Well, it’s pretty obvious that Mandalay Entertainment is looking to take as much of a public handout as they can- figuring if the city gave away the store for a ballpark- how much will they give us for a “Ballpark village?”
So- since no plans for a hockey rink for the AA Dayton Bombers are being talked about over on the river- even though MetroParks is about to spend millions to build an outdoor covered rink to the East of the lame micro-rink they put up in the winter- I thought I’d make some suggestions for locations:
Best location: Corner of Brown and Stewart Streets on the new UD parcel. With a parking garage, this would give the successful restaurant strip on Brown more night-time business- and provide a place for UD students to get some exercise and entertainment (a lot of UD students are from the East Coast- and know hockey). Besides being centrally located, this location would do what the placement of 5/3rd field and the Schuster Center failed to do- tie to existing other attractions- to build on strengths, instead of trying to be an anchor to build upon. If either of those other projects had been built near the Oregon District- the OD would be the hottest property in Dayton- and the Convention Center would be even more attractive.
Second best location– on the river where Metroparks is currently going to build the new rink. This is only good because it helps bring year round traffic to the Ballpark area. It would actually shore up the Ballpark business district into a viable year round destination.
Third best: Place it as a centerpiece to the Sportsplex- which would hopefully bring it’s own development around it- giving the area a winter draw to balance the summer draws of softball tournaments.
Forth best: Build it next to UD Arena- with a garage. This turns the area into one big stadium city. Good for attracting a mini-Olympics. However, there is nothing else to do here- no food, no drink, and pretty soon- no Stewart street bridge for a while.
What we need to build: a double sheet facility- with at least 6500 seats in the main arena and 1000 in the second sheet. This allows a training facility, and tournaments to come to town. I haven’t been to the new Goggin at Miami- but I hear it’s pretty nice. It should also be a year round facility- since year round ice in Dayton is scarce.
Give the Bombers the kind of sweet heart deal the City gave the Dragons- and this town will be hockey crazy once again. As to why the Bombers have a hard-time drawing at the Nutter- besides some brand and marketing issues? Go look at UD Arena- then go look at the Nut house- end of story. The Nutter was built by committee, and run by the government- it’s in need of some serious investment to make it work well for- anything.
And, of course- the reason I’m writing this:
Dayton Dragons (single A) President Bob Murphy told a House subcommittee Thursday that the team’s life in Dayton has been a successful one, bringing jobs to the city and revitalizing a previously blighted downtown.
Murphy, testifying before the House Government Reform Committee’s Domestic Policy Subcommittee that included Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, said the partnership has been successful in part because the city of Dayton capped its costs, asking partner Mandalay Sports Entertainment to assume all construction cost overruns and repair and maintenance…
Murphy said since the Dragons came to Dayton, the number of market rate housing units has nearly doubled, WorkflowOne located its corporate headquarters next door to the stadium and more than 580,000 baseball fans annually come downtown to an area they’d previously nearly abandoned.
“A city with the proper tools and engaged partners and the right economic deal can create something that’s not only a benefit to the community, it can be a force that can change the community forever,” he said.
read the whold DDN story on how donating a stadium to out-of-town millionaires benefits us all [1]
At least with an ice rink- us local yokels could play there when the “pro’s” aren’t- unlike 5/3rd field.
David,
It sounds like you are talking about Hara Arena. Right on the edge of Dayton with over 5,000 seats and a second sheet of ice in the North Hall of Hara with some seating and room for more. This is a privately owned facitlity that has had to continue to compete against other facilities that were built and continue to operate on public tax money. Hara was built with and operates on entirely private money. Are you suggesting creating more competition for them with public money?
Bruce-
Some of this post was tongue in cheek- since Bob Murphy is now testifying in Congress that building stadiums is good for the community. Hara suffers from 4 problems-
1)lack of good highway access,
2) poor visibility, low traffic counts, not much within walking distance
3) Upkeep- it’s in need of a serious overhaul.
4) It’s not centrally located.
I don’t think it’s fair that the Wamplers had to compete with the Nutter- and I don’t think the Bombers ever should have moved. That said, I still think that we could use more ice in Dayton- and a centrally located facility would be great (I still play).
And- unlike the Dragons- the Bombers would share their ice- I’ve played at the Nutter a bunch of times- how many people have played at 5/3rd field?