Virginia Beach Arena=New Atlantic 10 Tourney Location???

[Sons of Mason]

Just to take a break away from the usual fire Hewitt rants and with the A10 tourney coming up, I thought I'd get the boards opinion on this. I came across this a few weeks ago and thought with the A10 being headquartered in Newport News, this new arena could be a strong candidate for future tournaments. Though the location would favor Virginia teams (especially the Art School) there are currently no A10 teams located in Hampton Roads, and I believe if St. Louis and Dayton were to bolt we'd expand further south. The arena's location will be across from the current convention center and few blocks from the beach. Not too familiar with the growth in the area, as I haven't lived down there since 2008. I did visit for a weekend last summer and they seem to be adding more along the strip and cleaning up the area. If anyone has more facts about this please share.

http://wavy.com/2014/12/09/council-approves-draft-of-va-beach-arena-agreement/

http://www.esgco.com/virginia-beach-arena/

 

[Vurbel]

If it favors vcu in any way, I'm against it. Let's see them win a tournament when it's not in their backyard.

 

[GMUgemini]

If it favors vcu in any way, I'm against it. Let's see them win a tournament when it's not in their backyard.

If it was a one or two year deal like the Pittsburgh and D.C. ones, I wouldn't be against it.

Speaking of D.C., it's in 2018 (or potentially year 3 of a new coach's regime -- can we dare to dream?)

 

[Sons of Mason]

If it favors vcu in any way, I'm against it. Let's see them win a tournament when it's not in their backyard.

I see your point, however if we don't match or surpass them while it is in DC, we only have urselves to blame.

 

[Sons of Mason]

If it was a one or two year deal like the Pittsburgh and D.C. ones, I wouldn't be against it.

Speaking of D.C., it's in 2018 (or potentially year 3 of a new coach's regime -- can we dare to dream?)

We can hope....... We can damn sure hope

 

[Vurbel]

I see your point, however if we don't match or surpass them while it is in DC, we only have urselves to blame.

If we have a product like we did five years ago when the tourney is in DC I do plan on our matching and surpassing them. I know I'll be there, unlike going to Brooklyn this year.

 

[Harry]

Virginia Beach is a fabulous place...in the summer. Not sure how much fun it would be in March when nothing is open.

 

[MasonFanatic]

I'd like to see the A10 rotate between around 4 different locations. Brooklyn, DC, Pittsburgh/Philly and Charlotte/Greensboro has been my suggestion in the past, but if this gets built, you could swap in Va Beach as the southern option.

 

[TweederGMU]

VA Beach is in the heart of nothing. Why would they waste 200 million dollars on a state of the art arena like this where they have 0 professional sports teams. That arena may get used 15-30 times a year with no professional sports team to call it home. No way in hell can they lure an NBA, Caps, or any other team to the glorious place of VA Beach, its just not a sports town.

I don't even think they have the population and interest to pack this place even with a minor league team of sorts to create a positive revenue stream.

Makes no sense to build this huge arena there with no teams to support it.

Why don't we take that money and give it back to the state and invest in our teacher's and raise their salaries with this money.

 

[Sons of Mason]

VA Beach is in the heart of nothing. Why would they waste 200 million dollars on a state of the art arena like this where they have 0 professional sports teams. That arena may get used 15-30 times a year with no professional sports team to call it home. No way in hell can they lure an NBA, Caps, or any other team to the glorious place of VA Beach, its just not a sports town.

I don't even think they have the population and interest to pack this place even with a minor league team of sorts to create a positive revenue stream.

Makes no sense to build this huge arena there with no teams to support it.

Why don't we take that money and give it back to the state and invest in our teacher's and raise their salaries with this money.

To be fair, from what I've heard the majority of the $200 million is privately funded. I believe it is costing the taxpayers $50 million, still a lot of money. They're taking a page out of the " If you build it they will come book," not sure how that's going to work out for them. Los Angeles is doing the same thing building an NFL size stadium, but that's LA. Like Harry mentioned, VA Beach is nice in the summer but (as was the case when I lived there for a year) a complete bore in fall and winter months. If they are committed to building up that part of VA Beach and providing entertainment for future events outside of the summer, I have no problem with it being a venue for the A10 tournament every once in a while.

On another note if VA Beach can convince private companies to come up with that kind of money for an unoccupied arena, Mr. Cabrera and Edwards better have Pat Dome 2 looking like a mini Barclays Center.

 

[gmujim92]

Va. Beach leaders have recognized (smartly) that there's a ceiling on the city's tax base as long as it relies almost entirely on tourism and military spending -- both of which tend to ebb and flow depending on the economy.

They're trying to bring people (and money, obviously) to the resort area for more than 3-4 months a year, and have built a bunch of nice new condos near the oceanfront in an effort to lure year-round residents there.

No idea whether this arena can work there without a major tenant like an NBA team, but since it's not my money funding the effort I'll be interested to watch its progress.

 

[Pablo]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5dgWyGE678

 

[Walter]

That would be impressive if they could build that without taxpayer money. I suspect the devil is in the details.

 

[gmujim92]

That would be impressive if they could build that without taxpayer money. I suspect the devil is in the details.

Walter, you know as well as I do that nothing of this magnitude gets built without some type of taxpayer funds.

I think the city is kicking in 50 mil for infrastructure, stuff like that.

Wouldn't be surprised at all if the project also will use some type of tax-increment financing -- it's a pretty slick way for developers to cover their asses in case projects go tits up while also allowing them to claim (with a semi-straight face) that said projects are "privately" funded.

It's all upside for developers, all risk for taxpayers. As usual.