roadwarrior
10-22-2004, 10:39 PM
From the 10-22-04 Fargo Forum: Mike McFeeley:
Fargo needs an 8,000-seat, $75 million downtown hockey arena like it needs the Red River to crest at 41 feet.
For those unfamiliar with the nuances of dike levels, a 41-foot river would make scuba gear more valuable than sandbags in Fargo-Moorhead.
No. 1 question for the enthusiastic developers who want to build this ice palace: Who exactly do you think is going to play in it?
North Dakota State, with its foray into D-I, is 25 years from even thinking about adding hockey and 35 years from being able to do anything about it financially.
The Fargo high schools do, indeed, need a better facility than the Coliseum, but a 2,000-seat arena built at one-tenth the cost (or less) would serve them just dandy.
Seventy-five million clams for a junior hockey team? Don't insult us, please.
And speaking of insults, don't tell us it's "for the kids." Fargo youth hockey is in need of ice sheets to accommodate hordes of 9- and 10-year-olds, not 8,000-seat arenas with -- we presume -- luxury suites.
No, what Fargo "needs" (the quotation marks are there because we are smart enough to know the words "need" and "sports facilities" should only be very loosely associated) is a sparkling new basketball arena.
Downtown.
With about 8,000 seats.
In which the Bison men's and women's teams would play their games.
Paid for by a combination of private and public dollars.
(Full disclosure: Yours truly lives in Moorhead, so the public dollars part is really, really, really easy to propose.)
A new basketball arena would serve several purposes that a building tilted toward hockey would not.
Fargo needs (again, we use that word knowing it's a verbiage minefield) a top-notch hoops venue. The Fargodome is too big, the Civic Auditorium too small and the Bison Sports Arena too crummy.
A new arena would serve as a home to the Bison, as well as high school regional and state tournaments.
And the usual concerts and boat shows.
It would also get more people downtown than a hockey building with no major tenant. Or any tenants at all.
Imagine a Saturday night in December 2010, when the Bison men are hosting, say, Iowa State in a non-conference affair. There would be 6,500 people moseying downtown for the game. With a 7 p.m. tip-off, they would begin arriving at 5:30 for some dinner, some drinks, some socializing.
Downtown would be alive in a way city fathers can only dream about now.
For the record, NDSU would be OK with this.
Bison athletic director Gene Taylor said that while the university would prefer a new basketball arena to be on-campus near the dome, it would not turn up its nose at a downtown facility built with a private/public partnership.
"As long as we can have a priority similar to the one we have at the dome," Taylor said.
That means NDSU would want to be treated as the building's main tenant, picking and choosing the dates it wants.
A new arena could be crucial toward the Bison's success in Division I.
Taylor said that men's and women's basketball ultimately could produce the most revenue and provide the most positive publicity for NDSU.
"We're talking a lot now about Division I-AA football, but ultimately what's really going to make this thing really move forward and make people really take notice is when we qualify for the NCAA (men's) basketball tournament," Taylor said. "Women's basketball, too, will have a huge role in all this."
Taylor said NDSU makes money now on men's and women's basketball, drawing an average of about 3,400 for men's games and 2,400 for women's games.
"If we could draw 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 for basketball, that would be huge revenue stream for us," Taylor said.
So let's review. A new basketball arena would fill a need, have an immediate major tenant, help revitalize downtown and give NDSU a major boost in its D-I adventure.
It's a slam dunk. Forget hockey. Basketball is the name of the game.
Fargo needs an 8,000-seat, $75 million downtown hockey arena like it needs the Red River to crest at 41 feet.
For those unfamiliar with the nuances of dike levels, a 41-foot river would make scuba gear more valuable than sandbags in Fargo-Moorhead.
No. 1 question for the enthusiastic developers who want to build this ice palace: Who exactly do you think is going to play in it?
North Dakota State, with its foray into D-I, is 25 years from even thinking about adding hockey and 35 years from being able to do anything about it financially.
The Fargo high schools do, indeed, need a better facility than the Coliseum, but a 2,000-seat arena built at one-tenth the cost (or less) would serve them just dandy.
Seventy-five million clams for a junior hockey team? Don't insult us, please.
And speaking of insults, don't tell us it's "for the kids." Fargo youth hockey is in need of ice sheets to accommodate hordes of 9- and 10-year-olds, not 8,000-seat arenas with -- we presume -- luxury suites.
No, what Fargo "needs" (the quotation marks are there because we are smart enough to know the words "need" and "sports facilities" should only be very loosely associated) is a sparkling new basketball arena.
Downtown.
With about 8,000 seats.
In which the Bison men's and women's teams would play their games.
Paid for by a combination of private and public dollars.
(Full disclosure: Yours truly lives in Moorhead, so the public dollars part is really, really, really easy to propose.)
A new basketball arena would serve several purposes that a building tilted toward hockey would not.
Fargo needs (again, we use that word knowing it's a verbiage minefield) a top-notch hoops venue. The Fargodome is too big, the Civic Auditorium too small and the Bison Sports Arena too crummy.
A new arena would serve as a home to the Bison, as well as high school regional and state tournaments.
And the usual concerts and boat shows.
It would also get more people downtown than a hockey building with no major tenant. Or any tenants at all.
Imagine a Saturday night in December 2010, when the Bison men are hosting, say, Iowa State in a non-conference affair. There would be 6,500 people moseying downtown for the game. With a 7 p.m. tip-off, they would begin arriving at 5:30 for some dinner, some drinks, some socializing.
Downtown would be alive in a way city fathers can only dream about now.
For the record, NDSU would be OK with this.
Bison athletic director Gene Taylor said that while the university would prefer a new basketball arena to be on-campus near the dome, it would not turn up its nose at a downtown facility built with a private/public partnership.
"As long as we can have a priority similar to the one we have at the dome," Taylor said.
That means NDSU would want to be treated as the building's main tenant, picking and choosing the dates it wants.
A new arena could be crucial toward the Bison's success in Division I.
Taylor said that men's and women's basketball ultimately could produce the most revenue and provide the most positive publicity for NDSU.
"We're talking a lot now about Division I-AA football, but ultimately what's really going to make this thing really move forward and make people really take notice is when we qualify for the NCAA (men's) basketball tournament," Taylor said. "Women's basketball, too, will have a huge role in all this."
Taylor said NDSU makes money now on men's and women's basketball, drawing an average of about 3,400 for men's games and 2,400 for women's games.
"If we could draw 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 for basketball, that would be huge revenue stream for us," Taylor said.
So let's review. A new basketball arena would fill a need, have an immediate major tenant, help revitalize downtown and give NDSU a major boost in its D-I adventure.
It's a slam dunk. Forget hockey. Basketball is the name of the game.