The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(03-15-2017 02:23 PM)Big Blue Crazy Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 12:40 PM)CUSAmonarchman Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 12:13 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 12:07 PM)MonarchManiac Wrote:  Also, I know it is a MAJOR pipe dream...but this sports fan would love love love to have an NHL or NBA team locally to root for. Probably will never happen, but a guy can dream.

Harry wrote an article last week and noted that this arena wouldnt fulfill the requirements for a pro team. So, don't even bother getting your hopes up. It may be good enough to get an arena team but nothing more.

#BringBackTheNighthawks

I have heard that arena football is a definite possibility!!!
I would love that

The Nighthawks lasted 4 years, in a place much easier to get to (though not as nice) would this be that much different?

(03-17-2017 12:18 PM)Vdogg Wrote:  

(03-15-2017 10:49 AM)MonarchManiac Wrote:  Looks like we have ourselves an arena....

http://pilotonline.com/news/government/l...e0fc8.html

Could this pave the way for a conference tourney bid for VB/Norfolk?

(03-15-2017 01:32 PM)Quagmire Wrote:  So what does this group think the net/net on this arena would be for ODU? I'm concerned about another group/entity out soliciting event sponsorship dollars in an already thin Fortune 500 area and the impact on Hoops and Football.

Also, would this mean we can now bulldoze Scope and move the Admirals to the Beach? Do we really need Scope, Echols Hall, and the Ted within 5 miles of each other anyhow?

ADP just set up shop in downtown Norfolk and they're a major fortune 500 company. So far as I know they're not sponsoring anything locally yet so if I were they arena developers that's the first place I'd go.

This is exactly why ODUSP is concerned.

The design team of Clark Nexsen and AECOM recently met with the developer, contractor and operator for the Virginia Beach Arena. The operator created of video shot during the recent programming meetings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RnBqPCkOqQ

(05-05-2017 03:45 PM)bit_9 Wrote:  The design team of Clark Nexsen and AECOM recently met with the developer, contractor and operator for the Virginia Beach Arena. The operator created of video shot during the recent programming meetings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RnBqPCkOqQ

Thank you so much for that. Really nice to see some actual design/implementation for the new arena. I really hope Ballard can pick up enough $$$ on this project so he can be kind on the ODU stadium deal. *(Yes, I know he may not get the ODU deal but...) We are going to need a stadium builder to put as much of the money as they can in on the stadium while not carrying even the usual profit margin.

Yeah it's coming along. I know our teams are sighing with relief as some folks have been working on it for about 4 years.

Well sighing and also freaking out because it's 0 to 200mph.

Posted from mobile device. Hopefully it's coherent.

(05-05-2017 04:44 PM)ETSUDB8-79 Wrote:  

(05-05-2017 03:45 PM)bit_9 Wrote:  The design team of Clark Nexsen and AECOM recently met with the developer, contractor and operator for the Virginia Beach Arena. The operator created of video shot during the recent programming meetings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RnBqPCkOqQ

Thank you so much for that. Really nice to see some actual design/implementation for the new arena. I really hope Ballard can pick up enough $$$ on this project so he can be kind on the ODU stadium deal. *(Yes, I know he may not get the ODU deal but...) We are going to need a stadium builder to put as much of the money as they can in on the stadium while not carrying even the usual profit margin.

Would be awesome if Ballard could find a way to build a lot more stadium (like 25,000+ seats and a new end zone and scoreboard) for the same budget.

(05-05-2017 07:58 PM)monarx Wrote:  

(05-05-2017 04:44 PM)ETSUDB8-79 Wrote:  

(05-05-2017 03:45 PM)bit_9 Wrote:  The design team of Clark Nexsen and AECOM recently met with the developer, contractor and operator for the Virginia Beach Arena. The operator created of video shot during the recent programming meetings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RnBqPCkOqQ

Thank you so much for that. Really nice to see some actual design/implementation for the new arena. I really hope Ballard can pick up enough $$$ on this project so he can be kind on the ODU stadium deal. *(Yes, I know he may not get the ODU deal but...) We are going to need a stadium builder to put as much of the money as they can in on the stadium while not carrying even the usual profit margin.

Would be awesome if Ballard could find a way to build a lot more stadium (like 25,000+ seats and a new end zone and scoreboard) for the same budget.

Ballard would be in our hall of fame if he can manage to give ODU a huge bang for its buck

(05-06-2017 07:13 AM)odu09 Wrote:  

(05-05-2017 07:58 PM)monarx Wrote:  

(05-05-2017 04:44 PM)ETSUDB8-79 Wrote:  

(05-05-2017 03:45 PM)bit_9 Wrote:  The design team of Clark Nexsen and AECOM recently met with the developer, contractor and operator for the Virginia Beach Arena. The operator created of video shot during the recent programming meetings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RnBqPCkOqQ

Thank you so much for that. Really nice to see some actual design/implementation for the new arena. I really hope Ballard can pick up enough $$$ on this project so he can be kind on the ODU stadium deal. *(Yes, I know he may not get the ODU deal but...) We are going to need a stadium builder to put as much of the money as they can in on the stadium while not carrying even the usual profit margin.

Would be awesome if Ballard could find a way to build a lot more stadium (like 25,000+ seats and a new end zone and scoreboard) for the same budget.

Ballard would be in our hall of fame if he can manage to give ODU a huge bang for its buck

Agreed. Im hoping maybe this is a classic case of under promising and over delivering so they all look like heroes in the end. I guess we will see.

I might still be in the minority on this deal...there are so many red flags...Birdneck Road as a major road artery to the stadium...the parking garage that VB was left holding the bag to pay for...the rejection of light rail by VB...the silly talking point of having a limited summer schedule (the building and its mechanicals still run occupied or not)...moving the veterans memorial (not the actual movement, but the lack of tact announcing it), the mess of the financing deals...
I still don't think it will be built or at best it will be an empty white elephant at the terminus of an interstate spur with no major tenant; the amphitheater just miles away (needing shows too); a little regional cooperation with a build site of Military Circle would have been best.

(05-07-2017 07:00 AM)HeadsetGuy Wrote:  I might still be in the minority on this deal...there are so many red flags...Birdneck Road as a major road artery to the stadium...the parking garage that VB was left holding the bag to pay for...the rejection of light rail by VB...the silly talking point of having a limited summer schedule (the building and its mechanicals still run occupied or not)...moving the veterans memorial (not the actual movement, but the lack of tact announcing it), the mess of the financing deals...
I still don't think it will be built or at best it will be an empty white elephant at the terminus of an interstate spur with no major tenant; the amphitheater just miles away (needing shows too); a little regional cooperation with a build site of Military Circle would have been best.

You may be in the minority, but you are not alone. Particularly on your last point.

I dearly hope this arena is fabulously successful -- our region needs a premier facility in the worst way. But the go-it-alone attitude, not just from Virginia Beach but also from Norfolk and the other surrounding cities, is not at all promising.

Champagne tastes on a beer budget. This area is notorious for having big ideas and then fatally underfunding. Due in large part to the go it alone philosophy. The Tide is case in point. A huge expense, it was underfunded and basically goes nowhere. Thus the opponents have a self fulfilling prophecy, "see we told you wouldn't work".Va. Beach's' failure to get on board is a classic example of how to kill a great idea, or at least make it significantly less than it should be.
It seems city leaders and residents want something good, then chicken out half way thru because of the expense. Until we can agree to work together as a region, sharing the huge expense of doing it right, we'll always have these ill conceived, underfunded attempts at looking vibrant.

So this arena is largely privately funded with the developer putting in $ 40 million of equity. If the arena fails, that $40 million is lost.

My understanding is that the developer will get some very sweet tax advantages to make the deal work, but he will still need significant revenues to cover debt and operating expenses. And i would say the projected revenue streams look suspect without a major long term tenant.

So what conclusion might you come to in that scenario?


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(05-07-2017 09:34 AM)ODU1986 Wrote:  So this arena is largely privately funded with the developer putting in $ 40 million of equity. If the arena fails, that $40 million is lost.

My understanding is that the developer will get some very sweet tax advantages to make the deal work, but he will still need significant revenues to cover debt and operating expenses. And i would say the projected revenue streams look suspect without a major long term tenant.

So what conclusion might you come to in that scenario?


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That some bankruptcy lawyers will be busy sometime in the foreseeable future? And that some taxpayers will be given the opportunity to "invest" in this dream of an east coast sports Mecca sometime in the slightly more distant future?

Tells me the developer is confidant he's not going to lose his $40 million. There's more in play here than what it appears.


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Tells me some people refuse to take risks. The amphitheater was a project people opposed. Said it would t work. People opposed the Hilton at 31st street. Thy said "save the park". This tells me that people quickly forget that anything of note carries varying degrees of risk with it.

I for one am glad that it is coming and I expect success.

Or, as HeadsetGuy pointed out in post #28, there were far better ways to go about it -- better placement options, better traffic options, the lost opportunity of light rail, the need for better community buy-in,etc.

I don't deny that are many smart and wealthy people with a true vision for what will work in our community. There also are any number of people with grandiose ideas that never should be given the chance to undertake foolish development, which necessarily will displace other, better options.

I don't pretend to know on which side of that ledger the V.B. Arena will ultimately land. I hope it is a success, and look forward to one day attending an NCAA regional event (even if I didn't care about a single one of the teams). But what I've seen recently (risk-averse guy that I am) is a number of political, financial and public-relations missteps that are making success much more of a challenge.

(05-07-2017 10:28 AM)BigBlue23 Wrote:  Tells me some people refuse to take risks. The amphitheater was a project people opposed. Said it would t work. People opposed the Hilton at 31st street. Thy said "save the park". This tells me that people quickly forget that anything of note carries varying degrees of risk with it.

I for one am glad that it is coming and I expect success.

People are so negative about any new project. For those negative Nacys, What is the last major project to fail in VB? The Sportsplex, 25 years ago? Since then they have had huge successes like Town Center, 35th Street, Amphitheatre... The arena will be fine.

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Not sure why everyone wants to tell the private developer that is made up of some of the smartest arena companies in the business where they should have chosen to build their stadium. They had other options and chose the Ocean Front. Those who would have put the thing somewhere Central like the **** hole that is Military Circle, or rural Chesapeake are the ones who are wrong.

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(05-07-2017 12:50 PM)Monarchblue Wrote:  Not sure why everyone wants to tell the private developer that is made up of some of the smartest arena companies in the business where they should have chosen to build their stadium. They had other options and chose the Ocean Front. Those who would have put the thing somewhere Central like the **** hole that is Military Circle, or rural Chesapeake are the ones who are wrong.

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Not necessarily. Virginia Beach hired the developer to build an arena in VB not in Norfolk. The developer would have been crazy to tell his client they'd prefer to build it at Military Circle. Look at it this way. If you hired a contractor to put an addition on your house, and he said I hear ya, but I think the addition would be better on your neighbor's house you'd think he'd lost his mind.

If vb hadn't made it happen I would have put money on it being at military circle.

Posted from mobile device. Hopefully it's coherent.

so multiple municipalities would have maybe been in play if Vb had fallen Through? I know this is speculation and it based on ga t, but the deal couldnt be but so risky if the common train of thought was other cities would have been on board.

I am so dumbfounded by the nay Sayers in this case.