Is the arena dead?

[JackHornet]

SH, San Diego is a different situation. The city just gave a billionaire owner a publicly financed stadium at the beginning of the last decade. Trust me; the taxpayers DO NOT want to go through those shenanigans again. To the credit of John Moores (Padres owner at the time) he did it the right way. He bought some players for a season and got to the World Series. The city fell in love with the Padres and the stadium initiative was passed by the voters and the rest is history.

If I were a resident of Sacramento, I’d be furious that pair of filthy rich Las Vegas casino owners were asking for a taxpayer handout. The advantage all these cities with teams threatening to leave have is there is not one city in America that has the money to build a stadium or arena for a team at the moment.

Every owner asks for a handout. How many of the NFL, NBA and MLB stadiums built the past 15 years have been privately funded? Not many. SF Giants is one of the very few privately funded stadiums.

In regards to the Padres, the rest wasn't history and because some city council members filed lawsuits on the way the referendum passed. The stadium that became Petco, would have opened at least 2 years earlier, if not for the lawsuits.

 

[SDHornet]

JH you are right. And had those lawsuit not been filed, the city would have saved millions and the stadium would have been constructed sooner. As shady as it all went down, it was still a voter approved initiative. Plus if you compare the area that Petco Park was built in with before and after pictures, you’d see the stadium did revitalize a neglected and homeless ridden area with nothing but crappy warehouses with a new stadium and new residential and commercial development. (Most of which is in or heading towards foreclosure. :lol: )

The Chargers are trying to use Petco as an example as to why they should be granted a downtown stadium as well. They fail to mention the lack of existing infrastructure that would support such an undertaking. And yes, I am sure the Chargers do not want to pay for said infrastructure. In a perfect world, the Chargers would build a new stadium right next to the Q, then demo the Q when the new stadium is built. The Q currently has light rail access, plenty of parking for tailgating (something that will disappear with a downtown stadium), and access to 2 major interstate highways (I-15 & I-8) with a 3rd state highway (CA-163) just a few miles west via a 6 lane road. Why the Chargers would want their new stadium hard to access for the fans is beyond me.

 

[cecesdada]

It's like the gay marriage stuff, the party who wants it keeps cramming vote, advisory, debate down everybody's throat until it eventually passes. In Sactowns quest to be something they will sell the city to the Maloofs. I bet in the end the city forks over the money. Or maybe the Roseville Kings?

Please don't equate people fighting for their civil rights to rich people trying to get a stadium built in hopes of making more millions.

 

[Kadeezy]

Gay marriage is not a civil rights issue cece. If you want to debate that, I'll see you in the politics forum of this board.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

Rich people, gay people, I don't care, the fact is it was voted and NO was the answer. Instead of taking NO as the answer they keep wasting taxpaper time, effort and money to debate it.

 

[cecesdada]

Gay marriage is not a civil rights issue cece. If you want to debate that, I'll see you in the politics forum of this board.

Okay....... you are not correct, but I agree that it should not be debated in the hoops forum.

 

[SactoHornetAlum]

Yes, please take this issue immediately to the politics forum. Thank you.

 

[JackHornet]

JH you are right. And had those lawsuit not been filed, the city would have saved millions and the stadium would have been constructed sooner. As shady as it all went down, it was still a voter approved initiative. Plus if you compare the area that Petco Park was built in with before and after pictures, you’d see the stadium did revitalize a neglected and homeless ridden area with nothing but crappy warehouses with a new stadium and new residential and commercial development. (Most of which is in or heading towards foreclosure. :lol: )

The Chargers are trying to use Petco as an example as to why they should be granted a downtown stadium as well. They fail to mention the lack of existing infrastructure that would support such an undertaking. And yes, I am sure the Chargers do not want to pay for said infrastructure. In a perfect world, the Chargers would build a new stadium right next to the Q, then demo the Q when the new stadium is built. The Q currently has light rail access, plenty of parking for tailgating (something that will disappear with a downtown stadium), and access to 2 major interstate highways (I-15 & I-8) with a 3rd state highway (CA-163) just a few miles west via a 6 lane road. Why the Chargers would want their new stadium hard to access for the fans is beyond me.

A stadium downtown wouldn't be hard to access. They said that about Petco but people find it is easy to get to Petco. Yes tailgating would be much tougher, if not impossible for a downtown location but the Chargers don't care about that.

 

[SDHornet]

JH you are right. And had those lawsuit not been filed, the city would have saved millions and the stadium would have been constructed sooner. As shady as it all went down, it was still a voter approved initiative. Plus if you compare the area that Petco Park was built in with before and after pictures, you’d see the stadium did revitalize a neglected and homeless ridden area with nothing but crappy warehouses with a new stadium and new residential and commercial development. (Most of which is in or heading towards foreclosure. :lol: )

The Chargers are trying to use Petco as an example as to why they should be granted a downtown stadium as well. They fail to mention the lack of existing infrastructure that would support such an undertaking. And yes, I am sure the Chargers do not want to pay for said infrastructure. In a perfect world, the Chargers would build a new stadium right next to the Q, then demo the Q when the new stadium is built. The Q currently has light rail access, plenty of parking for tailgating (something that will disappear with a downtown stadium), and access to 2 major interstate highways (I-15 & I-8) with a 3rd state highway (CA-163) just a few miles west via a 6 lane road. Why the Chargers would want their new stadium hard to access for the fans is beyond me.

A stadium downtown wouldn't be hard to access. They said that about Petco but people find it is easy to get to Petco. Yes tailgating would be much tougher, if not impossible for a downtown location but the Chargers don't care about that.

Yes and no. The city definitely stepped up and increased light rail train frequency to get most of the people in and out of downtown. It’s still a nightmare if you want to drive to a game and deal with downtown traffic. (And get raped for parking fees.) I think the big help was the Amtrak Coaster that shuttles people in from Oceanside and the north county beach areas. But then again, the Padres only draw about 15k on weeknight games so not having many people rush to the stadium for a game makes the headache of getting there seem less.

And no the Chargers don’t care about tailgating. Someone was telling me a while back that most of the tailgating fees go to the city as it is their parking lot. The Chargers (and any other professional franchise) wants you to drink in the stadium so they can collect concession revenue.

 

[JackHornet]

I think every big city can do the samething SD and many other cities have done; revitalize a rundown section of downtown. I hope one day Sac does the samething and builds an arena in downtown.

I think San Diego should do the same. Wouldn't it be weird if SD built an arena and the Maldoofs moved the team to SD?

Forgot to mention, no kidding about the foreclosures. I was thinking of buying a condo down there but good thing I didn't. I would have lost a ton of money. Good thing I got another job in LA, where I could rent a nice place near the beach.

 

[SDHornet]

I think every big city can do the samething SD and many other cities have done; revitalize a rundown section of downtown. I hope one day Sac does the samething and builds an arena in downtown.

I think San Diego should do the same. Wouldn't it be weird if SD built an arena and the Maldoofs moved the team to SD?

Forgot to mention, no kidding about the foreclosures. I was thinking of buying a condo down there but good thing I didn't. I would have lost a ton of money. Good thing I got another job in LA, where I could rent a nice place near the beach.

The revitalization that comes with a new stadium is nice, but it comes with a price.

San Diego has proven in the past that it does not support professional basketball. The Lakers have a firm grasp on any NBA fan base down here.

Yeah the 1000 sq. ft. high rise condos were pushing 500k and above at the peak 2 years ago. Now they have come way down and are almost affordable. I thought I wanted to live in a high rise condo once, but having a mortgage and an HOA payment on top of that really discouraged any thoughts of that.

 

[JackHornet]

I wouldn't judge something that happened 25 years ago- lack of support for a bad Clippers team, against the city of San Diego from getting a NBA team.

But no question the Lakers are very popular back down there.

 

[superhornet]

Jack --> Agreed about the Clip Show. Much of that lays at the feet of their owner, one of the worst in history. Also agreed about the Lakers, though why they embrace an egomaniac like Bryant who can't hold a candle to Johnson is beyond me.

 

[SJHornet]

Back to the issue of plan B, or lack there of. The renovation of the gym may be possible with a minimal structural expansion effort. move the walls behind the back boards out to put in bleachers and if possible the sides. If not put a "deck" above the current bleachers to have some seating up top. Anyway, I think Fordham University has done a good job of utilizing a small space. Their Rose Hill Gym looks roughly the same size as ours but fits in 3,200 after a renovation in 2003. Looks really nice too, (I like the look of the big window behind the backboard). Expand the gym now and focus on the arena when finances look better and students won't revolt at the idea of fee increases. A 3,000 seat gym is still small and not worthy of WAC membership, but it looks a whole lot better than a 1,200 high school gym.

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

 

[JackHornet]

There is no money to renovate the gym now. But expanding the gym would be a good idea.

But I think if Sac St can raise enough money, they should expand/renovate the gym AND build the arena.

What ever happened to the place we played in when we first got into the Big Sky?

 

[Green Laser]

There is no money to renovate the gym now. But expanding the gym would be a good idea.

But I think if Sac St can raise enough money, they should expand/renovate the gym AND build the arena.

What ever happened to the place we played in when we first got into the Big Sky?[/quote

Memorial Auditorium? Mostly empty, Seats about 4,000 for basketball, about 2 miles from campus.
Not ideal but certainly a available option. I remember that Pacific played in the Stockton Civic Memorial Auditorium (Identical to the Memorial Auditorium) Until the Spanos Center was built.

 

[Green Laser]

Hornet's Nest would be pretty hard to expand unless you could somehow add a second deck which could potentially double it's capacity. A alternative which was offered here a while ago and might be a better solution is to expand the North Gym. There is about 100’ feet between the existing wall of the North Gym and the road between it and the Health Center, with the potential of realigning the road further north if necessary. By doing this I think that you could double the square footage of the North Gym and possibly have enough room for bleachers to seat 4,000.
Again not a perfect solution, but a possible stop gap until a arena can be built.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

If the gym is renovated you can kiss off any new arena in our lifetime.

 

[SDHornet]

If the gym is renovated you can kiss off any new arena in our lifetime.

Exactly. Any expansion would just mean Hornet Gym would have more un-used seats. The arena is more than just a new facility for the basketball. I view it as a rallying cry to bring attention and excitement to the basketball programs. An expanded Hornet Gym would do none of this.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

If the gym is renovated you can kiss off any new arena in our lifetime.

Exactly. Any expansion would just mean Hornet Gym would have more un-used seats. The arena is more than just a new facility for the basketball. I view it as a rallying cry to bring attention and excitement to the basketball programs. An expanded Hornet Gym would do none of this.

An arena could be a money maker too, paid speakers, conventions/conferences, concerts, graduation (instead of paying Scrooge Maloof a rental), bridal shows, etc.

A renovated gym will be too small for graduation, is in a parking unfriendly part of campus and would be strictly a BB only venue.