projects.
5. USI and Evansville will now have 2 great arenas to offer up to the NCAA as a host site for both the GLVC men's basketball tournament and the NCAA Div II men's basketball tournament. Talk about a perfect use of the Innkeepers Tax!
6. USI and Roberts Stadium are only separated by one road- The Lloyd Expressway.
7. Turoni's is a proud sponsor of USI basketball. This move will help both Turoni's (Forget-Me-Not location) and Kipplee's who stand to lose a lot of business from the closing of Roberts Stadium.
8. With Roberts Stadium, we can also move a NBDL team to go with the Aces (indoor soccer and football as well). This would be a good recruiting tool for USI.
9. With Roberts Stadium, USI can sponsor/host a SIAC high school men's basketball tournament(s) as well as college basketball tournament(s). This too will be a good recruiting tool for USI as well as UE.
10. With Roberts Stadium, the Ford Center, and PAC Arena, we will have plenty of venues to work out our scheduling conflicts. Last year, UE had to use PAC Arena for their men's basketball post season games due to Roberts Stadium being filled with another event.
I can go on and on about the advantages of USI moving their basketball games to Roberts Stadium, but I think you get the point and the idea of how golden of an opportunity we have here to upgrade USI men's basketball.
Not only would we be upgrading USI, we would also be upgrading the city of Evansville's sports profile with USI competing in Division I. I also feel like this move would put pressure on KWC and Owensboro to build their new arena and upgrade the Panthers to Division I as well. Wouldn't that be great for the Tri-State to have 3 Division I teams!
Where would the Eagles go?
Once more, there are a few realistic options they can explore...
The Missouri Valley Conference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Valley_Conference
The Horizon League
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_League
The Ohio Valley Conference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Valley_Conference
The Summit League
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Summit_League
The Sun Belt Conference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbelt_Conference
How would I see it playing out? I'll rank the leagues
5. The Horizon League- It would be a good conference for the Eagles but I just don't see the conference taking on a former Division II team. The Horizon League prefers to pluck Division I schools from other conferences instead.
4. The Missouri Valley Conference- With the Aces already in the MVC, there is little to no chance the MVC would take the Eagles. Yes, it would make for a nice rivalry, it would reduce traveling costs, and the MVC is a non-football conference (sort of), but adding USI gives the MVC very little additional fans as they are already in the Evansville market. To cut the pie an additional slice for USI, the MVC would want USI to give them something they don't already have which they can't.
3. The Sun Belt Conference- The amount of travel required for the Eagles to be in the Sun Belt Conference would prove to be hectic for a team fresh in the Division I rankings. It would give the Eagles a nice rivalry with WKU but the Sun Belt Conference probably doesn't want a university that doesn't play football.
2. The Ohio Valley Conference- The OVC would be a good fit for the Eagles as all but one of the conferences teams are in nearby Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky. The Eagles would also be back in the same conference as SIU-Edwardsville and could form a nice rivalry with Murray State. The problem is, is that the conference is at 11 teams and needs one more. Belmont is scheduled to take that 12th slot next year. Unless 1 or more teams bolts, or the OVC decides to make Northern Kentucky and USI a package deal, I wouldn't look for the OVC to expand anytime soon.
1. The Summit League- The Summit League, like the Sun Belt Conference, would require a lot of traveling for USI, but would still be a much better fit than the other four conferences. With the Summit League, USI would be back in the same conference as IUPU-Fort Wayne. They would also have a nice rivalry with the IUPUI Jaguars. Next year, Southern Utah will leave the league while the University of Nebraska- Omaha will enter the league. This will keep traveling costs down while creating the opportunity for USI to establish a rivalry with UNO like UE has with fellow Omaha school Creighton. Lastly, the Summit League is at 10 teams, they will need 2 more to get to that magical number of 12 that every conference needs to stabilize itself.
Would USI give Roberts Stadium strong consideration for their new home? Would USI consider moving up to Division I? If they did, what conference would they join? Nobody but the USI athletic department knows the answers to those questions. But one thing we do know for sure is that Roberts Stadium and the USI Screaming Eagles are a perfect match.
Several years ago, USI took the bold steps of breaking away from Indiana State University. They then took the bold step of hiring Bruce Pearl. Are they now willing to take the next bold step of moving into Roberts Stadium and into Division I basketball?
Let's do what is best for Roberts Stadium, USI, the city of Evansville, and the Tri-State as a whole. Let's move USI into Roberts Stadium!
(alumni.usi.edu)
No comments:
Post a Comment