Osborne, Beutler talk arena issues
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By DEENA WINTER/Lincoln Journal Star
You build it, we’ll play in it.
That was the message Tom Osborne gave chamber of commerce folks Wednesday during a noon luncheon.
“We will play basketball there unless something major shifts,” the University of Nebraska-Lincoln athletic director told a crowd of suits and pantsuits.
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In May, city officials plan to ask voters to approve a new 16,000-seat arena to replace the Pershing Center. But the plan involves much more than just a new venue for rock concerts and rodeos. It also includes:
* Private development of at least one new hotel plus offices, stores, restaurants and condos in what’s been dubbed the West Haymarket. Developers plan 100,000 square feet of retail, 100,000 square feet of offices and 150 residential units.
* Three new city parking garages and up to 2,500 surface parking stalls.
* A sports complex north and west of Haymarket Park that will include trails and up to 10 baseball fields and other youth sports fields.
* A new ice facility, largely paid for by a $7 million donation from John Breslow.
* 175,000 square feet of public festival space for events such as Ribfest.
He and Mayor Chris Beutler explained the arena proposal and took questions from the chamber crowd.
City officials want to replace the 50-year-old Pershing Center with a new arena west of the Haymarket. Lincoln voters are expected to vote on the proposal in May.
The Husker basketball teams would likely play in the arena, and build a new practice facility nearby. A new venue for men and women’s basketball would help with recruiting and propel the men’s program up from “the middle of the Big 12,” Osborne said.
“We would like to be very competitive in basketball,” he said.
A new venue generally pumps attendance up by 15 percent, he said. A new arena could help attract regional NCAA events or perhaps the volleyball Final Four, Osborne said.
UNL is the only school in the Big 12 that doesn’t have a dedicated practice facility for its basketball teams, he added. The Athletic Department would have to raise money to pay for the practice facility, which would cost roughly $15 million.
The university now loses about $2 million annually operating the Bob Devaney Sports Center, Osborne said. If the basketball programs moved to a new city arena and attendance picked up, “we would lose less,” he said.
Nancy Kenny, chief financial officer for the Athletic Department, said men’s basketball generates a surplus, but the cost to operate Devaney and other sports adds up to about a $2 million deficit.
Whether the city builds a new arena or not, Osborne said the Devaney Center will need about $10 million in upgrades. Track, wrestling, gymnastics and swimming teams would continue to be housed there, he said.
If a new arena isn’t built, about $30 million in improvements would be made to Devaney, including the construction of suites and corporate seating.
Osborne said if a new arena is built and the Devaney schedule opened up, some former Pershing Center events could be held at Devaney.
Beutler credited Osborne with helping initiate discussions with the world’s largest sports marketing company about the possibility of financing the arena for Lincoln. Osborne is well-acquainted with the company, IMG College, because it handles media and marketing for the Athletic Department.
In June, the department signed a 13-year contract with IMG worth up to $113 million — one of the largest contracts of its kind. Osborne said IMG does what it says it will do, and has “good people.”
“So far our relationship with IMG has been very good,” he said.
IMG created a joint venture company, International Stadia Group, to privately finance arenas in the United States. ISG is conducting a feasibility study on whether it could finance a new home for the Kentucky Wildcats.
The company is also running numbers on the Lincoln market, and Osborne said a decision from ISG should come within a few weeks.
“They feel reasonably good about it,” Osborne said.
He said if the company can guarantee UNL and the city a certain amount of revenue, and still make money, it just might work.
If ISG were to pay for the arena, taxpayers would be off the hook for about $160 million. Taxpayers would still likely be asked to approve up to $90 million for parking garages, surface parking, land, railroad realignment and other costs.
ISG plans to finance arenas through a private equity fund set up by investment bank Goldman Sachs. Despite the economic turmoil swirling nationally, Osborne said, “If they say they can do it, I’m quite certain they can do it.”
Osborne said ISG may have talked to some chamber members already, to gauge interest in skyboxes and naming rights.
Beutler said by year’s end, the city will have renderings of the arena and its amenities, will have a financing plan and have agreements to buy the land if voters approve the deal.
Most of the land is owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which has promised cost estimates by early December, Beutler said. He expects the city to have the land under contract by the end of the year.
Beutler said a “substantial campaign” promoting the arena will begin next year in the months leading up to a vote.
“We can win this thing,” he said.
Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.
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I certainly hope things look good for ISG. Building a few garages and new streets in return for a new arena is quite a deal! "
if some of these rich guys with the million dollar pay checks and bonsus
would step up to the line like they do in other cities where the citizens
aren't taxed to death. Lincoln must be the only place in the world where
people's 401k's and investments haven't been cut in half. Must have a
not too smart financial planner if everybody else is rolling in the bucks!
Goes to show you the respect the mayor and 2015 group have for the
retireds and middle class!! Here the whole US is next to broke and these
guys are oblivious to reality!! Maybe a good depressions would wake them
up! And that could very well happen!! "
ISG offer comes through the City will be a big winner on redeveloping
the West Haymarket area and finally getting an arena worthy of our fine city. I'm excited!!! "
CRNUSKR "
Will I be able to buy a beer at a Husker game in the new arena?
The city of Lincoln will own the venue.
To maximize profits I think beer sales would help greatly.
I hope Lincoln says "no beer - no arena".
Don't let A D Osborne make the decision for you!
Ricky From Omaha "
GIVE ME A BREAK!!! "
These jobs you speak of? Let's be real here. There will be construction jobs while the thing is being built. For what? A year or two? Now that it is completed, what jobs do you speak of? Our college kids will vote for this arena, then promptly leave the state to find a good job. I'm sorry, but sweeping the floors and selling concessions at the new arena, making beds at the new hotels,serving banquets.... these are not the jobs that will keep our college grads in Lincoln. Many of those jobs will be done by the very same folks who do them now, just as the management positions will go to those who hold those positions now.
MR. MAYOR! Tell us about all the great new jobs! We want to hear!
An arena study done just a few years ago found that big acts will not come to Lincoln over Omaha. It's just not going to happen folks. The renters will vote "yes" then leave, and the property owners will be stuck paying for this. "
Good for the arena...good for Lincoln. "
OK, so you're rich, live in a fancy house and are in favor of the new arena. You don't give a flying fig about the plight of your fellow man who is struggling to pay his taxes and support his family on the crummy wage he earns in Lincoln? Obviously, you are a member of the 2015 Vision group. Those are the requirements for membership. "
I feel for people who are struggling, but the worst thing we can do (as a community) is to hide in a hole and pretend everything will magically get better...it won't. The arena is an opportunity we can't ignore. Before you make a negative decision why not wait to find out exactly how much it may (or may not) cost you? (and Lily I donate thousands to local charities, so don't accuse of not giving a flying fig, huh?) "