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Media Tour of New Arena

tornado said:
BU has built what was most sensible and functional and had they tried to make it bigger, the city of Peoria would have nixed it and they'd have had to sacrifice some of the other parts of the facility, when in all likelihood there'll only be 1 or 2 events per year that would draw more than capacity.

Anyway -- here's my take on the facilities -- I was 100% impressed.....
http://bubravesblogger.blogspot.com/2010/08/comments-on-bus-new-athletic-facilities.html
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Which was the point Beninator was trying to make, attacked for, and a point that I agree with. I have little doubt BU probably wanted it to be more viable, but had to bend over backwards and over-compromise to get the eventual city approval. Anyone who's been around Peoria for a while knows that the city and BU have never had the best relationship. Of course there were politics at work - Why would the city allow BU to build an arena that could directly compete with it for men's basketball games, concerts, and other events?
 
BradleyBrave said:
Which was the point Beninator was trying to make, attacked for, and a point that I agree with. I have little doubt BU probably wanted it to be more viable, but had to bend over backwards and over-compromise to get the eventual city approval. Anyone who's been around Peoria for a while knows that the city and BU have never had the best relationship. Of course there were politics at work - Why would the city allow BU to build an arena that could directly compete with it for men's basketball games, concerts, and other events?
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You and Ben are 100% correct...BU did NOT build the most "sensible and functional" arena they could. They built what the City basically "allowed" them to build.

It shows how shortsighted they, the City, can be. ANYTHING that makes BU better makes the city better. 7,000 seats wasn't going to kill the Civic Center. Competition makes you stronger if you are intelligent enough to take on the challenge.
 
Braves4Life said:
BradleyBrave and Beninator -- Two smart men! :) :)
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Exactly...I'm know I old school and have never liked the fact that students can't walk to attend games on or near campus, and that we play on a sheet of ice downtown:roll: The most sensible & functional faclilty would have been a basketball facility ON CAMPUS---now likely it will NEVER to happen!! But this would not be approved, as the city would lose revenue to many events like concerts, basketball, etc...so we had to settle for a "Shirk Center" size facility on campus...nice--yes. What we really needed--NO:cry:
 
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CubbieBear said:
But this would not be approved, as the city would lose revenue to many events like concerts, basketball, etc...so we had to settle for a "Shirk Center" size facility on campus...nice--yes. What we really needed--NO:cry:
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Yeah, great, just what we need! Less competition in Peoria to FURTHER discourage marketing and more/better things to do. I mean, God forbid someone come up and challenge Jay Goldberg in events booking.
 
BUFanatic said:
Yeah, great, just what we need! Less competition in Peoria to FURTHER discourage marketing and more/better things to do. I mean, God forbid someone come up and challenge Jay Goldberg in events booking.
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There's a reason the Quad Cities and Bloomington/Normal gets better concerts than Peoria on a regular basis...sad and unfortunate.
 
The chances of games being played at the new arena are minimum but it does give the school the ability to negotiate a better lease at Carver. The city has a monopoly and has not been very accommodating to BU. Right now BU does not have to take the first bid from them and can be a bit hard nose with the conditions on the contract. There have been issues with Carver regarding when BU can use it, practice on it, the ice resulting in condensation on the floor, terms, cost and post season usage. When negotiating a deal you want every bit of leverage you can get.

Unfortunately BU needs to get more involved with Peoria politics if it wants to get its way in the future.
 
SFP said:
The chances of games being played at the new arena are minimum but it does give the school the ability to negotiate a better lease at Carver.
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How are the chances minimum when it was just reported two days ago that "a limited number of men??™s regular-season games against low-profile opponents will likely be played at the campus facility"?
 
For more seats they didn't need to go "out" just "up".....that doesn't call for more land grab.

With emminet domain the sity can do basically anything it wants......I understand this isn't a city built structure but they can purchase land and then sell it back to BU.....there were ways to get almost anything done they really wanted to.
 
dogsrus said:
For more seats they didn't need to go "out" just "up".....that doesn't call for more land grab.

With emminet domain the sity can do basically anything it wants......I understand this isn't a city built structure but they can purchase land and then sell it back to BU.....there were ways to get almost anything done they really wanted to.
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Agreed. My argument is only for 'up', and to get the thing to 6,000 or so. But, it is what it is. The practice facility is AWESOME!
 
BradleyBrave said:
Agreed. My argument is only for 'up', and to get the thing to 6,000 or so. But, it is what it is. The practice facility is AWESOME!
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I agree...it sounds as if I am being negative when thats NOT my intention. The new digs are a wonderful addition.

I suppose to be fair had they given us 6500 seats we would have screamed for 8500 or 9000...:)

Yes..it IS what it IS and it will have to do. I just would have liked to see BU with a REAL bargaining chip to use against the city.
 
shaunguth said:
How are the chances minimum when it was just reported two days ago that "a limited number of men??™s regular-season games against low-profile opponents will likely be played at the campus facility"?
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Have you ever negotiated a contract before. You say things because you may do if you do not get your way but if a contract is constructed in which BU can make more money at Carver they will forgo playing there. Leverage in negotiating is everything.
 
SFP said:
Have you ever negotiated a contract before. You say things because you may do if you do not get your way but if a contract is constructed in which BU can make more money at Carver they will forgo playing there. Leverage in negotiating is everything.
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No, I have not negotiated a contract before.

I just don't see how Bradley has much leverage at all considering their "other" option only seats 4,500.
 
cpacmel said:
Man I wish Illinois State had another option.

Maybe one that would be directly across the street from Redbird Arena.

Maybe one that held 5,000 fans too.
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You guys don't NEED another option since the arena is run by the University. Unlike BU's arrangement ISU gets all the concessions and can schedule events around the mens schedule.

I doubt Ringling Brothers Big Top has ever forced ISU to take a road game vs playing at home.

BU needs another option since we are held hostage by the PCC...... but 4000 seats isn't much of an option when the team can draw 10k.

Nice practice facility indeed (also great for the women and Volleyball)...viable option for the men vs the PCC...ummm, NO.
 
Da Coach said:
Up until a few months ago, it was called the Puterbaugh Men's Basketball Practice Facility, but now the name has been changed to simply the Men's Basketball Practice Facility.
Does anyone know why the Puterbaugh name was removed?

Old BU web page pulled from Google cache-
Puterbaugh Men's Basketball Practice Facility
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...ce+facility+bradley&cd=14&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Now the same webpage, but a different name-
Men's Basketball Practice Facility
https://campaign.bradley.edu/priorities/practice.shtml
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it has now been three years since this odd incident where a reportedly multi million dollar "naming rights" gift didn't materialize...
There was even word that something else was then going to be named for the Puterbaugh gift...but not the case.

Very little has been made public and oddly the local media never seemed the least bit interested in this unusual scenario...and now there is no mention of the name Puterbaugh anywhere on or around campus and the Puterbaughs are no longer members of the BSS nor listed among the donors..
wonder why we never heard more to this whole story...
 
tornado said:
it has now been three years since this odd incident where a reportedly multi million dollar "naming rights" gift didn't materialize...
There was even word that something else was then going to be named for the Puterbaugh gift...but not the case.

Very little has been made public and oddly the local media never seemed the least bit interested in this unusual scenario...and now there is no mention of the name Puterbaugh anywhere on or around campus and the Puterbaughs are no longer members of the BSS nor listed among the donors..
wonder why we never heard more to this whole story...
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There are no Puterbaughs listed as BSS members, but there is one (different last name).
 
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