DFWCards

Finally, verification that someone besides the UofL basketball team will use the new arena

From the Louisville Courier-Journal:

Two major religious conventions have signed deals to come to Louisville and will use the new downtown arena for a major part of their activities, Gov. Steve Beshear announced Friday in Frankfort.

The two conventions – the 24th annual Church of the Nazarene Global National Youth International Conference in 2011 and the 2013 North American Youth Conference of the United Pentecostal Church International – will have a combined economic impact estimated at $10 million for the Louisville economy, local convention officials said.

The $238 million arena rising at Second and Main streets is scheduled to open in November 2010 for the start of the University of Louisville Cardinals' basketball season. But Friday's announcement of the signing of the two convention groups that will use the arena was the first affirmation that the stadium will also grow Louisville's travel, tourism and trade-show business.

“We decided to build this arena for two reasons,” Beshear said at the news conference at the Capitol. “First, to create a new home and new excitement for U of L basketball, and (also) to create economic development by attracting visitors and events to downtown Louisville. It's already paying off on the economic-development front.”

Linda Edwards, vice president of sales and marketing for the Kentucky State Fair Board, who helped recruit the conventions, said both groups chose Louisville because of its central location, affordability and the number of attractions within walking distance downtown.

The Nazarenes will bring about 13,000 people – about 10,000 high school-age youth and most of the rest parents -- to Louisville July 3-11, 2011. The convention will have an estimated economic impact of $7 million and translate into about 13,000 hotel room nights, Edwards said.

"Don't Put Me On The Electrical Side"

Visitors to the east wing of Louisville's Galt House Hotel regularly ask that they not be given rooms that face the Louisville Gas & Electric towers and electrical wires on the east side of the complex.

However, if the Unversity of Louisville's proposed new basketball arena were to be built at Second and Main, near that site, the customers' perspective would likely change.

The $381 million arena -- largely funded by bonds issued by the Louisville Arena Authority -- includes a plan to tear down LG&E's two electrical substations and raze its building at Third Street and River Road, modernizing and enclosing the equipment in a new building across Third Street.

Battle for Arena Location Is Joined

Louisville Courier-Journal:

In a rebuke of the Kentucky House, the Senate yesterday voted unanimously to strike language from a budget bill that would require an arena in downtown Louisville to be on the old water company block.

If the House rejects those changes, it would set up a showdown over the project's location in a conference committee of House and Senate members.

The Senate spending plan approves $75 million in state-issued bonds for a Louisville arena but does not specify a site. A state task force has recommended that the project be built on the riverfront at Second and Main streets.

The waterfront arena has the support of Gov. Ernie Fletcher, Mayor Jerry Abramson and the University of Louisville, whose basketball programs would be the chief tenants.

Do You Think That These Comments Made Tom Jurich Happy?

Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino last week shared some hot sports opinions on the likelihood of his coaching someday in the proposed new University of Louisville basketball arena:

"I've said it from Day One, and the reason I haven't gotten excited about it ... you're all wasting your time. The legislature is not going to vote it in," Pitino said. "We are behind the times as far as looking at Louisville as the economic engine that drives the state.

"I was down the road (Lexington), and I know what the perception of Louisville is: Louisville is an island — it's not part of the state of Kentucky. They don't look at it like Nashville or Indianapolis. They look at it as an island where they wear red instead of blue.

"I have never paid any attention to it. It's never going to get voted in. It's a waste of time; it's a waste of energy; it's a waste. I'm very excited about our new practice facility we're going to start building in May. So hire all the consultants you want; do whatever you like — it's not going to happen."

Papa John, You're Wasting Your Time

From the Louisville Courier-Journal :

University of Louisville trustees sent a message yesterday to those still questioning where a downtown arena should go: The decision has been made, and it's the riverfront.

With U of L President James Ramsey urging them on, the board of trustees voted 11-0 to support the governor's task force plan that U of L be the main tenant of an arena at Second and Main streets.

The resolution comes days after Papa John's founder John Schnatter and Humana co-founder David Jones commissioned a $220,000 study of two downtown arena sites. The two said they were paying for the study -- comparing the riverfront site with the old Louisville Water Co. block on Third Street -- because the latter hadn't received serious consideration.

Papa John Fights Back Against Downtown Arena Site

From today's Louisville Courier-Journal:

Louisville businessmen John Schnatter and David Jones announced today that they will pay for a new study comparing two possible downtown sites for a new arena.

The two have hired the Bonham Group of Denver to complete a study by Feb. 28 of the old Louisville Water Co. block on Third Street and a site at Second and Main owned by Louisville Gas & Electric, Humana and the Louisville Metro Government.

The announcement comes as arena backers — including Mayor Jerry Abramson and University of Louisville athletics director Tom Jurich — have given their support to the LG&E riverfront site that Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s task force chose last year.

Schnatter, a task force member and founder of Papa John’s, cast the lone vote against the LG&E site.

This Can't Be Good News

Jefferson County legislators are raising new concerns about the cost and location of the proposed $450 million downtown arena project.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that "delegation leaders are asking for a cost comparison between the waterfront site and two other locations that Gov. Ernie Fletcher's arena task force rejected -- one at the Louisville Water Co. block downtown and the other at the fairgrounds."

The University of Louisville men's basketball team would be a primary tenant of the structure, if built.

That's What They Always Say

If Kentucky's General Assembly approves its portion of the Louisville arena project, it will get all the money back, and then some. At least that's what Gov. Ernie Fletcher told business leaders Monday morning.

I hope that Ernie's right, but public/private partnerships created for the construction of sporting venues almost always end up costing the taxpayer more than the value of the benefits that they receive from it.

Oh, and by the way, that cost/benefit analysis now has to accommodate an extra $50 million over the original construction estimate.

The Louisville Arena Task Force estimated in September that the project would cost $299 million, but state consultants bumped that figure to $349 million -- a 17 percent jump. The increase was largely due to inflation expected based on completion of the project in 2010.

Fletcher Names Members to Arena Authority

From Louisville Business First: "Following the recommendation of the Louisville Arena Task Force, Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher has appointed members to the newly created Louisville Arena Authority Inc. They will oversee the design, construction and operation of the proposed arena complex."

Jefferson County Legislators Need To Support Arena Plan For It To Succeed

Kentucky Lt. Governor Steve Pence reiterated on Wednesday that Louisville-area legislators must be unified in their support for a downtown arena or they will not persuade other legislators to sign on to the project.

In October, 21 of the 25 Jefferson County legislators responded to a Courier-Journal survey about the arena plan. Twelve said they aren't sure whether they will support it during the upcoming session, while nine said they would.

Today, the Courier-Journal took up the cause, chiding the legislators for being "missing in action," failing to see that "the arena project, on every level, is a winner for both Kentucky and Louisville."