When you’ve waited 54 years for a major sports championship, what is seven games? Surely that was the mindset that pervaded the city of Cleveland in June, as LeBron James and the beloved Cavaliers needed to go the distance against Golden State to make real the city’s greatest sports fantasy. (more…)
Archive | Miscellaneous
The numbers add up: KC’s Sprint Center doing just fine
Though there are no NBA or NHL teams playing in Sprint Center, the arena is doing just fine by one important measure: it’s generating economic activity in downtown Kansas City. (more…)
U.S. Figure Skating Championships set for Greensboro, St. Paul
The U.S. Figure Skating Championships schedule has been announced, with the 2015 event slated for Greensboro’s Greensboro Coliseum and the 2016 set for St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center. (more…)
Wenatchee asking state for $42M in arena bailout
The city of Wenatchee is seeking $42 million from the state of Washington to avoid defaulting on bonds used to build Town Toyota Center. The 4,300-seat arena and events facility is home to the Wenatchee Wild (NAHL) and other events. It was built by Global Entertainment and sold to a city arena authority for $52.4 […]
SMG retains New Orleans Arena management deal despite scare
SMG, which has held the management deal for the Superdome and New Orleans Arena for 30-some years without a competitive bid process, will retain the deal despite an attempt by some Louisiana lawmakers to put the contract up for bid. Legislation that would have required a new bid process was pulled from the table today. […]
We’re number one!
On the Internet, the numbers don’t lie: according to popular website-ranking service Quantcast, the combination of Arena Digest and Ballpark Digest is the most popular destination when it comes to sports-business coverage. According to Quantcast, the US rank of 55,816 for the Arena Digest/Ballpark Digest combo tops the Sports Business Daily Quantcast ranking of 57,310. […]
Evansville: We have plenty of arena parking
It’s always an issue when there’s a new downtown arena, but officials with a new downtown Evansville arena are taking great pains to reassure locals that there are plenty of parking spots within a shot walk from the facility. Every time there’s talk of a new downtown arena, inevitably a group of locals will spring […]
Wichita arena turns million-dollar profit in first year
Any city looking for a template for building a new community-based arena could do worst than emulate what Sedgwick County accomplished with a new Wichita arena, as the county was presented yesterday with a $1.1 million check covering taxpayers’ share of net building income. Overall, Intrust Bank Arena had a net building income of slightly […]
SMG takes over management of Stockton Arena
SMG is in and International Facilities Group is out on the management side of Stockton Arena, as the city looks for more entertainment booked at the seven-year-old arena. The deal calls for SMG to receive $270,000 annually for five years, as well as inventive payments tied to increased attendance and revenue at the waterfront facility. […]
The Week That Was: Dec. 19
It was a week where Glendale managed to keep the Phoenix Coyotes (NHL) by paying Matthew Hulsizer more than what the team is worth, when MSG upturned the Los Angeles music scene by negotiating a sale of the Fabulous Forum, and we visited Amway Center, the stunning new home of the Orlando Magic (NBA). The […]
MSG in process of buying the Fabulous Forum
{jathumbnail off} The Los Angeles concert scene should be considerably more competive if MSG is successful in buying the Fabulous Forum from Forum Enterprises for under $25 million; the plan is to upgrade the venerable facility into a world-class venue. The Los Angeles Times is reporting MSG is prepared to spend upwards of $25 million […]
Price tag for new Bangor arena: $70-80 million
{jathumbnail off} The price tag for a proposed Bangor (Maine) arena and convention center is between $70 million and $80 million — pretty standard these days, maybe even a little on the low side — but several members of the City Council said they were surprised by the amount. The price estimate came from Cianbro […]