Albuquerque Arena (Rio Rancho, Chaparral: home, bankrupt, luxury)

[observe]

Who else thinks that an Arena downtown needs to be larger than 10,000 seats?

[finmqa1]

I believe a new arena needs to hold a minimum of 15,000 seats. However, in order to get this thing done the second time around I'm willing to settle for 12,000 (min) in a horseshoe conifiguration that could easily be expanded to 18 -20,000 as the need arises. Of course I would like to see it done right the first time, but I have researched this extensively and many cities that are similar in size have been operating in the red because they can't fill the seats. I understand that investors and the city might be somewhat skeptical about filling the seats, especially since we don't have a professional sports franchise comitted to ABQ. But a 10,000 seat arena won't even serve the needs of ABQ now, much less 10 or 20 years from now.

[_yb]

If they are going to host the WNBA it only needs to be a couple hundred seats or so. Maybe two thousand or so for the peewee nba developmetal league.
Let Rio Rancho handle it.

[finmqa1]

_yb - I think you would be surprised by the number of fans a WNBA team would draw. Womens basketball is quite popular here, and the WNBA is not a developmental league like most minor league sports already here. Arena Football would also draw quite a crowd somewhere between 10 - 15,000. The great thing about both of these league is they would not compete with the Lobo programs. Arena Football is winter/spring, and WNBA spring/summer. And while I'm excited for the Santa Ana Star Center, many good shows will skip over ABQ metro (as they already do) because we lack an entertainment venue large enough to fit their needs. As for the NBADL Thunderbirds, they would be better off moving up the hill to Rio Rancho, which I think is great they can support the minor leagues! It is ABQ's turn to start making its pitch for bigger and better entertainment for all New Mexico residents.

[observe]

finmqa1- Intersting take; I never thought of building the Arena in a horse shoe configuration. Thats a good idea, it could easily be expanded to to meet future needs. I think your right about the 15,000 capacity, not too small and not to big. The Rio Rancho Arena is nice for minor league sports, however it's too tiny for anything else. It would serve as a satelite Arena. I just hope the city does this right, and builds a first class facility with luxury suites etc etc.... Its probably going to run in the 150-200 million range, to do it right. Who knows maybe even the Lobos could play a few games there, look at the Fed-Ex Arena in Memphis, it is used by the NBA Grizzlies and the University of Memphis. This Arena could be used year round if its managed properly.

[Chaparral]

Originally Posted by finmqa1

I believe a new arena needs to hold a minimum of 15,000 seats. However, in order to get this thing done the second time around I'm willing to settle for 12,000 (min) in a horseshoe conifiguration that could easily be expanded to 18 -20,000 as the need arises. Of course I would like to see it done right the first time, but I have researched this extensively and many cities that are similar in size have been operating in the red because they can't fill the seats. I understand that investors and the city might be somewhat skeptical about filling the seats, especially since we don't have a professional sports franchise comitted to ABQ. But a 10,000 seat arena won't even serve the needs of ABQ now, much less 10 or 20 years from now.

I have to whole-heartedly agree with finmqa1. I've heard about several potential configurations for the proposed arena, and the horseshoe design strikes me as the most reasonable. I think we would have a difficult time regularly filling a 15,000+ seat facility at this point in time, but the metropolitan area will need something much larger within 10 years at the current growth rates.

Regarding the comment from _yb, I share a degree of his pessimism for the prospects of a WNBA franchise in ABQ. While I could see a team eventually coming here, I'm afraid it would not be around long after the novelty wore off, particularly if it was not a consistent "winner". On the other hand, I think Arena Football could find a viable home here. Personally, I would sign up for AFL season tickets in a heartbeat. And unfortunately, the UNM basketball team will probably never play at the new proposed arena, as they would would lose much of their revenue generated by playing at The Pit.

One other thing: I do feel it is critical that the arena be built downtown. (The idea of linking it to the Convention Center is very important too.) I thought that the construction of Isoptopes Stadium at the old Sports Stadium site was a huge mistake. There is very little, if any, economic spillover from games hosted there (people go to the game and go home). Building a new year-round facility anywhere but downtown would be an even bigger mistake. If you're going to spend over a hundred million dollars on a facility, why wouldn't you put it somewhere that could generate additional economic activity that you could collect tax revenue from, which could potentially offset some of the public money committed to the constrution of the facility?

Chap

[_yb]

Originally Posted by Chaparral

Regarding the comment from _yb, I share a degree of his pessimism for the prospects of a WNBA franchise in ABQ.
Chap

I hate to be so negative. Even in larger cities they have trouble drawing a crowd. If you ever see it on TV they never show the higher levels of the arenas. If the NBA were to pull funding of the WNBA and make it stand on it's own it would be bankrupt within a week.

[ABQLifer]

Where would everyone park if the arena were downtown? It's horrible enough trying to find a space during Summerfest or a typical Saturday night as it is! I do agree that it would be a logical location for collecting taxes and further revenue, but it seems like it would take a very long time to pay for itself. That's just my .02...

[councilor j]

For a city of 500,000 thousand we really need more than 10,000 seats.
For example look at Oklahoma City they have a new downtown arena that seats around 20,000 and the New Orleans Hornets played their season in OK city, if Albq had an arena with 10,000 seats we wouldnt even be considered.
They would just have to add an underground parking garage.

[ABQLifer]

IMHO....I don't believe underground parking is a cost effective solution for 10-20K people. That would be alot of Earth to move! We don't need a "Big Dig" in the Southwest....