With arena plans, Huskers consider where to call home
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By TODD HENRICHS and BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Zone or man-to-man?
Devaney Center or new downtown arena?
While Nebraska men’s basketball coach Doc Sadler ponders one question, athletic director Steve Pederson is weighing the other.
By RON POWELL | Lincoln Journal Star
It is a familiar scenario.
A university town, its state’s capital, found it was losing events to larger nearby cities because of a small, aging arena. The hometown college basketball program was also in need of a facility upgrade.
While that might describe where Lincoln and the University of Nebraska are right now, it’s the same situation the folks in Columbia, S.C., faced 10 years ago. In a cooperative effort between the city, county, state and the University of South Carolina, the Colonial Center opened in November 2002 with a seating capacity of 18,000 for basketball and 19,000 for concerts.
The Colonial Center replaced the 12,456-seat Carolina Coliseum, which opened in 1968.
“We’re in a very competitive market,’’ said Tom Paquette, the Center’s general manager, part of an arena management team which the University of South Carolina hired to operate the facility.
“That building (the Carolina Coliseum) became a little too small to compete for bigger shows and events, and they (South Carolina) wanted to add seats for a growing basketball program.’’
Almost five years into the new arena, “things have gone very well for us,’’ Paquette added. “The building has been profitable and it’s provided the community exactly what was promised in terms of concerts, family shows, trade shows and sporting events.’’
At first glance, Columbia appears to be smaller than Lincoln with a 2005 estimated population of 117,088, But the Columbia metro area includes nearly 500,000.
Before the Colonial Center, Columbia often lost events and concerts to Charlotte, N.C. (90 miles to the north), Greensboro, N.C., Winston-Salem, N.C., or Raleigh, N.C.
“They (musical groups) might play three shows in the Carolinas, but not five,’’ Paquette said.
The Colonial Center now hosts an average of 120 events per year, Paquette said, landing concerts from blockbuster performers Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Cher, Prince, George Strait and Billy Joel along the way.
Paquette said no formal economic impact study has ever been conducted, but the University of South Carolina says events at the Colonial Center add an estimated $23 million to the local economy. There was a $60 million economic impact during the two-year construction period.
“There’s a new area of bars, restaurants and shops just a couple blocks away, and their owners say their business goes up 25 to 75 percent when there’s an event,” Paquette said.
The price tag for the arena was $64 million, with $44 million coming from the South Carolina athletic department, $12.5 million coming from the state, and the rest coming from the city and Richland and Lexington counties.
The university is responsible for any financial losses.
As for sports events, the Colonial Center has hosted NBA exhibition games as well as high school basketball playoff games. For now, it’s off limits for NCAA events because of the Confederate flag flying at the South Carolina statehouse.
Its main tenants are the South Carolina men’s and women’s basketball teams. Each has spacious locker and meeting rooms at the arena, while also having a separate practice facility and coaches offices elsewhere.
Inside the arena, there are 500 sideline floor seats specifically for the students, and at the other end of the spectrum, there are 41 private suites, four 42-seat entertainment suites and a 4,500-square foot club that overlooks the court.
“It’s just a beautiful facility, and we think it’s one of the best in the nation,’’ said South Carolina associate athletic director Kevin O’Connell, the school’s administrator for men’s basketball. “It’s a great showcase for the university and the community, as well.”
The Colonial Center, however, has not translated into overwhelming success on the court or at the turnstile. South Carolina’s men’s team has won 20 or more games in three of the five seasons it’s played there and captured the National Invitational Tournament title in 2006.
But the Gamecocks have had a losing record in two of those years, including a 14-16 record last season when they averaged 12,838 fans per game.
In terms of attendance, their first season at The Colonial Center was the best with an average of 12,941 fans. Average attendance fell to 12,045, 10,148 and 9,091 the next three seasons, respectively.
Nine of the private suites are not currently being leased.
“We’ve had a little more revenue come in, but that’s been offset by more expenses associated with a new arena,” said Jeff Tallant, the athletic department’s chief financial officer. “(But) with the suites and extra seats, the potential is there if we start winning more games.”
Reach Ron Powell at 473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com.
Earlier this week, Pederson said officials were “pretty much in the heart of discussions” about what a proposed downtown arena for Lincoln might look like, and ultimately, if it would make sense for the Huskers to one day play their basketball games there.
Where Nebraska will call home likely won’t be answered until a consultant’s study is complete and project leaders, including Pederson, know just what’s on the table.
“That’s a pretty key element,” Pederson said. “What’s it really going to look like?
“Certainly, we want Lincoln to have a new downtown arena, but what we don’t want to do is either financially or operationally put us in a tough spot.”
As things stand now, Nebraska is in a strong position, Pederson says, in large part because the Devaney Center is paid for and because the athletic department has control over scheduling.
But the Devaney, a facility that opened in 1976, is in need of “sprucing up,” Pederson said. And without sparkling, dedicated practice facilities like those going up on campuses across the country, the men’s and women’s basketball programs at NU are also at a recruiting disadvantage.
Sadler, coming off his first season, said it’s natural for people to get excited when they hear about something new.
“I can only talk about the Devaney Center, and I like the Devaney Center,” Sadler said earlier this summer. “The biggest problem we have is we need to fill it. Once we fill it, then it’s a great place.”
Nebraska averaged 10,584 for home games last season at the 13,595-seat Devaney Center. It drew 4,110, on average, for women’s games.
Pederson said if one moves, he’d prefer to see both basketball programs play in the new arena.
Among the dilemmas in making that decision is the scheduling aspect. Pederson points out that as August nears, Nebraska has yet to set its men’s and women’s schedules for this winter.
And then there’s the size question. If you build the arena too big, you risk losing revenue from potential season ticket-holders who instead elect to buy tickets only for the specific games they want to see.
“If Lincoln could afford to build 24,000 seats, you wouldn’t want it,” said Stan Meradith, an architect with the DLR Group. “What you have to hit is the supply and demand peak of the curve.”
Consultants will analyze such things as potential corporate involvement and median income within the market, figures that will be key in determining how many suites to include, how many club seats to reserve, and most important, the size of the arena itself.
This is all assuming, of course, that funding for the project comes together. Lincoln Chamber of Commerce president Wendy Birdsall said plans can move forward with or without Nebraska’s teams as tenants but cautioned that many decisions hinge on completion of the feasibility study sometime this fall.
“Until that’s done, it’s not necessary to make anybody sign on the dotted line,” Birdsall said. “It’s simply too soon.”
Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7320 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.
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