Did They Get The Real Story From Savannah?

This week, 31 representatives from the Evansville region traveled to Savannah,Georgia to get a look at how the city "attracts and keeps young professionals." In this group were 3 Evansville City Council members and 2 County Commissioners.

It is highly debatable whether this trip should have been covered by taxpayer dollars, but now that it's over I certainly hope these officials got the real story from Savannah.

Yes, they toured a container port, something I have been an adamant supporter of for quite some time...

 http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/jul/17/slack-water-port-offers-opportunities/

Although I'm sure that was a great thing for these city officials to tour, it is not the main facility that our city officials can learn from in Savannah.

You see, the Savannah's sports scene is very similar to what Evansville's sports industry would be like with a mid-sized Roberts Stadium. Savannah has 1 Division I university, 1 Division II university, and 3 arenas. Currently, Evansville has 1 Division I university, 1 Division II university, and 3 arenas as well. And with a population of roughly 136,000, Savannah is yet another city that sizes up perfectly with Evansville's 116,000 residents.

Let's take a look at Savannah's 3 arenas to see how they stack up against Evansville's 3 arenas...

ALUMNI ARENA

http://www.athletics.armstrong.edu/athfacilities.html

Built in 1995, Alumni Arena seats approximately 3,000 and is a part of the Armstrong Sports Center. It currently hosts Men's and Women's NCAA basketball games, and is located on the campus of Armstrong Atlantic State University. When not being used for basketball games, Alumni Arena also has the capacity to host NCAA volleyball tournaments as well as other various university functions for Armstrong Atlantic State University.

Alumni Arena is known for being the host of the 1998 & 1999 Peach Belt Conference Basketball Tournaments, Georgia Special Olympics, Atlanta Hawks training camps, various prep basketball tournaments, ATA Taekwondo Championships, and area high school graduation ceremonies over the years.

Evansville Arena Comparison: PAC Arena

TIGER ARENA

savannahstate.edu

Built in 2000 at a cost of  $9.6 million ($13 million in 2012 dollars), Tiger Arena seats approximately 6,000 and serves as the home to the Savannah State University basketball and volleyball teams.

Tiger Arena has previously hosted the Georgia High School Association boys and girls playoffs, the annual Georgia Athletic Coaches Association's North-South All-Star Game, and the Savannah Holiday Classic high school girls basketball tournament.

The high school basketball tournaments alone draw in over 3,000 people a game...

http://savannahvisit.com/events/sports/annual-sport-council-events

The facility also hosts various other mid-sized events such as "Founder's Day."


Evansville Arena Comparison: A Mid-Sized Roberts Stadium

MARTIN LUTHER KING ARENA @ SAVANNAH CIVIC CENTER

stadiumsusa.com

Since 1974, the 9,600 seat MLK Arena has brought many great performers and sporting events to the Savannah Civic Center Complex which also includes a 2,524 seat theater.

If you look at the schedule of events for the MLK Arena, you will notice that Elton John, who appeared in Evansville just a few months ago, is on their list of events as well...

http://www.savannahga.gov/cityweb/civiccenter.nsf

The facility also hosts the Savannah Tire Hockey Classic on an annual basis.

Evansville Arena Comparison: The Ford Center

Although Savannah's three arenas are very comparable to Evansville's three arenas, there are also a few differences as well...

1.  Evansville's premier arena hosts more events than Savannah's due to it having both a college basketball and minor league hockey team as primary tenants. This leaves significantly less dates for mid-sized events to use the Ford Center.

2. Evansville's arena is brand new and thus requires more high priced events in order to pay off construction bonds. As a result, events like minor league basketball, roller derby, and small  trade shows would be flexed to Evansville's mid-sized arena while they would normally stay at Savannah's premier arena.

3. Evansville's mid-sized arena, Roberts Stadium, is owned by the city, while Savannah's mid-sized arena is owned by one of their universities. Since Roberts Stadium is owned by the city, it can bring in many more unique forms of entertainment instead of being used mainly for university activities only.

While Savannah is proving that three arenas of three different sizes is the correct route to go, the city is also proving that Evansville has much more potential than Savannah as we have more teams, a brand new arena, and a perfectly healthy arena waiting to be converted into a mid-sized arena that can host what the Ford Center can't host like high school basketball, minor league basketball, lacrosse, roller derby, mid-sized concerts, indoor football, expo events, indoor soccer, youth sports tournaments, BMX traveling events, and many other miscellaneous events and functions.

So while I hope the 31 representatives enjoyed their trip to Savannah, I also hope they understood what Savannah's 3 arena model is showing them- That having a 3,000, 6,000, and a 10,000 seat arena in your inventory is what you need to grow your city. Savannah also proves that mid-sized cities, like large cities, need mid-sized arenas as well.

Once more, yet another city is showing us what to do, they are showing us why we should SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!