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Roberts Stadium is in "horrendous" shape. It can barely stand up. The building is unsafe to host events. There is no way we can repair this facility, it's totaled.
Those are the accusations that have been leveled against our 55 1/2 year old venue. Strangely enough, there is no signs or evidence of any of this whatsoever...
http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2012/01/public-finally-got-to-meet-real-roberts.html
Not only is Roberts Stadium withstanding the test of time, the facility is head and shoulders above other facilities that either have been renovated or are in the process of being renovated. Some of these facilities and structures are right here in Evansville.
I'm not going to go into the details of all of these renovations because taking just one look at these pictures explains my point exactly.
Ironically enough, during the ball fields hearings David Dunn put all kinds of pictures of run down structures in his power point presentation. He showed the current condition of the ball fields at Wesselman Woods and then said that our city should approve his project because it would fix these fields (I'm still waiting on a solution for the Bosse Field area from any of our city leaders).
Then, he showed a picture of the Pagoda which is next to the Evansville Museum. He explained that letting Roberts Stadium sit mothballed would cause it to turn into what the Pagoda looked like. The funny thing about it is that Dunn basically made my argument for me. Look at what the Pagoda looked like back in the 90s....
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| flickrhivemind.net |
And look at what it looks like now...
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| peace.maripo.com |
The condition the Pagoda was in was exponentially worse than what Roberts Stadium is in. Yet, this facility still stands as one of Evansville's unique attractions even today.
Another great renovation our city performed was on the Joan Marchand Bridge which use to be on Ohio Street. This bridge, which was built in 1800s, was beginning to show its age just a few years ago...
http://bridgehunter.com/in/vanderburgh/8200006/
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| BridgeHunter.com |
Thankfully, our city decided to do something about it and made the decision to incorporate it into the Greenway. Today, it thrives as one of Evansville's greatest urban renewal projects...
(from the link above)
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| BridgeHunter.com |
If you think those renovations were hard to pull off you should take a look at some of the arena renovations going on around the country right now.
In 2010, a tornado literally ripped right through the 10,000 seat Rimrock Auto Arena in Billings, Montana...
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-06-21/news/27067703_1_tornado-approach-golf-ball-sized-hail-twister
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| CSMonitor.com |
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| groucho-karl-marx.blogspot.com |
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| BillingsGazette.com |
Did Billings tear down this arena? No, they renovated it...
http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_d4f39dac-4067-5cd8-b5a2-f6d21f070334.html
http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/editorial/gazette-opinion/collection_30ce960b-4f3d-5f4c-8844-f9ae685dd1be.html
In fact, the arena is already open again for business...
http://www.billings365.com/2011/06/18/rimrock-auto-arena-grand-opening-on-sunday
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| Billings365.com |
If you look at the current condition of the historic Uline Arena in Washington D.C, you will notice that the facility has seen better days...
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| dcist.com |
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| DCNoma.com |
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| WashingtonPost.com |
Is this arena scheduled to be demolished? Nope, it's actually going to be renovated as soon as the final construction loan is approved...
http://dcmud.blogspot.com/2010/09/two-year-extension-given-to-uline-arena.html
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| dcmud.blogspot.com |
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| dcmud.blogspot.com |
As you can see, there are examples after examples of skilled architects, engineers, and government leaders working together to fix facilities that truly are in bad shape. I myself have been to several of these facilities including...
- The Old National Guard Armory in Minneapolis, MN where the NBA's Lakers were born
- Bush Stadium in Indianapolis where the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Baseball League played
- Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario where the NHL's Maple Leafs played
In the next few weeks, I am expecting several of our city leaders to pull the "Roberts Stadium is beyond repair" card. They are planning on doing this because they think it's their only way out. They know that they can no longer claim that Roberts Stadium will compete with the Ford Center as both Venuworks and SMG have said otherwise. They know that they can no longer claim that there aren't enough tenants to go in Roberts Stadium as I have supplied them with 2-3 interested tenants who would be coupled with the tenants SMG/Venuworks would bring in. They also know that they can no longer claim that demolishing Roberts Stadium makes the most financial sense for the city as paying to demolish Roberts Stadium, constructing a green space, and then paying to maintain it is a much more expensive proposition.
So, they will try to make the argument that Roberts Stadium just isn't up to par for a simple renovation. But the truth is, this argument isn't going to fly either with the public as they know better. When our task force hosted an open house hearing at Roberts Stadium, the public saw firsthand the condition of Roberts Stadium. They saw the smooth concrete around the bowl area, the sparkling bathrooms, the luxurious Ace's locker rooms, and a building that showed no signs of being old.
We've seen cities around the U.S make repairs to facilities that truly looked beyond repair. We've also seen our city do this same thing with our Pagoda. Now, we need to take a much,much, much simpler step in renovating Roberts Stadium. LET'S SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!
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