There's an old saying that goes like the following...
"Most people don't plan to fail, they fail to plan."
No other saying sums up Evansville best. Since the late 1950's/early 1960's, Evansville has been an urban planning nightmare. In successful cities across the U.S, you will find the following characteristics...
1. Zoning laws reflect containment of urban sprawl.
2. Green spaces are built into development projects not instead of development projects.
3. Downtown is walkable instead of being dominated by the automobile.
4. Capital improvement projects are designed to be constructed in phases in order to maximize their potential.
5. All public venues are packaged together jointly as a marketing tool to recruit businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Aside from the fact that Evansville is 0-for-5 in the above 5 categories, point #5 sticks out most to me as it will become a major Achilles heal to Evansville if Roberts Stadium is demolished.
We've talked about how other cities use mid-sized arenas to tailor to teams, events, and gatherings that can't quite afford a luxurious and premier arena but still need a decent sized arena.
We talked about Portland, Oregon using their two arenas to bid for the Dew Tour...
http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2012/01/we-can-learn-lot-from-portland-oregon.html
We've talked about Sioux Falls, SD planning to use their current Sioux Falls Arena as a place for mid-sized events once the Sioux Falls Events Center opens up...
http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/12/sioux-falls-south-dakota-well-go-with-2.html
We talked about Nashville letting their two venues bid for similiar events in order to get the best deal...
http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/07/nashville-did-right-thing.html
And we've talked about Omaha using their Civic Auditorium as a recruiting tool for teams looking to make their way into the bigger and newer Century Link Center...
http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/09/lets-talk-about-omaha-nebraska.html
We also talked about the Pepsi Coliseum/ Bankers Life Field House situation in Indianapolis as well as compile a whole entire list of other mid-sized arenas around the country...
http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2012/02/list-of-arenas-demolition-supporters.html
All of the above cities are 180 degrees different than Evansville. None of those cities pit their own venues against each other in a civil war. Rather, all of the above cities combine all of their venues as a package deal so that they have more economic weapons in their arsonry against other competing cities.
Just this past month, we saw yet another city reap the rewards of successful arena planning. Since 1973, the city of Louisville, Kentucky has hosted a men's and women's high school basketball all-star game called the Derby Classic. Over the years, many great NCAA and NBA stars have passed through this game. As a result of its overwhelming success, the Derby Classic is now the oldest high school basketball all-star game in the country.
In 2011, the Derby Classic decided to follow the University of Louisville in moving out of historic Freedom Hall and into the newly built KFC Yum! Center. Losing both U of L Basketball and the Derby Classic were huge setbacks for the financial viability of Freedom Hall. If Evansville were in this position, they would have quickly demolished Freedom Hall in fear of it competing with the KFC Yum! Center.
Fortunately, Louisville had a different mindset...
http://www.wdrb.com/global/story.asp?s=12066448
- ""The new arena is going to be great, they're going to enjoy that, but you know, freedom hall is just a wonderful facility," said Harold Workman, Kentucky State Fair Board."
- ""We still have well over 100 events that happen there, and those dates are going to be very good for a lot of the various concerts and things like trade shows that have not been able to get in there," said Harold Workman, Kentucky State Fair Board."
- "Concert promoters are already looking at Freedom Hall, because Workman says it will be a lot cheaper to rent and said an event that would cost $12,000 at Freedom Hall, will cost you $35,000 at the new downtown arena."
Louisville did exactly what I'm trying to do such as...
1. Recruit another college basketball team to play at least some of their games at Roberts Stadium.
2. Fill the dates up with mid-sized events that cannot afford the new Ford Center.
3. Market the historic value of Roberts Stadium to the public.
Louisville's forward thinking in preserving Freedom Hall is going to pay huge dividends this year. You see, there is a now a major problem with the Derby Classic at the KFC Yum! Center...
http://www.wave3.com/story/16489651/ncaa-rules-moves-derby-classic-back-to-freedom-hall
"NCAA Bylaw 13.11.1.8, which was proposed in 2009 and adopted in April, 2011, states that a Division I school isn't allowed to host, sponsor or conduct a non-scholastic basketball practice or competition. Because the University of Louisville mens' basketball team plays and practices at the KFC Yum! Center, the Derby Festival Basketball Classic cannot be held at that facility.
"While we had a great experience last year at the YUM! Center, we are fortunate in this community to have a facility such as Freedom Hall to host our game," said Mike Berry, President & CEO of the Kentucky Derby Festival. "Freedom Hall had been the primary location of the Basketball Classic for more than 35 years, and we are enthusiastic about returning to this facility, which has a rich history in Louisville.""
Could something like this happen here in Evansville? You bet. The University of Evansville is a Division I school like U of L. Therefore, none of these high school competitions can be held at the Ford Center. The only way we are going to get any high school basketball tournaments to come to Evansville is if we maintain Roberts Stadium as a mid-sized arena like Freedom Hall.
High school basketball tournaments is just one of the events who would be run off by having only one venue. Remember the Tri-State Boat & Sport Show? Well, it was canceled in 2009 because their rent was too high...
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/jan/17/boat-show-canceled/
At the time, Roberts Stadium was our premier arena and the boat show had no other place to go where they could put on their event for an affordable rent rate. We also lost the Evansville Bluecats because of the same reason. Even worse is the fact that we lost the GLVC Men's Basketball Tournament due to the lack of an affordable mid-sized arena. Downsizing Roberts Stadium to a mid-sized arena would now take care of this problem.
While Louisville was able to hold onto the Derby Classic because of their smart arena planning, Evansville has lost the boat show, the Evansville Bluecats, the GLVC Tournament, and many other events simply because our leaders want you to believe that the Ford Center and Roberts Stadium are competing against each other. This makes absolutely no sense as none of the above events stayed in Evansville to move into the Ford Center. They all left town for financial reasons.
We cannot afford to sit idle as other cities steal our mid-sized events. We cannot afford to fall victim to our political leaders who want to destroy a healthy and viable Roberts Stadium just because it doesn't fit into their political aspirations. Lastly, we cannot afford to maintain a civil war against ourselves while other cities are united in stealing our events.
As Louisville reloads, Evansville implodes. Let's stop this movement right now. LET'S SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!
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