One thing of note is what the extra money will go to; renovations.
The Wild and the city will jointly decide how to use the loan windfall for arena improvements, O’Connor said. High on the team’s list: seat replacements, widening of concourses, expanding entrances and upgrading scoreboards for the digital era, she said, “All things we feel are important to keeping the arena relevant.”
She added that there are no plans to use the money for a nearby practice facility that the team has long desired.
The X has been in the process of replacing their outdoors marques over the past few weeks. I'm guessing they are wanting to get the work done by the time of the first preseason game on the 27th. Also they are replacing the jumbotron and the ribbon board in the arena this off season.
Last edited by BigIdeasGuy on September 21st, 2014, 9:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
BigIdeasGuy wrote:The X has been in the process of replacing their outdoors marques over the past few weeks. I'm guessing they are wanting to get the work done by the time of the first preseason game on the 27th. Also they are replacing the jumbotron and the ribbon board in the arena this off season.
I can confirm the arena scoreboard and ribbon boards will be in place by the 27th. Very glad they're doing the outdoor marquees as well, they were beginning to look very dated.
So I randomly Googled Xcel Energy Center Renovation, the building is 20 years old already, this morning and found JLG Architects with a few renderings for a huge project along along 5th Street.
Clearly it the project hasn't taken place to date & I don't remember seeing these before or really even discussed. Does anyone have any memory of this coming up in the past?
The on JLG practice facility was listed as completed in 2011, I'm speculating that is when the designs/renders/etc. were done. Same thing in the X renovation listed at 2016.
With neither of these projects happening I'm speculating it's 1 of 2 things. 1 option is JLG needing to say "Hey potential client we can do some really cool things look at these" or 2 The Wild were really looking at it and pulled the plug at some point for any number or reasons, either internal or external.
Clearly this is never going to happen, that said I wish this was the result vs what what we ended up with. The old Macy's renovation isn't ever going to be on any awards short list and the new apartment building on the 7 Corners site is ranks between meh & okay. Not mention the 5000 seat rink would have been perfect both the Whitecaps & potentially St. Thomas as they go D1.
I received an email from the Wild today "Seeking Feedback from Our Community"
The Minnesota Wild have retained CAA ICON, an internationally recognized sports management consulting firm, to evaluate potential updates to Xcel Energy Center. Topics in the survey include your relationship with the team (if any), seating preferences, and desired arena improvements/amenities, among other topics.
This is the first I've heard about a potential renovation of Xcel Center.
We didn't need replacements for the Met Center or the Metrodome either, but we got them. I'm guessing that if they don't claim the X is a teardown, they'll come up with a couple of hundred million dollars in "needed" upgrades, to be seized from struggling hard working taxpayers without a referandum rather than paid for by the Wild owner's $4 billion net worth, of course, or the Wild will start whining and crying and stamp their feet and threatneing to run away from home like toddlers not getting candy when taxpayers don't give them billion dollar arenas and stadiums.
Call me cynical, but these studies tend to massively overstate vaguelly needed "structural repairs" to convince everyone the property is a tear-down, like the Bill's stadium, or have "urgently needed" ugrades like a few dozen more luxury suites, a bar to sell $30 cocktails, and a canal connection with locks and a boathouse so the owner can drive his yacht directly into the arena. I doubt it'll come back with "all this arena really needs are some new electrical panels for the locker rooms since we can no longer get parts for the ones we have, and the flooring in the concourses is wearing out and needs refinishing".
I took the survey. It seemed more Wild-focused than facility-focused. The biggest ideas seemed to be opening up the concourse more so you can see the rink while you walk around the arena. Also they mentioned creating standing room only ticket club/lounge areas.
I feel like I'm the only progressive on Earth not offended by public investments in stadiums.
I get that there are probably better ways to spend $200 million, but that doesn't change the fact that I see stadiums as public infrastructure that therefore deserve public investment.
I also think the side benefits of stadiums vastly exceed the costs. Team spur added development, increase sales tax revenue, are enjoyed by citizens, help foster a sense of common identity in the state, and are the only reason many Americans and global citizens have even heard of Minnesota.
To me, the argument shouldn't be "That $200 million should be spent on something else" but rather "If we can build a legislative majority to spend $200 million dollars on something positive, we should do it."
Like any project it depends. What will they spend the money on within the stadium. Do they improve the outside to make it more usable besides when a game is happening. Better connection to downtown. Can we make a deal where the state spends X but then the owner invests X amount in that area of downtown.
Not all stadium deals are bad. I would even say US bank has helped(but not he only reason) turn part of downtown Minneapolis from a sea of parking lots to a dynamic area.
