Event Center

Breaking: Event Center Task Force meeting (today)

l3wis July 22, 2009 14Comments

I just attended a 3 hour EC Task Force meeting. Lots of interesting things happened, but the main things I took from the meeting were;

– The ECTF will probably endorse tearing down Howard Wood and building it in that location and

– They will recommend a 12-15,000 seat facility

I know we have been hearing these two things for awhile, but I think that after today’s meeting it is 99.9% set in stone, but let’s start from the beginning;

The meeting started out open to the public and they invited the Howard Wood Task Force to speak about their concerns, they basically came to the conclusion that they would get behind tearing down HW if they got a equal facility to replace it. While this discussion was going on I was amazed by how some ECTF members acted like money was no object. Darin Daby from the School board was very careful to say that they don’t have the money to move it, but also don’t have the money to keep up with upgrades and kind of made it sound like moving it was a wash. ECTF member Terry Baloun commented that the parking was needed. He said it costs $1200 to $1400 to build a hard surface parking space but it costs $17,000 to build a parking ramp space. He didn’t back that up with ANY evidence, but a city engineer(?) did back up the hard surface number, so I was suspicious. I did google it and the number I came up with is about $20,000. Daby mentioned it will probably cost about $20-$25 million to build a new stadium, but doesn’t have any hard numbers. The HWTF seemed to be okay with moving the stadium, but wanted what they have now with upgrades. Obviously there was no discussion of how it would be paid for.

This is where the meeting got interesting, they asked the public and media to leave, when we decided to stay someone had pointed out to Woster that it would be against open meeting laws and so he said it would be fine. Before the second part of the meeting started, Baloun tried to persuade us again to leave, but admitted he didn’t know the legality, so we were welcome to stay. He has actually very cordial about it, and I could tell he didn’t want any controversy. We were all pretty curious why they didn’t want the media and public there, then we found out why. Winkels surveyed the 18 member task force and he had the results of the survey. They will use the survey to put together there recommendations, that was pretty obvious.

Here are some of the results:

Should HW relocate? 15 – Yes 3 – no

Parking Ramp at HW?   9 – Yes 6 – No

30-32 Box Suites were suggested

Expand Convention Center? 16 – Yes 1 – No (by 75% square feet)

How big should it be? 12-15,000 seats with expandable seating for different events, and curtains to split it up if they need to. ( I found this interesting, because they can have the illusion that the facility would be used to it’s full capacity, when most of the time, it will probably not.

Some interesting discussion points;

– They have NO target tenant but said they will have an aggressive sales team selling the place.

– They mentioned that Fargo has been in the black since they have built the Fargo Dome because they built it big enough and that Sioux City has been in the red because they built it too small. (I had to laugh when I heard these arguments. First off, Fargo has a way bigger market then SF has, and as for Sioux City being in the red it is because they have too small of a market, even with taking 45% of there ticket sales from Lincoln and Minnehaha county they still operate in the red. That should tell us right there this facility will never make money or be used a capacity for years down the road. We should learn something from the SC comparison.

My conclusion is this;

– Don’t build a new EC at all

– Upgrade HW for $12 million in it’s current location

– Double the size of the convention center

– Refurbish the Arena

– Add a parking ramp

– and fund the whole project with a bed and booze tax. I think we are biting off more then we can chew.

Winkels mentioned to Staggers after the meeting they are shooting to do a formal proposal to the council and public in October. The next step of the Winkels group is to put together a cost performa report and different options.

We do need a new events center, but you are going in the wrong direction

l3wis July 19, 2009 21Comments

Not sure what the point of this letter is, because it is sure vague on details. I would think a task force member would know a little more;

The time for a new events center in Sioux Falls is now. With a new events center comes income for area businesses, more jobs and more opportunities for a variety of events that are educational and entertaining.

What opportunities? What jobs? What events? Like I said, I support a new events center, but if you are going to win over the public you better start giving us details.

As a group we have met twice a month for more than a year, gathering information and public opinion. We are getting closer, but a decision has not yet been made.

That part of the letter confuses me. If you haven’t made a decision yet what point are you trying to make?

The Arena is full for about a four-month period with our local sports teams and other annual events.

That statement alone is very telling. How are we going to fill a 15,000 seat event center then? I have often suggested we should just refurbish the Arena and add another 2,000 seats if we think the solution is to make us bigger. We can also expand the convention center at the same time.

So far we’ve been leaning toward keeping all of our facilities at the same site. We’re going to need places for people to park. I have learned that regardless of your opinion about Howard Wood Field, moving it opens up 1,400 parking spaces at the site.

Silly. Tearing down a very useable stadium to build parking spaces is dumb. Sioux Falls is relatively small, we don’t need to concentrate the facilities. I prefer we build it downtown, but I really don’t care where, just as long as it is not at the current location of the Arena. By building the EC in it’s own location, we create a unique business infrastructure around it. Putting the EC by itself will truly be good for new businesses.

The best thing about the Mayor’s Events Center Task Force is that we’re open-minded.

BAHAHAHAHAHA! You mean like when you hired a consultant and then said he didn’t know what he was talking about? A professional in the business of giving sound advice on building entertainment facilities?

We want to do the right thing, and we’re willing to look at a lot of options.

You may THINK you want to do the right thing, but you are going in the wrong direction, may I suggest instead of opening your mind you start listening to the professionals and public in our community instead of ‘telling’ us what is best.

The Gargoyle has a great live show about the Event Center

l3wis July 1, 2009 12Comments

I guess I was guest host of the show today (SCOTT). It was actually

a good opinion panel about the Event Center. Worth watching.

The Event Center Task Force; Three Strikes, you are out!

l3wis July 1, 2009 2Comments

Just one of the several “If we build it, they will come” boneheads that sit on the EC Task Force. I think we will pass on the advice from a fee harvesting thief that will soon be looking for a new job.

It’s time to replace the Event Center Task Force. They have it wrong on three fronts and no one seems to be calling them out on it until now. Scotty Hudson found this quote;

My new hero is Stampede chief executive officer Gary Weckwerth. Sure, he differs with me in that he does want a new facility built. At least he’s realistic about the city’s draw, saying that a 15,000 seat building is “monstrous for this community…I don’t want to see them over-build and have this big animal that sits empty and doesn’t work for the teams that play there”, he told the Argus. “Over the last 50 years, have we really outgrown the Arena that we have? The amenities and quality of it…is gone. But from a simple seat perspective, we have not outgrown the Arena as it sits today. And we never will.” Please, Mr. Weckwerth, run for Mayor.

Gary is right.  Not only is the plan too big, but the location has no entertainment infrastructure and funding it thru charging people more taxes on essential goods like food and utilities is assinine. But the task force doesn’t seem to get it;

Dykhouse and Woster said the task force still prefers a facility that seats more.
“I can’t see us going over 15,000, but I can’t see us going below 12,000,” Woster said.
“This isn’t about five to 10 years from now. This is about 25 or 30 years. We want to look 40 years down the road.”

Originally when I was still against the new Event Center my argument always was, “We don’t book the 7,000 seat Arena at capacity now, what makes us think we can book one twice the size?” Since the recession, that I believe will take the country 5-10 years to truly recover from, people have been finding different ways to spend their entertainment dollars. And buying $120 concert tickets isn’t one of them.

It’s time we fire the task force and start from scratch, again. Maybe the 3rd time is a charm.