San Antonio NOT Selected to Host Mens/Womens Final Four (through 2016)
 

Ouch! These are some of the largest events the city hosts.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/NCAA_rej...Four_host.html

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantoni...0/daily45.html

This comes after San Antonio was named one of six NCAA "Championship Cities" in September.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantoni...2/daily25.html

the other "championship cities" were:

Cary, N.C.
Cleveland
Indianapolis
St. Louis
San Diego.

:sly:

Can I bring up the idea of tearing down the alamodome again?



from Mike Greenberg, former E-N columnist…

http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertai...7961_html.html

If the Alamodome has no value, the land under it, and under its mostly empty parking lots, is another matter.

That swath of land could generate property and sales tax revenues for the city. It could strengthen the downtown retail and office markets. It could enlarge the audience for downtown arts institutions and galleries. It could spread economic cheer and jobs to nearby neighborhoods on the east and south. It could help support an improved public transportation system.

But the Alamodome stands in the way of all that. The city should tear it down and pursue development partnerships with the private sector to create a high-density, mixed-use neighborhood in its place.

To maximize the potential of such a project, the elevated I-37 freeway, which divides the Alamodome site from downtown, should be converted to a street-level boulevard. (Yes, it can be done.)

With that barrier reduced, a neighborhood on the Alamodome site could mesh more effectively with the one being built on the old Victoria Courts site, as well as with HemisFair Park and Rivercenter.

A concentration of several thousand residents where the Alamodome stands could justify a demonstration light-rail line running west through the downtown core to the UTSA downtown campus, and east to the ATT center….

Looks like Houston and Arlington will be getting some Final Four's.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...s_houston.html

San Antonio's clout and economic well-being are being systematically dismantled.

If other cities start building or expanding amusement parks and related services, it's all over.

Its all about money. San Antonio is a great city for events, but it doesn't have the facilities anymore. The Alamo Dome is too outdated to be a contender for events like the Final Four. The city is still attractive for such events, but the dome just doesn't generate enough money.

The most talked about, but not the most important reason for the domes shortcomings is the capacity. At 65,000 it is tough to compete with cities like Dallas due to the capacity, but St. Louis, Detroit, and Indianapolis Domes are all comparable in capacity.

The most important issue is the Luxury boxes. When the Dome was built they decided to cut back the amount of luxury boxes because the only tenant was the Spurs. So they built 38 instead of 66.

Here are a list of the cities that fight for Final Four's with their luxury boxes:

1. Dallas - 200
2. Houston - 187
3. Atlanta - 172
4. Detroit - 140
5. Indianapolis - 137
6. St. Louis - 125
7. Minneapolis - 113
8. Phoenix - 88
9. New Orleans - 64
10. San Antonio - 38

Tearing down the Dome would not be a good thing to do. First off, the city would lose annual events; the Alamo Bowl and High School Football Playoffs. The city would also lose special events such as Concerts, Monster Trucks (Oh Yeah!), and certain conventions. Then there are the events the come to the dome such as the Big 12 Football Championship and College Basketball Regionals (and the Final Four).

The only event that I mentioned that could be saved are the conventions, but that is only with a major expansion of the current facilities.

What the city should do is talk with the Spurs to try to bring Playoff or other games to the Alamo Dome with the Final Four Configuration. In return the Dome would need to be upgraded, with the addition of luxury boxes and what ever else is needed. The upgrades would make the facility more attractive for events such as the Final Four, as well as increasing revenue for other events where luxury boxes are utilized.

It kind of sucks that San Antonio has a dome without a tenant, but the dome is used for a lot more than just Football (obviously). If the dome were gone, it would hit the city's tourism and convention industry fairly hard.

OK, well…. I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way at all, but the above opinions are the same inane ideas that are always trotted out…and they are always flawed.

The first part of STLtoSA’s statement was right. It is all about money. And the dome is outdated. Imagine trying to attract a top-flight company to an office tower (if an office tower was the primary reason for where a company was located). We have one built in 1992. Dallas has one built in 2009. Dallas wins. Things change. Tastes and needs change. And we have been left behind. No need to cry about it. Time to realize that moving on would be a good idea.

Of luxury boxes…

Not that important for one-off events like these. Boxes are locally leased (most people think they are owned). I work for NuStar Energy. We lease a box at the AT&T Center annually for a few hundred thousand dollars a year. We have access to every event there. Concerts, Spurs, ice skating, church festivals, whatever. It is as if we have an apartment at the arena.

The stadiums around the nation have already leased out their boxes. The NCAA doesn’t get to sell those to anyone. Jerry Jones makes the money before-hand and whatever entity holds the lease to the box gets tickets to the event. So, whether a facility has 1000 luxury boxes or 2 luxury boxes doesn’t make any difference to the NCAA.

Of lost events…

The city would not stand to lose many events at all in losing the dome. Yes, the Alamo Bowl would be gone. High school games as well…

I would like to hear of one concert that was in the Alamodome recently. Also, we won’t be hosting the Big 12 football championship ever again – Dallas and Houston have vastly superior venues for football and the conference likes to use cities in the Big 12 North region as well. No worries about the NCAA basketball stuff either, so scratch that off the list.

Of the Spurs…

Can we agree to never suggest that the Spurs play a game in the Alamodome again? There is a reason they moved. The Spurs make more money in the ATT Center for one game than they ever did in the Alamodome. Remember your luxury box argument? It applies here. Try divvying up all of your premium seating from the ATT to the Alamodome, which has fewer boxes and fewer truly premium seats.


Misc…

Home and Garden shows occur in other cities, even some that lack domes. Boat shows, too. And religious conferences…well, the Lord will find a way without the dome.

The football games would be lost. That is about it.

Are tourists in San Antonio because of the Alamodome? Don't think so. If they are, then guess what? They too will soon be in Houston and Dallas, where superior facilities make all the difference.

Am I saying tearing down the dome would be the greatest idea ever? No. Am I saying that the dome as it currently sits is pretty much an asset that is quickly losing all of its value? Yes.

As such, plans for the future should be explored. And sentimental ties to the dome should be severed.

LOL. Post of the month right here, folks...

First of all the reason the spurs make more money in one game at the AT&T Center than at a larger venue in the Alamo Dome is because the county did what the city wouldn't do, bend over for the Spurs. The Spurs have one of the best revenue deals of any Sports franchise that doesn't own their own stadium.

Believe me, I don't want the Spurs to play in the Alamo Dome as much as anyone else. If a concession revenue deal were worked out to make it fiscally sound for the Spurs, why wouldn't they do it. I don't think that it is a great idea, but if the City were to make upgrades in the stadium, there needs to be a plan to fill the stadium as much as possible.

You are somewhat right about the convention space, but not entirely. Certain events call for alot of contiguous space, and while SA has a 1.3 million SF convention center, only 440,000 is contiguous. The planned additions will increase the space. The Dome also allows for two large events to be hosted at once, which occurs numerous times a year.

And man are did you get picky with the concert idea. Take it easy it is an example of an event that "can" be held at the dome.

You are right about the luxury boxes in thta it doesn't directly generate revenue for the NCAA, but if you don't think that they play into the equation then you are way off the mark. The Alamo Dome's capacity is similar to most of the venues fighting every four years for the Final Four. So, what do you think the difference is? And who do you think owns the Luxury boxes at the AT&T Center? Sure there are some local corporations, but most are major corporations that own Luxury Boxes in numerous venues around the country. How many do you think Budweiser, Bank of America, or Boeing have around the country?

I don't have time to finish what I want to say cause I have to go, but I will finish it later.

Oh yeah, A&M has been playing Army here and next year Notre Dame is coming. Those are going to bring some money to the city also.

Well, going off what my grandmother has said.

But, but. . . it has such pretty spires! :(

Convert it into condos with a massive domed interior courtyard. It will be like something out of Star Wars.

I say tear that thing down. It was old and outdated back in 1993. Seriously. Just bad, bad city leadership.

But I also think a new stadium should be built before they raze the Dome so that the city has a state of the art facility that out shines Dallas and Houston and whoever and helps lands us more events and possibly a permanent sports tenant.

Design it so that it could fit the needs of a NFL or MLB team.

Turn that area around the at&t center into what Philly has.

As for the Dome site, the city really needs a outside of the box idea. Maybe tunnel 37 in the downtown area and create a linear park.

Now you ask, how will they pay to build the new stadium? Why not sell the Dome site and use that to fund the stadium. If done correctly, it could cost anywhere between 400-700 million.

Downtown property the size of the Alamodome site would cost a pretty penny.

Though I'm not sure if it's possible/legal for the city to sell the land and use it to build another stadium.

I know that it is not going bring the same kind of revenue, but there are still going to be Regionals held here in SA.

I don't think that it is that big of a blow any way because the City new that there was much more competition for this round than in past years. San Antonio shouldn't expect to get it every six to four years like the last three times. There are now 10 cities that can host it and more on the way.

I really don't know what kind of development you could actually get going in its place. The parking lots and the Dome are bisected by a major rail line. Don't expect the railroad to be to courteous with ROW issues.

I just don't know what the benefits from tearing down the dome would be.

Its true that not all San Antonio Tourists come from sporting events throughout the year, but that doesn't mean that stopping an annual flow of at least a couple hundred thousand tourists guaranteed annually. Major sporting events are also great publicity for SA's tourism industry.

San Antonio has plenty of old beautiful historic buildings that could be rehabbed for residential and entertainment space. New construction is great, but lets attract developers to bring back our historic buildings before tearing down the dome so that developers have a clean slate (the city would get far less out of the latter).

best idea yet.:)

Houston is toying around with turning the Astrodome into an indoor theme park. Maybe SA could beat them to the punch??

Of course, we want the Roadrunner football team to have somewhere to play until they can build their own stadium, and I agree with the assessment that the city would get far less out of redevelopment of the alamodome site than they would by rehabbing old buildings.

Somehow grand "tear down these barns and build greater" plans end up more often than being huge money pits. That would, of course, be merely a repeat of what the Alamodome gave us in the first place. I like irony as much as anybody, but I'd rather keep it consigned to theater and literature ;)

Unless there is an NFL team right there ready to move in, I doubt a stadium will be built that outshines Reliant, let alone the new Cowboys Stadium.

The city of San Antonio owns the Alamodome and the Alamodome site/parking lots. The city doesn't own "plenty of old beautiful historic buildings" that could be rehabbed for, like you state, residential and entertainment space. They can only work with what they've got.

That's why the Hemisfair Park idea (being pitched by Mayor Hardberger) and a potential Alamodome idea, can work. Because the city owns the land, they can do with it what they want basically. They can go private or public with development or just sell the land/properties.

Selling the Alamodome land would fetch good money, money they could do whatever they wanted with. Put into roads/infrastructure, parks or another stadium.

Again, if they should it they'd have to first make whoever they sold it to adhere to a master plan of sorts for the land, second think outside the box in regards to the area around the dome.

Like I said before, maybe tunnel 37 downtown which would then allow for maximum expansion of the convention center. Then the area north of the expanded CC along the now tunneled 37 freeway could be turned into a linear park (with artistic, aesthetically pleasing roads/boulevards intersecting for the current roads there (Commerce, Houston, etc).

The Alamodome like I said will not, will NOT benefit from any multimillion dollar "upgrade" in able to compete with current and future facilities.

It's be like if the Spurs still playing in the Hemisfair Arena and in the year 2008 asking for millions to "upgrade" it so it could compete with other NBA venues. No amount of add ons or "upgrades" would ever allow it to compete with today's arenas.

I've always been a proponent of tearing down this stadium, and again, this subject comes up. I still say tear it down, kyle said it best, let it go.

The Spurs could not make more money in the Alamodome, regardless of upgrades. Concessions revenues don’t change things. No more Spurs/Alamodome talk. Please?

I am not being picky, just noting that NO ONE has concerts at the dome anymore. ATT gets all of the biggest shows. The days of U2 selling 70,000 seats to a concert are long gone. I know it “can” be held, but it is not being held. I “can” host weddings in my backyard. That doesn’t mean my backyard is a top-notch wedding destination. Past performance is the best indicator of future performance.

They will bring some money. Property taxes also bring money. So, unless we had firm numbers, there is no way to say that occasional football is worth more to the city than permanent residences.

Precisely because of the competition, San Antonio shouldn’t expect to ever get it again. Phoenix didn’t even get a Final Four. Phoenix has a beautiful, state-of-the-art facility, a billion golf courses, beautiful April weather, and a successful history of hosting NCAA championship events. We are going to beat them out in the next round with the Alamodome?

Money talks. As someone who makes a living dealing with ROW issues, I know that there is no shortage of ways around, over, under, and through a ROW. That wouldn’t be an issue and, in fact, is already being converted to a “quiet zone” thanks to the work of Vidorra.

SA is out of the running. And that is OK. We don’t need college basketball to make us great. We need infrastructure, progressive living, integrated neighborhoods, and a higher quality of life. Want to keep companies like AT&T? How about a more dynamic lifestyle? Maybe better public transport? Maybe a real urban fabric? Maybe a young, creative class that is drawn to a city and therefore draws employers yearning for a young creative class…