The proposed new Haymarket arena will be the shiny asset Lincoln hopes will lure two of the biggest high school state championships back to the city.
Only a year ago, board members of the Nebraska School Activities Association cited issues with Lincoln's aging Pershing Center when voting to move the state volleyball tournament to Grand Island for the next two years.
State wrestling has been gone from Lincoln since 2006. At that time, concerns with the Devaney Sports Center -- close quarters between mats as well as limited seating -- were among the reasons given for moving the event to Qwest Center Omaha.
Lincoln's new 16,000-seat arena -- scheduled to open in August 2013 -- would replace Pershing in the lineup for the state volleyball and basketball tournaments and would rival the Qwest Center as the best site for state wrestling.
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"We're excited to have the arena and all that it means to us in getting state tournaments back in Lincoln," Wendy Birdsall, president of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday.
Facilities, however, are just a part of the increasingly competitive bid process for NSAA events.
Financial incentives also play a role if teams are to hoist championship trophies in your city.
"Dollar bills in a large fashion do drive the decision," said Jim Tenopir, executive director of the NSAA.
The NSAA's contract with Grand Island covers the 2010 and 2011 volleyball tournaments. Tenopir said bids for hosting future tournaments would be taken in the spring of 2011, more than two years before the new arena would be completed.
"My strong guess is if there has to be a year with Pershing in the mix, I'm not sure that will be a material defect in any bid Lincoln might bring forward," Tenopir said.
Lincoln's contract to host the state basketball tournaments is through 2013, meaning the new arena likely would be available in the first year of the next contract.
Omaha's contract with the NSAA for state wrestling runs through the 2011 meet. That leaves two years before the Haymarket arena would be available.
"We would put forth a bid on wrestling in a heartbeat when we can accommodate the event," Birdsall said.
With the Devaney Center also available for championship events in Lincoln, the city's lineup of facilities will be greatly enhanced.
And there's the financial consideration of attendance.
The state wrestling tournament, like state volleyball, annually draws crowds of around 45,000 over three days.
Attendance over two weekends of state basketball can approach 150,000.
"I feel you're going to get better gate sales here, a bigger audience," Birdsall said. "There's a financial consideration for the NSAA as well as what's the best experience for the kids."
Birdsall previously had told the Journal Star that the chamber hadn't done any specific numbers on what was lost when wrestling went to Omaha; they were all anecdotal.
However, she had said in 2009, "if you speak to the hoteliers and restaurants, they aren't full that weekend now. Those are multimillion-dollar weekends."
Birdsall said Thursday that lessons learned also will help in Lincoln's bid to regain the state tournaments.
"You don't just take the file folder out and put it back on the counter," she said. "One big factor is that kids want to play where the Huskers play."
It's a fact not lost on the NSAA, which built its new headquarters only blocks from where the new arena is set to rise.
"The arena certainly was something we had hoped would pass," said Tenopir, who will leave the NSAA this summer for a post with the high schools' national federation.
"I voted for it and felt it was something needed from Lincoln's perspective and the NSAA's perspective," Tenopir added. "The arena provides a great opportunity for state championships."
Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 402-473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com.
