CSNbbs

here's a new video of our new arena:

link

looks nice, but I hope they have something better than "downtown arena" all over it

(03-20-2009 05:11 PM)Fanatical Wrote: [ -> ]looks nice, but I hope they have something better than "downtown arena" all over it

It'll be corporate logos and crap all over where the "downtown arena" signs are.

(03-20-2009 05:11 PM)Fanatical Wrote: [ -> ]looks nice, but I hope they have something better than "downtown arena" all over it

Inside, you'll be able to pick up a snack at "Hot Dog Stand # 1".

Seriously - it looks great. I'm jealous.

(03-20-2009 05:11 PM)Fanatical Wrote: [ -> ]looks nice, but I hope they have something better than "downtown arena" all over it

"Downtown Arena" still beats "Long John Silver's Center"

While I will miss Freedom Hall (lot of good memories and history in that building), I am excited about our new arena. Here are a few facts about the new downtown arena.

• The arena will open in November 2010.
• The arena will seat a minimum of the following: 22,000 for basketball; 16,000 for ice shows, arena football, indoor soccer and the circus; 17,500 for end stage concerts; 22,000 for center stage concerts, wrestling and NCAA volleyball; 16,000 for NCAA wrestling
• The arena will have 2,054 Lower Level club seats and 800 Terrace Level club seats.
• The arena will have 71 luxury suites on two levels, 4 party suites, and 62 junior suites.
• The arena will feature 27 permanent concession stands with 32 portable concession locations.
• The Arena will have four rooms (total of 32,000 square feet), three of which overlook the Ohio River, a 7,000 square foot restaurant overlooking the river, and a main concourse sports bar with view to the Arena bowl that can be leased for meetings or social functions.
• The arena will house a practice facility with full-size basketball court on event level
• The arena will feature a 2,500 square foot team store and 1,650 square feet of retail space
• There are more than 4,200 hotel rooms within walking distance to the arena.
• A 760-space parking garage is being built on the Arena site. The garage will be owned by Metro Louisville through the Parking Authority of River City. There are approximately 12,000 parking spaces within three blocks of the Arena.
• University of Louisville will be the main tenant and will receive scheduling priority (something we don't have at Freedom Hall).
  

(03-20-2009 05:11 PM)Fanatical Wrote: [ -> ]looks nice, but I hope they have something better than "downtown arena" all over it

The arena authority hasn't closed the deal on the naming rights yet but they are expecting to net $37-50 million from the deal. My guess is that one of the following corporations is going to wind up with their name on the venue:

Papa John's
UPS
Humana
Yum!

(03-20-2009 05:11 PM)Fanatical Wrote: [ -> ]looks nice, but I hope they have something better than "downtown arena" all over it

For a measly $40 million you can have your name on it.

Btw, the 2012 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship will be held in the new arena.

http://www.arenaauthority.com/docs/2012V...onship.pdf

The construction company actually has a live camera available on their website for the arena.

http://oxblue.com/pro/open/ksfb/louisvillearena

Since Louisville has scheduling priority, does that mean that they'll be able to nix the possibility of another certain in-state rival from scheduling games there (example: UAB vs UK last season)? I believe Memphis' deal with the FedEx Forum allows for them to prevent other regional rivals (UTK, Ole Miss) from playing games there.

(03-21-2009 04:47 PM)klg316 Wrote: [ -> ]Since Louisville has scheduling priority, does that mean that they'll be able to nix the possibility of another certain in-state rival from scheduling games there (example: UAB vs UK last season)?

Even though I don't live in Louisville, my in-laws do, and I am convinced that there are more Kentucky fans in Louisville than Cardinal fans. I don't see that happening. I would imagine that UK will have to take a back seat to U of L's schedule in order to place their game or two in Louisville.

(03-21-2009 06:02 PM)bww Wrote: [ -> ]

(03-21-2009 04:47 PM)klg316 Wrote: [ -> ]Since Louisville has scheduling priority, does that mean that they'll be able to nix the possibility of another certain in-state rival from scheduling games there (example: UAB vs UK last season)?

Even though I don't live in Louisville, my in-laws do, and I am convinced that there are more Kentucky fans in Louisville than Cardinal fans. I don't see that happening. I would imagine that UK will have to take a back seat to U of L's schedule in order to place their game or two in Louisville.

To correct the inaccuracy, that's patenly false. The Courier-Journal did an extensive study a few years back, even breaking the county into 5 or 6 quadrants with individual numbers. UofL has more fans in every section of the county, and overall it wasn't even that close. This study even broke it down to basketball and football support.

As for UK being able to play in the arena, they will likely play a game there every year. This is a state facility, and UofL cannot block them from continuing to play a December game in Louisville as they have for years. What's interesting is that over the last 5 years or so their attendance at the yearly game in Louisville has dropped to pathetic levels. This year UK only drew 10,173 in Freedom Hall, which is 51% capacity for a Saturday afternoon game.

(03-21-2009 02:20 PM)UofL07 Wrote: [ -> ]

(03-20-2009 05:11 PM)Fanatical Wrote: [ -> ]looks nice, but I hope they have something better than "downtown arena" all over it

The arena authority hasn't closed the deal on the naming rights yet but they are expecting to net $37-50 million from the deal. My guess is that one of the following corporations is going to wind up with their name on the venue:

Papa John's
UPS
Humana
Yum!

I thought it was going to be the Chicken Bucket?





.

(03-21-2009 07:07 PM)Cletus Wrote: [ -> ]

(03-21-2009 02:20 PM)UofL07 Wrote: [ -> ]The arena authority hasn't closed the deal on the naming rights yet but they are expecting to net $37-50 million from the deal. My guess is that one of the following corporations is going to wind up with their name on the venue:

Papa John's
UPS
Humana
Yum!

I thought it was going to be the Chicken Bucket?

UofL is actually purchasing that bucket. We'll leave it in storage and come Fall 2010 we'll throw that on top of the roof.

Yum! Arena?

(03-21-2009 07:07 PM)Cletus Wrote: [ -> ]I thought it was going to be the Chicken Bucket?

….and the seating sections will then be designated as follows:

Prime seats: Leg section
Average seats: Wing section
Nosebleed seats: Gizzard section



Seriously, here is where “The Bucket” came from. A few years back, an alderman here in Louisville led a grass-root effort to land a NBA team here. Part of any deal with a NBA team would have that a new arena would be built. There was some talk that YUMS would be interested in naming rights, and it might be called The Bucket.

This effort subsided, mostly because it seemed like there just wasn’t enough support for a NBA team, and also because UofL didn’t throw their full support. They wanted UofL to play their games also in the new arena to help with costs, but UofL wasn’t going to play second fiddle when it came to scheduling.

Even after the NBA talk went away, the talk of still building a new arena continued, and UofL came on board after being guaranteed that they would get first billing there.

So here we are today; the arena is up and going, and it’s back to finding naming rights. Not sure how serious YUMS is this time around, and if it is them, I pray that it’s not nicknamed The Bucket.

It will be interesting to see who pays for the rights. YUMS has a chance to offset Papa John’s, UPS has a chance to have one like the Fed Ex forum, but with these economic times, companies are relunctant to commit, or at least not at the asking price.

What about a company that doesn’t have headquarters or a large presence in a city; does an outsider ever pay for naming rights?

(03-21-2009 08:05 PM)CardHouse Wrote: [ -> ]What about a company that doesn’t have headquarters or a large presence in a city; does an outsider ever pay for naming rights?

I don't know, but you could throw Coca-Cola in as a wildcard. A few weeks back they opened their new IT offices in Louisville, and also as of this month Pepsi has been replaced at Freedom Hall and all other state facilities by Coke for the concession contracts. I've been going to UofL games at the Hall for 20+ years and don't ever remember anything but Pepsi products. Pepsi even has one of the permanent stone advertisements in the side of the football facility at Papa John's stadium, along with UPS, Budweiser, etc.

Coca-Cola arena would be acceptable. Orville Redenbacher Popcorn Arena or Tampax Tampon Arena would not.

In Louisville for the weekend, took my 5 year old to the Louisville Slugger museum this morning. On the way, took this picture of the new areana.