Demolition Supporters Strike Back

(www.primaryignition.com)

As momentum begins to slip away inch by inch from those who support demolishing historic and legendary Roberts Stadium, they have decided to give one last shot at winning back the Evansville community.

Inspired by the latest round of self-sabotage to Roberts Stadium, demolition supporters rounded up their horses this past month and went after Roberts Stadium head on in what they believe is convincing evidence that Roberts Stadium is on its last leg. Led by the Evansville Courier & Press and Evansville-Vanderburgh County Building Authority General Manager David Rector, demolition supporters gave us a few details on why they think Roberts Stadium should be demolished. Let's take a look at last Sunday's article...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/jul/30/cost-of-roberts/?partner=popular

Rector's expedition of the concourse surrounding the actual stadium bowl began at a main entrance. There, years of water leaks had stained the ceiling. The dingy, brown evidence of moisture continued throughout the concourses. The tour of problems with Roberts lasted more than an hour.

Right away, you could see where this was headed. Demolition supporters were going to find any crack, leak, or break they could locate within a hundred miles radius of Roberts Stadium and claim this was the end of the line for Roberts Stadium. It amazes me that we have a facility that is worth over $10 million dollars ( http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/07/just-how-much-is-roberts-stadium-worth.html ) yet is being nitpicked like this.

Rector said he found the condition of Roberts a disgrace when the building authority became responsible for its care more than a year ago.

Yet Mayor Weinzapfel wrote a letter to SMG last year calling them "a great company." And Aces basketball coach Marty Simmons has written letters of recommendation for SMG....

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/feb/10/move-on-to-shore-up-smgs-arena-bid/?partner=RSS

"You think that this is representing our community, and it's just
embarrassing," Rector said, guiding the tour into just one of Roberts' aging
bathrooms. "You see, the fixtures in here are old, so it's hard to find parts.
But we'll still need to get it fixed before the next show comes through — we
can't let it go."

How much are toilets, mirrors, and sinks these days? A couple of hundred dollars at Lowes or the Home Depot? Make the necessary changes to update the bathrooms and move along. To say that these miscellaneous parts are reason to pay $1-$2 million to demolish an arena is ridiculous at best.

Also, if the Building Authority truly believes, " we can't let it go," why haven't these problems been fixed by the Building Authority who has now had control of Roberts Stadium for over a year?

The city then will spend about $40,000 to lead Roberts to its lowest state of function. Or, as Rector described the mothball process, "Getting it to a quasi-closed state where it still can be opened back up to a running state."

This should have never gotten to this point. I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it again- Why didn't city hall study reuse alternatives for Roberts Stadium? Why were the ball fields the only project given a serious consideration for the land?

And until the next city administration decides what to do with Roberts
Stadium, about $300,000 a year will be spent to keep it on life support.

And that, Rector said, is a conservative estimate.

"Let just say I was optimistic when you hear the number of $300,000," Rector said. "Any building needs constant upkeep. When it comes to Roberts, I think we're up for some serious challenges."

That's ironic given that it was Mr. Rector himself who only added $6,045.63 to SMG's $69,658.25 maintenance budget when the Building Authority took control of the building...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/feb/06/how-smg-struck-out/

"The repair and maintenance budget set by SMG for 2010 was $90,550," he
said, providing supporting documentation. "SMG expended $69,658.25 and the
Building Authority, after assuming maintenance responsibility, expended
$6,045.63. Combined, this is $14,846.12 under the budgeted amount."

We're suppose to believe that the maintenance costs will balloon from $75,713.88 to $300,000 plus with next to nobody in the facility? Furthermore, raising the floor, which I've been advocating for quite some time now, would eliminate the vast majority of this expense.

Meanwhile, less than four miles away, workers at the yet-to-be-named Downtown arena were laying carpeting and linoleum in the fleet of sold-out suites, basking in a blast of air conditioning. Plush seats surrounding the bowl of the arena already had been installed.

At Roberts, part of the air conditioning system has failed, requiring yet
another costly repair.

It's never a good idea to compare Roberts Stadium to the new arena. I've never understood why so many local residents feel that Roberts Stadium and the new arena are an either/or situation. It has been written on the wall for quite awhile now that the new arena will be our premier arena while Roberts Stadium should be converted to a mid-size arena housing lower-profile events that need this type of facility.

In regards to the repaired air conditioning unit, this is yet another reason to keep Roberts Stadium. By the Courier & Press' own admission, we just put a costly A/C unit in Roberts Stadium. Why would we want to demolish this investment?

The view from the suites was dominated by a supporting beam, much like sitting behind a post in an early baseball stadium. "And this is what they call our premium suites," Rector said with a laugh.

This is desperation at its finest to find a problem with Roberts Stadium. How many beams do you see in the way of the luxury suites at Roberts Stadium?....

(click to enlarge)

If you look closely, you will notice that the beams are elevated higher on the roof than the seating section in the luxury boxes. Besides, blocked seats are now a sign of vintage and traditional style sports facilities. The Texas Rangers intentionally designed blocked seating in their ballpark...


This sums up perfectly why we are in this situation. Roberts Stadium, like everything else, is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you dig for random miscellaneous things like a pole blocking someones view, you won't get too far. But if you commit yourself to making Roberts Stadium the best facility it can be, you will end up surprised at how far you can get with this great arena. It all comes down to attitude and mindset.

Evidence of prior repairs completed by Roberts' former keeper, SMG
Evansville, also were visible in the roof leaks that sprung over the entrances.
Holes were drilled in drywall over the doorways to alleviate the bloated
ceiling.

"I guess that was their way of making repairs," Rector said. "It's like they
didn't know what they were doing so they did the best they could."

Roberts Stadium's leaks were fixed in 2002...

http://www.indianaeconomicdigest.net/main.asp?SectionID=31&subsectionID=276&articleID=39599

The stadium was reroofed in 2002 for $629,559. The repair came after a leak in the roof caused a rain delay at a University of Evansville basketball game.

Why wasn't an insurance claim filed on these repairs? Why hasn't the Building Authority made these repairs? Has the Building Authority reported these problems to the city? Even if we reroofed the entire building again for $629,559 it would STILL BE CHEAPER THAN DEMOLITION!

An additional $200,000 will be needed for utilities, which includes just
enough heat to keep the pipes from freezing.

At least 40 percent of those utilities will be spent keeping a series of pumps running around the clock. During Rector's tour, the gurgling sound of water coming from a vent in a corner of the stadium floor was relaxing. But some may equate it to the constant sound of city dollars being spent. Also, the security system and its emergency electrical generator also will remain in operation. Without the pumps, water from an underground spring will begin to seep to the floor.

Could it be any more obvious that raising the floor would solve all of these problems?

The $. 1.2 million demolition cost was generated as a "cost estimate" by a Tennessee firm hired to help create a presentation for a failed attempt by the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau to build a series of baseball fields. The amount was generated by the firm to include demolishing the stadium, its parking lot and filling in the hole left behind, said Laura Libs, spokeswoman for the convention and visitors bureau.

"That number was actually for what we wanted to do — build those ball fields," Libs said. "We never actually went out to receive any bids."

Correct. The $1.2 million "estimate" was taken out of left field by the ECVB. There was no real substance to it whatsoever. In fact, the figure even went up to $1.5 million in the final weeks of the ball fields project...

http://www.evansvilleliving.com/magazine-division/general/features?page=3#top

As part of its plan, the CVB will cover the estimated $1.5 million needed to tear down Roberts Stadium and remove the 28 acres of asphalt once the transition to the Downtown arena is complete.

Even the $1.5 million is being disputed by local leaders such as Marsha Abell...

http://www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices-government/15337623-1.html

In a Sept. 9 debate, Abell pegged the cost of demolishing Roberts Stadium at more than $2 million, higher than the visitors bureau's estimate of $1. million.

The group of fans — and most on the tour — was oblivious to the uneven concrete that had become dangerously unstable due to age and settling. On the other side of the building, Rector pointed out to an entire pathway leading to a service entrance had been closed due to settling as well.

We don't have enough money to fix minor concrete cracks inside of Roberts Stadium and we don't have enough money to fix potholes in the parking lot (even though it was completely repaved in 2002 for $363,648), yet we have enough funds to completely demolish the entire arena and construct an entirely new ball fields complex, an entirely new park, or an entirely new open lot? Even if we demolish Roberts Stadium, you still have to deal with the concrete. Demolition is a zero-sum game...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/04/demolition-is-zero-sum-game.html

Aside from Roberts own inevitable spiral into disrepair, Rector said the $1.2 million demolition cost was far too high.

"I know for sure it wouldn't cost the $1.2 million everyone is saying," he said, admitting the building still could be fixed. "Well, I guess you could do anything for the right price.

"But again, it will take a lot of money, and that depends if it's worth it"

So now we have yet another government official who doesn't have any kind of estimate for how much it would take to repair simple things such as cracks the size of a pinkie finger, small leaks in a roof that was just renovated, or even removing a piece of duct tape on an electrical box but is an expert on demolition costs and is extremely optimistic that they can get the job done?

I'm sure we could get a good deal on demolishing Roberts Stadium if we took the Executive Inn approach. That is, demolish a little here, demolish a little there, leave the remains, and then make an emergency order to finally get the debris out of the area. Doesn't Roberts Stadium, which was there for us during the tragic Aces plane crash of 1977, deserve better than that?

At this point, it should be VERY clear to everyone why we are in this position. It is now more than obvious that city hall and its many government agencies has had an agenda to tear down Roberts Stadium since day 1. They have not followed up at all on the renovations that were done to Roberts Stadium's roof, floor, and parking lot in the years 2002 and 2005, but they have been Johnny-On-The-Spot to see what they can find to demolish this great facility.

It also makes you wonder: How many Building Authority workers does it take to screw in a light bulb? The Authority has had Roberts Stadium for over a year now, why haven't these repairs been fixed? How can they point the finger at SMG when they themselves have not made the repairs in over a year?

Even worse was the news today that the C&P is going to stick to their opinion that Roberts Stadium should be demolished...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/aug/02/preserving-roberts-stadium-will-be-an-expensive/

Sarkissian recently toured Roberts with Vanderburgh County Building Authority General Manager David Rector, who said, "When it comes to Roberts, I think we are up to some serious challenges."

As long as we have government officials who point at leaks, cracks, and duct tape instead of fixing them, we sure are in for a challenge!

Indeed, he pointed out that the air conditioning is in need of ongoing
repairs, the roof leaks, the ground is settling, and of course, an underground
spring requires that pumps run 24/7.

Since Mr. Rector is a demolition expert, what is his estimate to make these repairs? If you add up the reroofing in 2002, the repaving in 2002, and fixing the water pumps in 2005, you get roughly $1.5 million- THE SAME PRICE AS DEMOLITION. And it is pretty clear we simply need to raise the floor not repair the entire pumps system, repair the roof not replace it, and repair the parking lot not completely repave it.

It would appear that if Roberts is going to be saved, it is going to require that someone have the money get it done, and that should not be city taxpayers.

Should the taxpayers be stuck with the bill for demolition AND construction of a new project AND maintenance of that project?

No one wants to see the city have to spend $1.2 million for the demolition -- nor see the vacant building fall into further disrepair -- so if there is someone out there who has a genuine plan, the financing, and the willingness to make the repairs, get ready to make your pitch. The new administration takes office in five months.

This is exactly what I have been doing for months and months now. I have spoken to the current mayor and both mayoral candidates. I have also spoken to many City Council candidates. I emailed ALL of the County Council last year. ZERO members of the council scheduled a meeting with me. I am more than willing to meet with any official who is willing to give serious consideration to saving Roberts Stadium. I even met with the C&P for their article this past Sunday.

Overall, I'm a little disappointed that the C&P is sticking to their belief that demolition is the best option. When I met with them a few weeks ago, I felt like they were very interested in what I had to say, the plan I have for Roberts Stadium, and what I would like to do get the ball rolling on saving Roberts Stadium. I honestly thought the C&P was going to jump on board the Save Roberts Stadium Express and help me get this project across the finish line.

Until a committee is formed and a decision is made on Roberts Stadium, we are just going to be sitting here arguing the same points over and over. In the meantime, I would like for the Courier & Press to do one thing for me. I ask that they give serious consideration to my plan to construct the ball fields at Kleymeyer Park with the fields replicating vintage MLB ballparks. As I've said in previous posts, we have the opportunity to help over 12 groups in Evansville with ONE ball fields project. When I met with the C&P a few weeks ago, I explained detail by detail what the plan should be. I now ask that they give serious consideration to this plan.

Unfortunately, I am currently being stonewalled by city hall and the powers that be in Evansville on both the Roberts Stadium project AND the Kleymeyer Park ball fields project. Luckily, that is all going to change next year. Right now we've just got to weather the temporary storms that will come from those who support demolition.

Although I am disappointed in the C&P's position, this past week has definitely given us a boost. The Save Roberts Stadium movement has gotten fan mail after fan mail since this article hit the press. I can't thank you the readers of this blog enough. You are the reason why we have gotten this far. I thank you very much for all you've done and I ask that you continue your vocal opposition to demolishing Roberts Stadium.

LET'S SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!

Bill Franklin Gives Us His Idea For Roberts Stadium

(sidschwab.blogspot.com)

Yesterday, I received an email from Mr. Bill Franklin with his idea for Roberts Stadium. Like Mr. Joe Gaiter ( http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/04/idea-for-roberts-stadium-from-joe.html ), Bill believes that we should take a look at converting the facility to a Ray's Mountain Bike Indoor Park.

For the record, it is my opinion that a committee should be formed with the purpose of investigating 3-5 ideas. This should be one of them. Here is Bill's email to me...

*********************************************************************************

>>>>>>>>>> How would you like to save Roberts while at the same time increasing tourism to Evansville and making Evansville a “destination” city? The person or people that pulled that off would be loved and admired by all. I know this is going to sound impossible and unbelievable to you as it was initially unbelievable to me that this works so well. Before you reject this out of hand, just think how much money Paoli Peaks makes.

Anyway, let me get to the point: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=indoor+mountain+bike&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Ray rented a warehouse in Cleveland and built an indoor Mountain Bike/BMX park. It is really 3 parks; there is a cross country bike trail, a BMX stunt area, and a technical area of the course and they all flow into each other. If you follow the links and other links on the net you will see that he regularly pulls from a 200 mile radius and even has “ride and hotel packages” He was so successful that in about a year he opened a 2nd location in Milwaukee. You will notice that they are 400 miles apart. It is more or less just over 400 miles from Evansville to each of these locations. If Ray sticks with what appears to be his business plan, I predict that in 6 months he will be renting warehouse space in Philadelphia. This has been so successful that he now has a full restaurant, bike storage, locker rooms, bike sales and repair (bike shop), etc.

Ray is renting regular warehouses that can accommodate much less than 100 feet of vertical elevation change on the entire course. Roberts has the potential to triple the vertical available and could become the Mountain bike destination of the Midwest. In skiing terms “Vail”. If you are not a mountain biker you might not understand the significance of this much extra vertical. I will use the skiing analogy again. Out west they have 3000 feet of vertical, Paoli has 290. If you are a skier you know what I am talking about. You only have to look at Brown County State Park to see that now almost half their campers are now mountain bikers during the “good months”. As a sometimes mountain biker (I ride more on the road), I can tell you that they go crazy most of the Winter and every time it rains in the Spring and Fall. Many currently plan Winter trips to Southern locations in order to get some rides in during the bad months. If you build this, it would easily draw people from St Louis, Cincinnati, Nashville, Indianapolis, Louisville, Lexington on a regular basis on weekends. Also, some might choose to take a weeklong vacation here during the Winter.

My estimate is that it would take around $800,000 to build it out and that is only 1/10th what the Convention & Visitors Bureau was willing to spend on ball diamonds that were not popular and have basically been proven to not draw much tourism, and require much more maintenance. This has been proven to draw people and if it was done as a city park, there would be no taxes other than sales tax. Ray probably pays $100,000 per location in property taxes plus tax on the profits. You can also derive revenue from renting the concession of having a bike shop within the facility, the concession of having a restaurant in the facility, bike storage, locker rental, and I have a few other ideas too.

We obviously need to get other people involved in this to go forward. I have thought about this for 6 months and tried every way possible to see how it couldn’t work and I can’t see any way it could fail. I have thought this through to a much greater extent than I can put in an email so if there is interest, I can give further insight and advice.

Bill Franklin

*******************************************************************************

Thank you for your article Bill!!

Let's Make Funding Personal

(www.real-estate-marketing-link.info)

In an era of intense scrutiny over government projects, finding funding to renovate a sports venue or for a completely new one is becoming harder each year. Because of this obstacle, many cities and organizations have begun to get creative with their financing sources. We should do the same.

I have been to many sports venues and have seen many different sources for financing. Some sources produce several thousands of dollars while some may produce only a few hundred dollars. Either way, all of these sources have helped build or renovate facilities that may not get their proper funding otherwise.

The following is a list of funding ideas that I have compiled that I feel we can implement with our Roberts Stadium project. Some of these ideas can produce a sufficient amount of revenue while others can serve as fillers for those last needed dollars...

#1 Sell The Seats That Will Need To Be Removed: If we go with the plan that requires raising the floor so that capacity is scaled down, the pumps are turned off, and the floor is wide enough for football and soccer, we will need to remove at least 5,000-6,000 seats. Instead of throwing these seats away, we need to use them as an asset.

Many ballparks, stadiums, and arenas that have been renovated or demolished have sold their seats to finance their projects. Here are just a few seats removed from various ballparks around the U.S...

http://www.ballparkseats.com/

It has been my belief since day 1 that selling the seats would finance the majority, if not all, of the immediate renovations and a good chunk of raising the floor. However, I have not gone public with this financing model because I did not want this to happen...

http://sports-venue.info/Demolitions/Tiger_Stadium_Detroit.html

Instead of listening to Detroit legend Ernie Harwell and the Tiger Stadium Conservancy ( http://savetigerstadium.wordpress.com/ ), Detroit ended up bowing to political pressure and demolished historic Tiger Stadium. Even worse is the fact that they demolished the stadium with money from those who supported Tiger Stadium. I do not want Roberts Stadium's seats to be a part of city hall's demolition funding!

How much would selling Roberts Stadium's seats yield? Right now, the market for stadium seats ranges from $200 to $400 and upward for a seat from some of America's greatest facilities. Since Roberts Stadium is a much smaller market than those types of facilities, I predict we could get $25 t0 $100 for a seat. If we scale Roberts Stadium down to 6,000 or so seats, this will yield us $150,000 to $600,000 from the 6,000 seats removed.

There is three ways we could go do this...

1. Sell all of the removed seats to the general public.
2. Sell all of the seats to whatever government entity is undertaking the ball fields project (hopefully at Kleymeyer) in exchange for funding from the Innkeepers Tax.
3. Sell some seats to the general public and use the rest for the ball fields project.

If you've ever been to the Mesker Park Amphitheatre, you will see that a lot of the bleachers there are from Roberts Stadium before the last renovation. Wouldn't you rather sit in nice plastic seats than hard medal bleachers if you were attending an outdoor ballgame?

Let's use our removed seats wisely!

#2 Sell The Court In 3x5 Chunks: Currently, I do not know what the status is of the basketball court used by the Aces at Roberts Stadium. One thing I do know is that they will not be able to use it in the new arena since it has Roberts Stadium written on the court, nor do I expect them to use an older court on a new arena's floor.

Some of you may remember that the Aces have done this before...

http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=666123

I, like most others around Evansville, wish I could find a piece of the court from that auction!

Why can't we do it again? Why can't we cut the court up in 3x5 pieces and sell them to the public as a fundraiser for Roberts Stadium?

Many teams are doing this around the sports industry. Just to name a few...

University of Illinois

http://store.cstv.com/store_contents.cfm?store_id=479&product_id=183437

University of Connecticut

http://www.fansedge.com/Connecticut-Huskies-2011-Final-Four-12x16-Game-Used-Court-Piece-with-Championship-Bracket-Logo-_517979080_PD.html

Loyola University

http://loyola-chicago-floor.cbscollegestore.com/store_contents.cfm?store_id=493&dept_id=-1&product_id=194086

Syracuse

http://syracusesteiner.suathletics.com/product.aspx?id=874

If the Aces aren't going to use this court, why don't they donate it to Roberts Stadium as a last thank you gift for all of the hard work this stadium has given the university?

How much would this yield? A traditional basketball court is 94' x 50 '. If we cut it into 1,600 pieces like the Aces did in 1982, we can then sell these pieces for $40 to yield $64,000.

If we tack on some more goodies from the Aces, we will have our 1,600 pieces sold in no time. Furthermore, moving this court out of Roberts Stadium will allow us to purchase a new larger court to mold with a Roberts Stadium that would have a larger floor once its floor is raised.

We have a nice Aces basketball court that will go down in history as being the last Roberts Stadium court the Aces played on. Let's take advantage of it!

#3 Build Two Statues And Sell Bricks Around Them: No matter where you go, you will always be next to a building that was built by a non-profit group through a brick campaign.

The sports industry is no different. Many cities, teams, and universities have begun selling bricks to help finance construction of their new facilities. These include...

St. Louis Cardinals
http://mlb.mlb.com/stl/fan_forum/bricks.jsp

War Memorial Stadium
http://www.wmstadium.com/stadium-info/brick-program

Indiana University
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/c-capital/spec-rel/brick-campaign.html

Creighton University
http://www.gocreighton.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1000&ATCLID=1147255

Ohio State University
https://www.giveto.osu.edu/igive/stadiumbrick/StadiumBricks.asp?DB_OEM_ID=17300

Georgia Bulldogs
http://www.thegeorgiabulldogclub.com/campaigns/sanford.php

Atlanta Braves
http://mlb.mlb.com/atl/ballpark/abf_legacybrick_form.jsp

University of Missouri-St.Louis
http://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2010/08/03/brickcampaign/

As you can see, brick campaigns are very popular around the U.S. Here in Evansville, we have many, many people that respect Roberts Stadium. Why don't we let them help us keep this building standing?

At the same time we are conducting our brick campaign, why don't we pay tribute to Hank Roberts and Ralph Legeman at the same time? If you ever go to Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium, you will see giant statues of Panthers for their NFL franchise...

http://panthersfanz.com/dg_panther_statue_web.jpg

If you look closely, you will see on the bottom all of the names of those fans who bought PSLs (Permanent Seat Licenses) to get Bank of America Stadium built. This is by far and away the best capital improvement campaign I have ever seen.

At Roberts Stadium, we can construct a statue of Hank Roberts and a statue of Ralph Legeman. Underneath their statues would be nice and shiny name plaque with the names of all of those donors who want to have their name next to Evansville's most popular landmark. This would allow us to reach both those who want to spend a lot and a little by...

1. Selling the plaques for several hundred dollars.
2. Sell the bricks for $100 or less.

With this system, we can make it affordable for everyone to participate in saving Roberts Stadium. Let's do a brick and statue program!

#4 Host Autograph Sessions: One fundraiser that is always popular with the locals is an autograph signing. Here in Evansville, we are always seeing our local sports heroes come back and do autograph signings to help our community. Now, let's ask them to save Roberts Stadium.

There are several different paths we can take with this project. We can...

1. Host a general signing of all of Evansville's sports legends whether it be MLB, NBA, NFL, NCAA, or any other sport.
2. Host a session with only Roberts Stadium and Aces legends and players
3. Unveil a commemorative item of a certain player and have that player sign the item for everyone.

When I attended the University of Kentucky, the Markey Cancer Center joined forces with Makers Mark whiskey bottlers to release a special UK basketball bottle each year. The bottle was a limited edition and whoever was on the bottle would autograph it at an autograph session that was held once a year at the Keeneland racetrack. Here is the Joe B. Hall bottle...

http://news.uky.edu/news/Media/Hxsid2.jpeg

Like other basketball fans, I enjoyed collecting these bottles and getting them signed. I firmly believe that both the Evansville Aces and Roberts Stadium have both the resources and the history to pull off a project like this as well.

We need to get our local athletes involved in saving Roberts Stadium.

#5 Sell Naming Rights To The Four Entrances At Roberts Stadium: Make no mistake, Roberts Stadium is Roberts Stadium and shall always be Roberts Stadium. Hank Roberts served us well and his family name should never ever be taken down from the building.

With that being said, there are places inside Roberts Stadium that we can sell naming rights to without losing the Roberts Stadium name. Take a look at a diagram of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis...

http://www.colts.com/images/lucasoil_map.jpg

Indianapolis uses this concept perfectly. While keeping the name Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis also sold naming rights to Sprint, HHGregg, Huntington, and Lucas Oil again for the 4 entrance gates. We have the perfect opportunity to do the same.

Roberts Stadium is extremely unique in the sense that all four of its entrances are basically separate rooms. For a fair amount of sponsorship money, we can sell naming rights to all four rooms. Even better is the fact that these four sponsors will be able to deck their room out without bothering the general area of Roberts Stadium, they will be able to stage meetings there without affecting the rest of the stadium, and none of these sponsors will affect the name Roberts Stadium. A win-win for everyone.

#6 Host Benefit Concerts: A few months ago, I was talking with the interested investor about possible funding ideas for Roberts Stadium. One of the ideas he came up with was his deep connections to mid-size concerts. He even said he could have been ready to host the concerts this summer. Unfortunately, we will have to wait til next year to get the concerts going, but the idea is definitely a good one.

Since Roberts Stadium would be hosting a lot of mid-size concerts if its floor is raised, why don't we put on concerts to raise revenue to renovate Roberts Stadium? It would make perfect sense. It would also give the Evansville community a sneak peak at a reinvented Roberts Stadium.

#7 Open Up A Small Roberts Stadium Team Store: One thing that never made it to the market this past year was a line of Roberts Stadium gear. I found that to be quite interesting that very few things with Roberts Stadium on them made it to the market in the final year of Roberts Stadium. I think we need to change that. Would a team store make a ton of money that would be able to handle the majority of our renovations? Probably not. But would it put a fair dent in the amount of money we need to renovate Roberts Stadium? Yes, I believe so.

If you to Rememberthespectrum.com you will see that they did a great job for Philadelphia's Spectrum in its final season.

What would a Roberts Stadium team store have in it? I believe the following should be considered...

-Posters
-Shirts
-Pennants
-Pins
- Sell Replica's of Roberts Stadium. The Book Broker did this promotion with Bosse Field ( I have one) and it went over really well. I'd like to see replica's of the first Roberts, the current Roberts, and the new arena. I have a ton of these replica's and they bring in a lot of money for teams looking to raise funds.

We could do the team store inside the current Roberts Stadium ticket office. The whole system is already set up for us. It would also allow us to set up our shop without having to pay rent to another entity.

Once we raise enough money we can start the renovations. If worse comes to worse, we can ask city hall for the remainder of the . However, if we give an effort to do this taxpayer free AND pitch this as "this your opportunity to come out and support Roberts by buying something" than I feel like we will have a really good plan going forward.

Let's make funding personal, LET'S SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!

Nashville Did The Right Thing

(ams-net.org)

Like Evansville now, Nashville had an arena dilemma back in the 1990s. The city was desperate to bring the NHL to town and knew they needed a new arena to make this happen. In 1996, Nashville constructed a brand new 20,000 seat arena now known as Bridgestone Arena. In turn, this move attracted the Nashville Predators as a NHL expansion team.

Once construction of Bridgestone Arena was complete, Nashville had two arenas. Let's take a look at how they handled it.

Meet The Nashville Municipal Auditorium

(cranchedfornow.blogspot.com)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_Municipal_Auditorium

Constructed in 1962, the Auditorium was the first public assembly facility in the Mid-South with air-conditioning.

In 1967, the auditorium accommodated the Country Music Association's first CMA Awards festivities, before the ceremonies moved to the Grand Ole Opry House the following year.

The walls of the upper and lower concourses are decorated with enlarged ticket stubs for events and concerts the auditorium has hosted between the venue's debut in 1962 and 2010.

You can view a full list of events hosted at Nashville Municipal Auditorium here...

http://www.google.com/search?q=nashville+municipal+auditorium&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=&rlz=1I7GGLL_en#q=nashville+municipal+auditorium+history&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&prmd=ivns&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=iUAuTsO0Asbj0QH44aHdAQ&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=12&sqi=2&ved=0CH8Q5wIwCw&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=54beadcffa8a1ca5&biw=1280&bih=603

Due to its aging structure, Nashville Municipal Auditorium lacked modern amenities to attract premier concerts, NHL hockey, and NBA basketball. This prompted the city of Nashville to begin construction of Bridgestone Arena instead of renovating the current arena.

Meet The Bridgestone Arena

(stadiumjourney.com)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgestone_Arena

The Bridgestone Arena is owned by the Sports Authority of Nashville and Davidson County and operated by Powers Management Company, a subsidiary of the Nashville Predators National Hockey League franchise, which has been its primary tenant since 1998. The Predators hosted the NHL Entry Draft here in 2003.

In 1997, it was the venue of the United States Figure Skating Association national championships, and in 2004 hosted the U.S. Gymnastics championships. It was the home of the Nashville Kats franchise of the Arena Football League from 1997 until 2001, and hosted the team's revival from 2005 to 2007, when the Kats folded.

The venue has also hosted numerous concerts and religious gatherings, and some major basketball events, including both men's (2001, 2006, 2010) and women's tournaments of the Southeastern Conference and the Ohio Valley Conference. Since 2002, it has also hosted a PBR Built Ford Tough Series bull riding event every year (except in 2005 and 2006) until 2010. The event moved to this venue in 2002 after having previously occupied the Municipal Auditorium from 1994 to 2001; during the venue's first year hosting this event, the Built Ford Tough Series was known as the Bud Light Cup.

The venue hosted numerous WWE events since 1997, including Judgment Day in 2002.

In odd-numbered years, the arena was regularly one of eight sites to host the first and second rounds of the men's NCAA Basketball Tournament for the first ten years of its existence, though it was taken out of the rotation for several years (the arena will host the event again in 2012), partly due to the obsolete octagonal mid-1990s-style scoreboard that hung above the arena floor. It was replaced in the summer of 2007 by a new $5 million scoreboard and digital control room.

Currently, Bridgestone Arena serves as Nashville's premier arena. It currently hosts the Nashville Predators and may one day welcome a NBA team to town.

Once Bridgestone Arena took many of Municipal Auditorium's events such as professional bull riding, premier concerts, NCAA tournaments, and other miscellaneous events to go with its figure skating championships and professional hockey, the big question of what to do with Municipal Auditorium loomed large over Nashville. Should it be torn down, renovated, or kept as is?

In my opinion, Nashville made the best decision for their community. After undergoing a small renovation in 1993, Municipal Auditorium was repositioned as a mid-size arena.

From the Nashville Municipal Auditorium article again....

Having served the greater Nashville area with many diverse events for almost 50 years, today the Auditorium is a popular venue in Nashville for major touring family shows, such as Sesame Street Live, The Wiggles, The Doodlebops, Barney, Bob the Builder,Disney Live, Harlem Globetrotters, and the annual Al Menah Temple Shrine Circus.

The venue continues to serve niche concert markets, such as alternative rock, rock'n' roll, heavy metal, pop, R&B, urban, oldies and Hispanic concerts.

Due to the damage incurred to the Grand Ole Opry House during the May 2010 Tennessee floods, the NMA hosted the June 8, 2010 edition of the Grand Ole Opry. NMA also hosted an Opry show in 1973.

The Auditorium is also a popular venue for religious events, having hosted Mt. Zion Baptist Church New Day Conference, Teenmania's Acquire the Fire, Dare 2 Share Ministries, and the Tennessee Baptist Convention Youth Evangelism Conference.

The Music City Stars, then known as the Nashville Broncs, an American Basketball Association expansion team, began its inaugural season at the NMA in November 2008.

It is currently home to the Nashville Roller Girls, a flat track roller derby league, and a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.

Sometime in 2012, the auditorium will begin housing the Musician's Hall of Fame and Museum. The museum was forced from its previous building as a result of the construction of the Music City Center. The Hall of Fame will move into the sparsely-used Exhibit Hall on the bottom floor of the Auditorium building, and the official name of the entire building will change to Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum at Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

Having Municipal Auditorium as the new home for the Musician's Hall of Fame and Museum turned out to be a major asset for downtown Nashville...

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/15127264/musicians-hall-of-fame-museum-moving-to-municipal-audituriom

These past few years, Nashville has decided to build a new convention center and a new convention center hotel (sound familiar?) next to Bridgestone Arena without demolishing their current convention center and hotel (which will become a medical trade show building). To accomplish this, Nashville needed the land where the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum sat on.

If Nashville would not have kept their Municipal Auditorium, they would not have had a place to relocate the museum too and most likely would have lost it. Now, an estimated 30,000 tourists will be coming to the museum each year. Although the two arenas don't have a no-compete clause, all of this was accomplished without harming each others business.

We're always being told that we should replicate Corpus Christi and Toledo who demolished their arenas. But why not replicate cities such as Nashville and Canton. The following are lessons I think we can learn from Nashville.

1. Just because you have two arenas doesn't mean that they will compete. Like Canton, Nashville uses their new arena for premier activities and their old arena for mid-size events. Nashville has the market cornered on two different entertainment markets.

2. Evansville will be mixed up in a Cause & Effect model. In an earlier post, I talked about how one of our projects will affect our other projects. This was the case in Nashville. Without Municipal Auditorium, Nashville would not be breaking ground on their new convention center and hotel without sacrificing a museum that attracts 30,000 visitors a year. We too need to make sure all of our buildings and parks are working together so that we can corner the mid-size arena market, the premier arena market, and the softball fields market at the same time.

3. Patience will pay off. If you look at Municipal Auditorium during the 1990s, you will notice it was holding on for dear life. However, team by team, event by event, Municipal Auditorium has filled up the majority of its schedule. We too must be patient with our Roberts Stadium project.

4. A no-compete clause solves nothing. Instead of fearing that our two arenas will compete, why don't we make sure they compliment each other? Nashville does this perfectly. When organizers are considering where to host their event, Nashville uses both arenas as a package deal to attract these organizers to town AND IT WORKS! We need to use our arenas as a package deal as well.

5. Old arenas are an asset not a liability. Nashville has treated their Municipal Auditorium as an asset to their community. As a result, the arena is filled on a daily basis and the area around it is growing while Bridgestone Arena and the area around it is growing as well. Everyone is winning in Nashville.

Lately, our local leaders have looked at Nashville to replicate various projects such as city-county consolidation and our ball fields project. If these same city leaders would look at how Nashville handled their transition from one to two arenas, they would see just how we need to handle our current situation.

Let's make sure our two arenas work together, LET'S SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!

City Hall's Next Move: SABOTAGE!

(Beastie Boys album via virginmedia.com)

Despite the fact that city hall's support for demolition is becoming more and more unpopular each day, they have decided to try one last trick to undercut Roberts Stadium and her supporters.

Our local watchdog the City-County Observer is reporting that city hall has set yet another closing date for Roberts Stadium...

http://city-countyobserver.com/2011/07/20/roberts-stadium-to-be-shuttered-on-september-17th/

Sources within SMG have advised the City County Observer that they have
been given notice to vacate the building by September 17, 2011. The 60 day
notice was served upon SMG officials as is consistent with their operating
agreement.

A few weeks ago, the Parks Department decided to take it upon themselves to set a closing date of August 3rd...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/jun/17/evansville-proposes-closing-date-roberts-stadium/

As soon as it was revealed that the Parks Department and city hall had decided to start closing down Roberts Stadium before the new arena is even scheduled to open, a red flag has gone up in the minds of most local residents.

What sense does it make to close down Roberts Stadium before the new arena opens? What sense does it make to close down Roberts Stadium PERIOD if you don't have a plan for it?

Only city hall knows the answer to these questions, but now we may have an idea of why they are doing it....

(From the CCO link above)

Earlier this week we also learned that key pieces of the infrastructure of Roberts Stadium were being removed just after the upcoming Kenney Chesney concert making Roberts incapable of hosting any events.

This new piece of information makes you wonder if sabotage is the whole reason behind this early closing. What is sabotage?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabotage

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through
subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction.

Since both arenas are owned by our city, we could be witnessing self-sabotage of Roberts Stadium so that it cannot compete with the new arena. If true, this action would seem to be the last hope of demolition supporters inside city hall to take one last shot at knocking down Roberts Stadium.

Those who support demolition know they are losing this battle. They know Roberts Stadium is in a much better condition than they want you to believe, they know it makes much more sense financially to simply raise Roberts Stadium's floor and bring in 2-3 minor league teams, trade shows, mid-size concerts, and youth sports tournaments, and they know the residents of Evansville want this local icon preserved so that this building will tell Evansville's story to future generations.

City hall's latest move is a move straight out of a Beastie Boys music video...



Now, instead of demolishing Roberts Stadium from the outside, those in city hall who support demolition have decided to gut Roberts Stadium from within. Once they have taken all that they can get, they will then tell you that there is nothing left to save. Once more, they will fail.

I am being told that items such as curtains and maintenance equipment will be removed from Roberts Stadium and placed inside the new arena. While this will certainly be a hindrance to future Roberts Stadium events, it WILL NOT be enough to prevent us from reusing this great arena as a mid-sized arena.

Demolition supporters have severely underestimated the knowledge, the will to speak up, and the desire to fight for preservation that almost all of our local residents possess. They are firmly betting against the people of Evansville and it will back fire on them miserably.

I found one part of this article to be highly ironic given the recent developments...

http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=286997

One could say the termination of the city's contract with SMG is far from surprising. The city hired VenuWorks earlier this year to run the new downtown arena. That decision came after the city said SMG was doing a poor job running the stadium. It complained of everything from broken toilets and chipped walls, to damaged equipment and littered storage areas.

Yet, they are pulling all kinds of goodies out of Roberts Stadium to take to the new arena. If SMG managed Roberts Stadium that bad, wouldn't all the equipment be beyond repair? If you were managing both arenas and you felt like SMG let Roberts Stadium fall apart, would you put any of their equipment in your brand new $127 million arena? Of course not. I am proud of the decades of service SMG has given us, and I am embarrassed that my city is treating them this way.

Most importantly, a broken toilet(s), a chipped wall(s), a littered storage area(s), and damaged equipment is nothing that cannot be repaired (especially if the damaged equipment ends up moving downtown). If the roof was falling in on Roberts Stadium, if the walls were knocked in, or if the ground was torn up, we might have trouble renovating Roberts Stadium, but they aren't.

I support the new arena 110%, but I truly expect a broken toilet, a chipped wall, or a littered storage area to happen right out of the gate. It happens. These are facilities that handle thousands upon thousands of guests at one time. Minor things like that are going to happen constantly. You repair them and you go on. Like Mr. Rick Davis said on the show Newsmakers...

" If you have a leaky basement, you don't tear down the house."

Also, it appears that those who insist on sabotaging Roberts Stadium and closing it down early don't even have the guts to go public with their plan.

Closing down Roberts Stadium NEVER APPEARED on the Parks Department's agenda...

http://city-countyobserver.com/2011/07/20/parks-board-meeting-agenda-july-20-2011/

This begs the question: What government entity inside city hall is really behind the decision to close Roberts Stadium down early?

We may or may not ever know the answer to that question, but if there is one organization that can find the answer , it is the City-County Observer. I will keep you posted on anything they find out about the early closing of Roberts Stadium.

In the meantime, I want you the supporters of Roberts Stadium to remain patient, active, and supportive of Roberts Stadium. It's going to be many, many months before we get our chance to put together a plan for Roberts Stadium so I hope you will be willing to be patient with this process as we will have several more storms to weather.

I appreciate all of the support you the viewers have given this blog. I never would have dreamed nearly 12,000 people would come to this site, but you showed up and you showed up in mass quantities. I thank you and ask for your continued support as we continue the battle to Save Roberts Stadium!

Email Mayor Weinzapfel, the Courier & Press, both councils, the Vanderburgh County Commissioners, the Parks Department, and anyone else you believe can make a difference inside city hall. Let them know, you want city hall to stop the self-sabotage!

(dvdtrainingvideo.com)

Just How Much Is Roberts Stadium Worth?

(www.latrishajacobs.com)

"Just How Much Is Roberts Stadium Worth?" That has been a question many have wondered about. There have been rumors that a study was commissioned to answer this exact question and came up with $19-$20 million for Roberts Stadium and $5 million for the parking lot.

For the record, I have never seen this study/report so I cannot confirm this rumor to be true. If you have knowledge of this study please send it my way (JordanBaer1@gmail.com). If someone shows me the study/report, I will pass it on to you the viewers of this blog.

In the meantime, we will take a stroll through the Vanderburgh County Assessor's website...

http://www.vanderburghassessor.org/GeneralSearch.aspx

If you look at the interactive map of Evansville, you will see that Roberts Stadium and its parking lot falls on two different parcels. They are 82-06-22-017-034-004-027 & 82-06-22-017-034-003-027.

You can view the details of each parcel here...

http://www.vanderburghassessor.org/Default.aspx?PID=82-06-22-017-034.004-027

http://www.vanderburghassessor.org/Default.aspx?PID=82-06-22-017-034.003-027

You will see that the first parcel, which includes the vast majority of Roberts Stadium and its eastern parking lot, has the following value...

Valuation Record

True Tax Values:

Land:$5,437,200
Improvements: $9,711,200
Total: $15,148,400

You will see that the second parcel, which includes a small chunk of Roberts Stadium, its western parking lot, and Swonder Ice Rink & Hartke Pool, has the following value...

Valuation Record

True Tax Values:

Land:$3,839,800
Improvements: $491,500
Total: $4,331,300

With land values and improvements of both parcels, we get a grand total of $19, 479,700.

(On a side note: Kleymeyer Park is divided into 2 parcels as well. The parcel that would contain our 8 ball fields is worth $8.3 million)

With that being said, it is important to understand several disclaimers here...

1. The second parcel includes both Swonder Ice Rink and Hartke Pool, thus the overall value is lower than the $19 million + figure.

2. If you go to the Vanderburgh County Assessor's website, you will see that this is just a rough estimate. It is not intended to give us a concrete figure that will replace any official appraisals.

So that we can make a fair argument against demolition supporters, I will take the following two steps...

1. Since we do not know what the land value of Roberts Stadium would be with a different structure on it, I will eliminate both land values from the estimate.

2. Since the western parcel contains both Swonder Ice Rink and Hartke Pool, I will eliminate the western parcel entirely from our argument.

After taking these two steps, we are left with the improvements made to the eastern parcel since it was acquired by the Hank Roberts administration in 1954. This figure is $9,711,200.

Although the stadium is worth much more when you factor in the other outside factors, we will use the rough estimate of $9,711,200.

To me, this estimate speaks for itself. Why would we pay $1 million, $1.25 million, $1.5 million, $2 million +, or whatever the current demolition estimate is to demolish a building that is worth nearly $10 million? That doesn't make sense at all.

Of course, demolition supporters will say that they will build a structure worth more on the land. Yet, here we are over a year into the Roberts Stadium debate and they have failed the produce anything that will compete with Roberts Stadium.

First they tried the ball fields. Yet these fields were $18 million to construct. Then they claimed they wanted a park. Yet, we saw first hand during the ball fields debate that maintenance costs would either be the same or higher than maintaining Roberts Stadium (which will be significantly lower if we raise the floor) while the Parks Department has told us they cannot take on any new parks.

If we were to demolish Roberts Stadium, we wouldn't be just demolishing great memories, great history, and great architecture. We would also be demolishing a building worth much more than it would cost to demolish it and construct something new.

It should be very clear to the city of Evansville that we need to save our $9,711,200 stadium!

(financialhack.com)

Now Canton, Ohio Is Moving Ahead Of Us

(nbdl.com)

As we sit here and debate if Roberts Stadium can continue to serve the Evansville community, yet another city has decided to move ahead of us.

Canton, Ohio, with a population of 73,007 residents, has stepped up to the plate to keep their vintage arena going strong.

On July 7th, the NBDL announced that the Cleveland Cavaliers have purchased the NBDL's New Mexico Thunderbirds and will relocate the franchise to Canton, Ohio this fall...

http://www.nba.com/dleague/canton/cavaliers_canton_110707.html (nbdl.com)

“We are very excited and looking forward to a great partnership with the City of Canton, fans and the surrounding community,” said Cavaliers President Len Komoroski. “We have a strong connection with the Canton regional market and we are excited to further engage our fans with a first-class basketball and entertainment experience. We will be active in the community and will work hard to earn support from our fans here.”

So where will this new NBDL team be playing?

"The Cavaliers’ new affiliate will play the 2011-12 season at the Canton
Memorial Civic Center. "

The fact that the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to move their top minor league affiliate to Canton's Memorial Civic Center speaks VOLUMES about what we can do here with Roberts Stadium. Let's take a look at Canton's Memorial Civic Center...

(iavm.org)

http://www.cantonciviccenter.com/civcentinf.php

(Note: I have bolded the lines and words that I want you to compare to our Roberts Stadium situation)

The Canton Memorial Civic Center has been located in the heart of downtown Canton, Ohio, since 1951.

The Canton Memorial Civic Center is owned by the City of Canton, and managed by SMG. SMG manages over 200 buildings worldwide, including the Huntington Center in Toledo, the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, and the Louisiana Superdome, just to name a few.

Under the new direction of SMG, the Canton Memorial Civic Center has turned itself
around and is positioned to be the premiere entertainment stopping point in the area for concerts of every genre, family shows, sporting events, as well as many community and civic events.

In 2010, the Ultimate Indoor Football League called the Canton Memorial Civic Center the home of a new team in their league, the Canton Cougars.

The Canton Memorial Civic Center can hold up to 5,200 guests in the arena, and up to 600 guests in the McKinley Room, which is the banquet facility on-site. The McKinley Room hosts many wedding receptions, meetings, and dinners, annually.

Let's take a look at how our Roberts Stadium stacks up with Canton's Memorial Civic Center...

Year Built:
Civic Center: 1951
Roberts Stadium: 1956

Arena Operator:
Civic Center: SMG
Roberts Stadium: SMG

Seating Capacity:
Civic Center: 5,200 capacity: 3,500 permanent & 1,700 floor seating
Roberts Stadium: Fixed Seats 11,176 & Retractables 1040 (Note: It would be around 5,000-6,000 if the floor is raised)

On-Site Parking:
Civic Center: 1,500
Roberts Stadium: 4,000

On-Site Banquet Room(s):
Civic Center: McKinley Room holds 600
Roberts Stadium: Two Rooms for a combined capacity of 378

Tenants for 2012:
Civic Center: Canton Cougars (Indoor Football), Ohio Vortex (Indoor Soccer), Canton NBDL ( Minor League Basketball)
Roberts Stadium: TBA

The last line pretty much sums up why Canton is welcoming a NBDL team this week and we are not. While city hall refuses to study reuse alternatives for Roberts Stadium, such as raising the floor and bringing in indoor soccer, indoor football, and minor league basketball, Canton is giving SMG and Civic Center activists the green light to pursue as many tenants as possible.

Make no mistake, Canton is struggling. According to the 2010 census, Canton's population declined 9.7%. Canton has decided to hold off on building a new arena, which would attract premium concerts and shows. Currently, those events go to Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena which is 60 miles from Canton, or the Covelli Centre in Youngstown which is 58 miles from Canton.

Some of you are probably still saying, " Yea, that's great but all Canton did was make their Civic Center their premier arena instead of building a new one. If Canton does build a new arena they will be forced to close their Civic Center as well."

Well, let's take a look at some of the events that have performed at the newly built Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio (which is managed by SMG as well), and let's take a look at the events that are being hosted at Canton's Civic Center....

(wikipedia.org)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covelli_Centre

Selected events

October 17, 2009 - Kelly Clarkson
November 4, 2009 - Daughtry
November 12, 2009 - Gaither Vocal Band
February 2, 2010 - Shinedown, Puddle of Mudd & Skillet
March 18, 2010 - Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Red & Thousand Foot Krutch
May 1, 2010 - Elton John (Sold out in 30 minutes)
June 26, 2010 - WWE Raw World Tour
September 18, 2010 - Montgomery Gentry
October 9, 2010 - Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper
April 12, 2011 - Goo Goo Dolls
May 6, 2011 - Tim Mcgraw
May 22, 2011 - Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top
July 29, 2011 - Mötley Crüe and Poison
October 7, 2011 - Gaither Homecoming 2011 Tour



(both photos obtained from cantonciviccenter.com)

http://www.cantonciviccenter.com/calendar.php

Upcoming Events:

Friday, August 5th Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival's Fashion Show Luncheon

Friday, August 5th- Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival's Enshrinee's
Dinner

Sunday, August 7th-Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival's Gameday
Roundtable

Wed, Aug 17 - Sun, Aug 21 35th Annual Grecian Festival Drive-in

Tuesday, October 11th-Star kCounty College and Career Fair

If you scan through the rest of the Civic Center's schedule, you will notice cheerleading sessions, dances, and more career fairs. As you can see, there is a HUGE difference in the trade shows, dinners, fashion shows, drive-ins, and career fairs at Canton's Civic Center than the Kelly Clarkson, Elton John, Montgomery Gentry, Rob Zombie, Tim Mcgraw, and Motley Crue concerts at Youngstown's Covelli Centre just down the road.

In a nutshell, this is EXACTLY the case I have been trying to make for Roberts Stadium as a mid-sized arena. In no way, shape, or form should Roberts Stadium or our new arena compete. In fact they should compliment each other.

In Canton, the NFL Hall of Fame Game is played at Fawcett Stadium while the newest members to the Hall of Fame are inducted right in front of the NFL Hall of Fame building. However, the events leading up to these two big moments are held at Canton's Civic Center.

While we will never ever get the NFL Hall of Fame here, we too must allow Roberts Stadium to work hand-in-hand with our new arena. If done correctly, Roberts Stadium will host the dinners, lunches, and preliminary events leading up to the large ceremonies being conducted at our new arena which I hope will one day be NCAA basketball tournament games.

I have been making the case that we need the NBDL here for some time now...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2010/11/making-case-for-nbdl.html

I talked to Commissioner Winnecke and Mayor Weinzapfel about placing a NBDL team in our new arena. Neither official was familiar with the NBDL and both believed that there would not be enough open dates at the new arena for the NBDL due to the fact the men's and women's Aces basketball teams and the Evansville Icemen were already moving in.

As you can see from the Canton situation, we are better off with the NBDL moving into Roberts Stadium anyways. Currently, the NBDL is looking at medium capacity, non-premium sized arenas for their business model. This is why it is vitally important to keep Roberts Stadium. We have a small arena in the Soldiers & Sailors Coliseum and we have a large, premium arena under construction in our downtown. If we demolish Roberts Stadium, we will be left with NO medium capacity, non-premium sized arena. Why would we want to pay almost $2 million to demolish this golden opportunity?

Lastly, some of you are still saying, " Well, that's great as well, but we don't have the Cleveland Cavaliers to buy a team and move it here."

Here in Indiana, the only current NBDL team we have is the Fort Wayne Mad Ants...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wayne_Mad_Ants

The Mad Ants are affiliated with three teams: The Milwaukee Bucks, the Indiana Pacers, and the Detroit Pistons. Currently, the NBDL is trying to realign so that each NBA team purchases one NBDL team and has an exclusive affiliation with them.

Take a look at the list of NBDL teams

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Development_League

Obviously, the Mad Ants are the closest franchise to Detroit.

Also, before the NBA's Pistons were the Detroit Pistons, they were the Fort Wayne Pistons...

(stores.homestead.com)

With that being said, it makes perfect sense for two things to happen now...

1. The Detroit Pistons purchase the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and obtain the exclusive rights to stock the team with their prospects.

2. The Indiana Pacers purchase the rights to an expansion team or purchase a current team and move it to Evansville's Roberts Stadium where they obtain the exclusive rights.

Like I said in my original post talking about the NBDL, Evansville is in a perfect basketball market. We have UK fans, IU fans, Purdue fans, Notre Dame fans, Ball State fans, UL fans, and KWC fans around us. Locally, we have UE and USI fans as well. Former UE Purple Ace Shy Ely plays for the Iowa Energy who just won the NBDL Title!

We can be like Canton. We can bring in NBDL basketball, indoor soccer, indoor football, trade shows, mid-size concerts, and small events in our meeting rooms at Roberts Stadium to go with the occasional youth indoor soccer and indoor basketball tournaments.

However, if we choose to demolish Roberts Stadium, we will be bypassed by yet another city. Back in the day, Evansville was as big as cities such as Cincinnati and Louisville. Today we aren't even close. Every time you propose doing something big around here, the response is always the same, " We aren't Cincinnati! We aren't Louisville!"

Well, if we demolish historic Roberts Stadium, we won't even be Canton, Ohio! Let's do the right thing, let's bring the NBDL to town and let's SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!

Why Are We Not Involving Our Local MLB Stars In Our Ball Fields Project?

(Major League Baseball)

As just about everyone within a hundred miles radius of Evansville knows, I am fighting with all my might to convince city hall to construct the ball fields at Kleymeyer Park, which is next to Bosse Field, instead of demolishing historic Roberts Stadium and building them at Wesselman Park.

I have given many, many reasons why I believe we should do this. If you look at the post below this one, you will see that we have the opportunity to help 12 groups. We have the opportunity to ....

1. Help Hamilton Golf Course
2. Help the current North High School building
3. Help EYFL
4. Help Bob Walthers
5. Help the Bosse Field District
6. Help Roberts Stadium
7. Help North Main Street finally connect to downtown Main Street
8. Help Wesselman Park grow around Roberts Stadium
9. Help increase the Innkeepers Tax revenue
10. Help the Parks Dept clean up a current park
11. Help the new arena with parking
12. Help the Evansville Otters find more revenue

With that being said, there still is one other group that I believe we need to reach out to, pay tribute to them, and ask them for guidance and help with our ball fields project. Who is this group and why should we reach out to them?

This group is none other than our local MLB stars. If you take a look at the list wikipedia has generated for us, you will notice that over the course of time we have had many MLB players either live here in Evansville, live in one of Evansville's surrounding counties, or play in Evansville at historic Bosse Field...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_in_Evansville

Notable Evansville athletes

Baseball

Alan Benes, MLB baseball player
Andy Benes, MLB baseball player
Jamey Carroll, MLB baseball player
Bob Coleman, MLB manager, Evansville minor league baseball coach, Indiana Baseball Hall of Famer
Charlie Dexter, MLB baseball player
Ervin "Pete" Fox, MLB player
Hank Greenberg, MLB Baseball Hall of Famer
Charles Knoll, MLB baseball player
Clarence "Big Boy" Kraft, MLB baseball player
Don Mattingly, MLB baseball player and coach
Edd Roush, MLB Baseball Hall of Famer
Jack Warner, MLB baseball player
Jeff Schulz, MLB baseball player
Jim "Lefty" Wallace, MLB baseball player
Paul Splittorff, MLB baseball player
Ray Newman, MLB baseball player
Sam Thompson, MLB Baseball Hall of Fame
Scott Rolen, MLB baseball player and 1997 NL Rookie of the Year
Al Schellhase, MLB baseball player
Syl "Sammy" Simon, MLB baseball player
Warren Spahn, MLB Baseball Hall of Fame

As I look through this list, I see many names on there that stick out to me. It makes you wonder: With all of these great players, why isn't Evansville reaching out to the current batch of MLB players for assistance in our ball fields project, and why isn't Evansville paying tribute to past MLB greats from the area?

If you will recall, the 8 fields that I propose the fields replicate are Tiger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Crosley Field, Sportsman's Park, the Polo Grounds, and Ebbets Field ( Take a look at these fields: http://www.bigleaguedreams.com/replica-fields ). Most of the players on the list above (if not all) have played in one of those parks during their career. Don't you think they would want to be a part of this project if we are going to replicate these fields at Kleymeyer Park?

One of the main people I would like the city to reach out to for this project is Mr. Don Mattingly.

Mr. Mattingly has done many great things for our city and for the game of baseball ( not counting his legendary career).

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mattingly was the owner of a restaurant here called "Mattingly's 23", after the uniform number he wore for most of his career.

In 2005, Mattingly launched Mattingly Sports, a baseball and softball equipment company, based primarily around the patented V-Grip baseball and softball bats. After watching his kids and their friends struggle to maintain the proper hitting grip, Don, along with co-inventor Jim Wells, created the V-Grip as a way to ensure the proper alignment of the hands and to keep the bat out in the hitter's fingertips.

Mattingly has also appeared in public service announcements airing on the Spike TV network advocating fathers spending time with their children as part of the "True Dads" campaign to encourage men to take an active role in their children's lives.

You can always find Mr. Mattingly doing something good for our local baseball organizations whether it be fundraisers, autograph signings, or hosting training camps.

If we are going to construct a ball fields project that replicates vintage MLB fields such as Yankee Stadium where Mr. Mattingly played his entire career for the Yankees, don't you think Mr. Mattingly might be interested in helping us get this project off the ground especially since the little league field he played at here in Evansville is in Garvin Park as well? Don't you think this would be the PERFECT opportunity to pay tribute to Mr. Mattingly as well as our other great MLB stars? Wouldn't that attract a whole lot more tourists and tournaments than Dunn's proposed fields at Wesselman Park?

To me, the answer to all of those questions is YES! We have an absolute golden opportunity with this ball fields project to do something special for our city. We need to pay tribute to those local residents who have played at the highest level of baseball.

If you recall, I talked about the opportunities we missed when we cancelled our new downtown ballpark project back in 2003...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/06/now-you-will-know-rest-of-story.html

As you see, the team that would be playing in that ballpark right now would be owned by Don Mattingly and Cal Ripken Jr.

Mr. Ripken, like Mr. Mattingly, has done so many wonderful things for the game of baseball. Ripken has made donations to many charity causes, including donations supporting research on Lou Gehrig's disease. Along with his brother Billy, he formed the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation to give underprivileged children the opportunity to attend baseball camps around the country and learn the game. The Foundation is a branch of Ripken Baseball.

In addition to controlling these camps and Ripken's minor league teams, Ripken Baseball operates for-profit camps and designs ball fields for youth, college, and professional teams. Cal Ripken youth leagues compete with Little League and are growing in importance while Little League shrinks.

Ripken gives speeches about his time in baseball and some of the lessons he has learned. Between 2001 and 2004, inclusive, Ripken served as commissioner of the White House Tee Ball Initiative of President George W. Bush, in which capacity he worked to promote the value of teamwork amongst players and volunteership amongst the public and helped to teach tee ball fundamentals to teams of children at the White House.

When we cancelled our downtown ballpark, we missed out on two great MLB All-Stars! However, this is our one opportunity to make up for that missed opportunity. If we reach out to athletes such as Scott Rolen, Jamey Carroll, Andy & Alan Benes, Don Mattingly, and Cal Ripken Jr., they will have the respect and the attention of Major League Baseball who can be an enormous asset to us if we are going to take back our Bosse Field district from the decay and despair that is diminishing it.

Do I know for a fact if these players will be willing to work with us to get this project done? No. But do I believe that we have a golden opportunity to pay tribute to each and every one of these men as well as give them a golden opportunity to serve their hometown once more? Yes, YES I DO!

Instead of demolishing historic Roberts Stadium and constructing 8 dull and boring ball fields on the site, why don't we do the correct thing? Why don't we build 8 ball fields at Kleymeyer Park that replicate vintage MLB ballparks so that we can pay tribute to our local MLB stars?

If city hall was smart, they would realize that it is time to make one more phone call to our bullpen to bring in our local legends to seal the deal on our ball fields project!

(eyefetch.com)