How Can Lloyd Winnecke Sell Roberts Stadium To The Public?

(courierpress.com)

Anyone that lives in Evansville will tell you one thing- This town is a pressure cooker. Everything a political leader does, says, or supports is always under a microscope. Therefore, it is essential that every capital improvement project is justified to the city of Evansville.

Not only has Roberts Stadium fallen into this category, it leads the category. While we've seen other projects get a free pass (You know what these projects are, there is no need to bring them back up), Roberts Stadium has been under the microscope many times over.

If we are going to be successful with this project, we have to give Mayor-Elect Lloyd Winnecke plenty of reasons to save this venue. Indeed, there are sufficient reasons for Lloyd to save Roberts Stadium as well as avoid going down the road of demolition and planting an artificial park at the same time.

Let's dive into the many ways Lloyd Winnecke can sell Roberts Stadium to the public...

Job Creation

The most important thing to Evansville voters this year was jobs. Job Creation came in first place in all surveys and polls taken of Evansville voters. It was also the topic at just about all of the town hall meetings as well.

If Lloyd Winnecke is looking to create jobs, he will save Roberts Stadium. Why? Because the Ford Center can't employ everyone.

A few weeks before Roberts Stadium closed, I called up a full-time SMG employee who had worked at Roberts Stadium for quite some time now. I asked them if they were heading to the Ford Center in a few months. They said no, that the Ford Center couldn't take everyone and the Centre was already full. This person said, "It looks like I'm heading straight to the unemployment line."

We have two choices to pick from: Create and retain good paying sports management jobs with Roberts Stadium or eliminate those jobs in favor of just a few park maintenance jobs that pay slightly above minimum wage.

As someone who graduated in the sports management field, I find this topic to be of extreme importance as well. I too applied to the Ford Center and didn't get too far at all. The sports management field is basically non-existent in Evansville. The only positions available here are already spoken for by the good ole boy network. If you don't believe this, just try it.

By converting Roberts Stadium into a mid-sized arena, Lloyd Winnecke has the ability to bring back the SMG employees who were laid off as well create more good paying sports management jobs to handle the additional tasks/events created by Roberts Stadium.

Fiscal Responsibility

One issue that Lloyd Winnecke wants to make the cornerstone of his administration is fiscal responsibility. Indeed, it does make sense to protect taxpayer investments.

To display fiscal responsibility Lloyd Winnecke should save Roberts Stadium. Why? Because Roberts Stadium is a taxpayer asset that has plenty of taxpayer dollars still invested in it.

Not only was over $17 million invested in Roberts Stadium back in the 1990-91 renovation, $1.53 million has been invested in Roberts Stadium since 2002 including a new roof, a repaved parking lot, and a new sound system (see link below). Also, as I said last year, the HNTB report says Roberts Stadium's structure is healthy...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2010/12/hntb-existing-roberts-stadium-building.html

According to the Vanderburgh County Assessor's website, the two parcels Roberts Stadium sits on are worth $19, 479,700...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/07/just-how-much-is-roberts-stadium-worth.html

If Roberts Stadium is demolished, all of this investment is lost while a park that stands no chance of turning a profit will replace it. Furthermore, demolishing Roberts Stadium, replacing it with a park, and then maintaining the park will not save the taxpayers one dime. In fact, it will cost the taxpayers more and will guarantee them of having to spend additional funds each year to maintain a park that stands no chance of turning a profit.

There are plenty of avenues of funding to explore for Roberts Stadium...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/07/lets-make-funding-personal.html

By working with the investor I have been in contact with (Chip Rosetti) and exploring the 10 possible tenants I have mentioned for Roberts Stadium, Lloyd Winnecke will be protecting the investments made by the taxpayers over the years.

Economic Development

We were told that it is vital to the success of the east side that the Roberts Stadium lot "put heads in beds" during the ball fields discussion. Lloyd Winnecke has the power to do just that by saving Roberts Stadium.

If the hotel industry is looking for youth sports tournaments, Roberts Stadium is their place...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/05/you-want-youth-amateur-sports-lets.html

If the hotel industry is looking to fill their rooms with guests from the Tri-State who would come to town for a Ralph Legeman Fieldhouse Classic, Roberts Stadium is their place...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-do-we-put-heads-in-beds-start-ralph.html

And if Lloyd Winnecke wants to help out businesses such as Kipplee's, Turoni's Forget-Me-Not, and Western Sizzler who lost business when the Aces moved out, he will go after USI...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/10/this-arena-isnt-big-enough-for-both-of.html

During the meeting, Lloyd expressed that he didn't want to sacrifice anything in the budget for Roberts Stadium, and that he wouldn't want to lose ten miles of roads, for example, to offset Roberts Stadium's expense. Aside from the fact that we won't need to cut anything to renovate Roberts Stadium if we do the correct fundraisers and sign Chip Rosetti's tenants to contracts, name one road that can sustain business for the surrounding restaurants, put heads in beds, and make the city a few bucks or two?

Lloyd Winnecke has the power to create and sustain economic development with Roberts Stadium.

Working To Make Sure Everyone Wins

As I've said before, we have the ability to help everyone with this project. Those who want something green to go with Roberts Stadium can use the back lot to do this. I suggested a botanical garden as replanting the back lot with non-virgin trees will cause harm to Wesselman Woods which is virgin, old-growth, and original.

Those who want to seek funds for a natatorium may do so by working with a private investor to bring in an indoor water park resort to couple with the natatorium and outdoor pool complex on the land currently occupied by Hartke Pool...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-natatorium-is-better-next-to.html

Those who want to improve the Greenway may do so with Roberts Stadium. On non-event days, Roberts Stadium can serve as the indoor trail hub to the Greenway. This works in other cities such as Gainesville, Florida, and it will allow those who want to enjoy the Greenway inside on rainy, snowy, and winter days...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/10/neither-rain-nor-sleet-nor-gloom-of.html

This option will also increase our naming rights deals as it will increase foot traffic at Roberts Stadium. Also, there are many other benefits where everyone can win with Roberts Stadium that I will be talking about in the intagibles section.

Lloyd Winnecke has the opportunity to listen to help out all concerned residents by saving Roberts Stadium!

Preserving A Monument

Lloyd Winnecke will be only the third Republican since Hank Roberts to serve as mayor of Evansville. He will also be the first Republican not in the Russ Lloyd family to serve as mayor of Evansville. With this close connection, Lloyd Winnecke has the power to preserve the one and only monument dedicated to Hank Roberts.

Would you tear down the Washington Monument? Of course not. Just like the statues on the riverfront stand to pay tribute to our soldiers who have served overseas, and just like the Coliseum stands for our soldiers and sailors who have served all over the world, Roberts Stadium stands for Hank Roberts, a veteran himself who served in the Naval Reserve during WWI.

Not only is Roberts Stadium a monument to Hank Roberts, it also serves as a monument to Ralph Legeman, the architect of Roberts Stadium. Unfortunately, many Evansville residents don't realize that Legeman is responsible for creating the fieldhouse design. As a result of his work, Indiana has the largest high school gymnasiums in the world with his gym in New Castle serving as the home to the State of Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

If we can't market Roberts Stadium to our visitors, residents, and tourists as a monument to one of Evansville's greatest mayors who served his country in WWI, as a monument to Ralph Legeman-one of Evansville's greatest architects, and as a monument to Evansville being the home to the fieldhouse design, which is Indiana basketball in a nutshell, then what can we sell?

Intangible Benefits

As I mentioned to Lloyd during our meeting last week, there are many intangible benefits to Roberts Stadium. Although none of these benefits are enough reason alone to keep Roberts Stadium, they are strong benefits that we will enjoy if we save the venue for mid-sized events. These intangible benefits are...

Using Roberts Stadium as a disaster relief area...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/04/sports-venues-are-there-for-cities-in.html

Using Roberts Stadium's parking lot to shuttle those to the Ford Center who don't want to park downtown...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-cant-we-all-win.html

We can also help the EVCB build their ball fields they have long sought to build. How so? By taking the 6,000 or so seats that will be removed when we raise Roberts Stadium's floor and give them to the ball fields project, which belongs at Kleymeyer Park, in exchange for a small part of the Innkeepers Tax. If you go to Mesker Amphitheatre, you will notice that the bleachers installed there came from the original Roberts Stadium and were removed during the 1990-91 renovation. Doing this again will save the ECVB from having to buy these seats on the open market for the ball fields project while generating cash for Roberts Stadium at the same time!

As I mentioned before, using the main level at Roberts Stadium as an indoor trail hub for the Greenway will promote health and fight obesity at the same time.

There are many intangible benefits that Lloyd can sell the public on. Although these benefits cannot stand alone, they are essential to the health, growth, and safety of our city. Lloyd can provide all of these benefits to Evansville by saving Roberts Stadium.

Will Compliment Not Compete With The Ford Center

To be quite honest, I am very much surprised that there is still paranoia running rampant around town that Roberts Stadium will compete with the Ford Center. With a renovated Roberts Stadium, this just won't happen. How do we know this?

1. Roberts Stadium's floor will be too high to bring in premier concerts. Raising the floor will make the loading dock insufficient for premier concerts.

2. Roberts Stadium's roof isn't strong enough. Roberts Stadium's roof only holds an estimated 78,000 pounds of pressure while the Ford Center holds over 180,000 pounds.

3. The capacity will be too low. If we raise the floor, Roberts Stadium's capacity goes down to 5,000-6,000 seats. No premier concert or event will go into a venue that small. If the Ford Center is going to be worried about smaller facilities, they would have to worry about PAC Arena, the Metro Center, and the Soldiers & Sailors Coliseum as well. Simply put: Not happening!

4. The Ford Center is already booked. Thanks to the hard work of Mr. Scott Schoenike, he was able to say the following quote in this month's News4U...

http://www.news4uonline.com/articles/2011/11/the-ford-center-interview-with-scott-schoenike.aspx

"Not that the Ford Center won’t be offering plenty of events, especially during the next several months. Schoenike says that every year in October, their busy season will kick off. “We hit it pretty hard starting—we start with Bob Seger, but it starts before that with an exhibition basketball game on November 4th…. In the month of November, there are only really three days once we open up that we don’t have an active event.” In fact, if anything, there may be too much going on. “One of the hardest things is dates—we’ve got two solid tenants. We’ve got 33 hockey games, and this year 19 men’s basketball games and 14 women’s basketball games. There are 66 events that all happen between October and April. Every year, it’s going to be busy between October and April, it’ll be non-stop every year because the Icemen will play here and UE will play here. It’s nice to have that core business. We’ll still have the staple events—Disney on Ice will be in March, monster trucks will be in January, Winter Jam is going to be in February—you’ll see us continually push things out as we book things,” says Schoenike."

The Ford Center is already having to push things out, yet we have city leaders worried about Roberts Stadium hosting the following events that will never be able to afford the Ford Center..

1. Indoor Football- Evansville Rage
2. Indoor Soccer
3. Minor- League
Basketball
4. Inline Skating
5. Professional Lacrosse
6. USI basketball
7. Youth Sports Tournaments
8. Mid-Sized Concerts
9. Small Trade Shows
10. High School Basketball Tournaments
11. Exhibition College Basketball Games (Games that will be booked at Roberts when the Ford Center is already booked. Last year, the Aces played at PAC Arena because Roberts was already booked.)

Furthermore, Roberts Stadium can work hand-in-hand with the Ford Center as a package deal. To recruit big tournaments, such as Div II basketball tournaments and other NCAA tournaments in other sports, the Ford Center can host the men's basketball games while Roberts Stadium hosts the women's basketball games. This can work for any event that needs two facilities at the same time (and there are plenty if you look up NCAA tournament events).

Nothing would make me happier than to make the Ford Center everything that it can be. Roberts Stadium is here to help, not hurt, the Ford Center. Mr. Schoenike has done one hell of a job filling up the Ford Center before it even opened for the first event. Now, let's fill up Roberts Stadium with events that will never ever appear in the Ford Center. If you look at Oklahoma City, Louisville, Omaha, and Indianapolis, you will see that they do this exact thing.

Lloyd Winnecke has the power to promote taxpayer investments in both Roberts Stadium and the Ford Center at the same time!

Overall

As you can see, there are numerous reasons to save Roberts Stadium, and there are numerous reasons not to demolish Roberts Stadium and build a park on the lot. If I was Lloyd Winnecke, my theme would be "Preserve & Create" because Lloyd has the power to preserve and create the following things...

1. Jobs
2. Fiscal Responsibility
3. Economic Development
4. Everyone's Interest and Concerns in Improving Evansville
5. A Monument to Hank Roberts, Ralph Legeman, and Legeman's Fieldhouse invention
6. Intangible Benefits
7. A One-Two Punch With Roberts Stadium and the Ford Center

Saving Roberts Stadium isn't too hard to sell to the public, and I'm confident that Lloyd Winnecke can get the job done. No matter what your interests or concerns are, you have every reason to want Roberts Stadium to be saved while having zero reasons to support demolishing it and constructing an artificial Wesselman Woods expansion.

With Roberts Stadium, Lloyd Winnecke has a golden opportunity to go down as one of Evansville's greatest mayors. He can make all 7 of the above attributes a reality.

LLOYD WINNECKE HAS GOT THE POWER!