For The Price Of An LST Dock

combinedops.com

We've heard just about every financial complaint known to man from those who want to demolish Roberts Stadium. We've been told by these so called "financial experts" that the city should not undertake any more investments in Roberts Stadium. Obviously, this argument fails on many levels from the start...

1. This belief fails to mention how it would save any tax dollars given that the Innkeepers Tax has been collected, is still being collected, and will continue to be collected regardless of what happens to Roberts Stadium. What it basically comes down to for the county is do they want a year round indoor facility or a seasonal outdoor ball fields facility. I think it's safe to say which option the public has expressed support for.

2. This belief fails to mention that the proposed dog park plan is twice the price of renovating Roberts Stadium.

3. This belief fails to mention that selling the facility would in all likelihood prevent the city from synchronizing Roberts Stadium with the Ford Center, would prevent the city from using the back lot to connect Wesselman Woods with State Hospital Park, and would prevent the city from using Roberts Stadium as a designated disaster relief area among many other things.

4. This belief fails to reinvest the taxpayer dollars previously spent on Roberts Stadium in 1956 and 1990/91.

5. This belief fails to take into account the facts that the majority of expenses can be eliminated via raising the floor and shrinking the size of the facility.

6. This belief completely fails to take into account the revenue that would be accrued from a renovated Roberts Stadium.

If you go to page 9 of the Roberts Stadium Task Force Report (an actual page that wasn't added fraudulently) you will see that the price tag to renovate Roberts Stadium is $4,000,000 to $4,500,000...

http://media.courierpress.com/media/static/Roberts_report.pdf

Note: The estimate obtained from SMG is an estimate for a premier arena given that Evansville has no mid-sized arena. With a mid-sized arena, renting tenants would be responsible for their own expenses.

Now, let's take a look at how much it cost to recruit the LST...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/jul/09/no-headline---ev_lstvisit/?print=1

"To have Evansville as LST's home, the city built a $3 million dock in 2005, pays the vessel's roughly $20,000 annual electric bill and helps address some maintenance issues."

How many visitors does it bring in?

"LST visitor numbers aren't what they used to be — the 12,000 or so visitors per year they saw early on has decreased by about a third since then, Donahue said."

Basically, for Roberts Stadium to equal the amount of visitors the LST brought in each year, we would only have to fill the facility (assuming capacity is scaled down to 5,000 visitors) THREE TIMES all year. Or, to reach current levels we would just need to completely fill the arena ONCE a year.

With $3 million invested in Roberts, that would leave us with just $1 million to $1.5 million to go. Basically, the same cost as demolition. Given that the LST is under a ten year contract, we can set our naming rights deals to the gates equal to 10 years. Basically. we would only have to sell each gate for $25,000 to $35,000 a year to equal this cost.

What would Roberts Stadium do that the LST cannot...

1. Bring in more visitors

2. Bring in more revenue

3. Bring in a wider variety of entertainment

4. Provide more intangible benefits

5. Guarantee the city it will not pick up and move to another city

Make no mistake, I am a HUGE fan of the LST. In fact, I think the ship is getting screwed over by the city. The fact that the LST is still in the same horrible location it arrived at with no museum is pathetic. If I were the LST, I would have been gone to Jeffersonville yesterday.

The point I'm trying to make is not that the LST is a bad investment. Rather, the point I'm trying to make is that Roberts Stadium is being held up to a double standard. When the $3 million was spent on the LST dock there was no...

- People crying foul about spending tax dollars

- A green space being considered as an alternative

- City officials demanding that it turn a profit

Are there any other facilities that are losing money that is comparable to the one time renovation cost of Roberts?

http://city-countyobserver.com/2012/10/22/is-it-true-october-22-2012/

"...that the Evansville Zoo lost $3.2 millions of dollars in 2012?…that City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr. estimates that the Zoo will lose $3.4 million of dollars in 2014?"

That's right, the zoo basically loses in one year what it would cost to renovate Roberts Stadium one time. And these figures are coming from a City Controller who thinks Roberts is a bad investment? 

Earlier this month, the Courier & Press published an article from past mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. In the article, Weinzapfel talked about the city lacking a unified vision. He then went on to say that everyone should respect the views of others. This begs the question:

Shouldn't Roberts Stadium receive equal treatment as all other facilities that aren't even performing as good as Roberts would?