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Wintrust Arena: Rahm Mahal A Financial Shortfall
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IWokeUpLikeThis Offline
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Wintrust Arena: Rahm Mahal A Financial Shortfall
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/taxpayer-...ojections/

Quote:Despite attendance for DePaul men’s basketball games having previously hovered below 3,000 per game, HVS projected the 10,000-seat Wintrust Arena would draw an average of 9,500 people per game. A February 2017 economic impact report by MPEA eyed an average attendance of 9,000 for Wintrust Arena games and events.

But MPEA documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show Wintrust Arena events falling far short of these estimates. Men’s basketball games, for example, have drawn an average of only 3,142 fans per game, trailing HVS and MPEA projections by 67 percent and 65 percent, respectively.

Taxpayers split the cost with DePaul University for the arena, with each contributing $82.5 million. MPEA has insisted the investment will ultimately pay off for taxpayers by generating economic activity, largely through increased consumer spending in the area.

[Image: WINTRUST_1.png]

I attended St John’s-DePaul and attempted a headcount. Failed to get 300. Beautiful arena though. Able to park in a garage and walk through an indoor skywalk - never have to step foot outside. (That appealed to my mom so tried taking her to Marquette-DePaul but garage was full so we went to ISU/Loyola instead.)
07-02-2018 03:56 PM
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goofus Offline
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RE: Wintrust Arena: Rahm Mahal A Financial Shortfall
They built the arena for the wrong school. They should built it for Loyola.
07-02-2018 04:03 PM
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IWokeUpLikeThis Offline
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RE: Wintrust Arena: Rahm Mahal A Financial Shortfall
One thing interesting was the student section was placed on the balcony behind the hoop. They probably figured no students would attend off campus and milked the lower baseline for ticket-payers.

The only real negative I saw was parking garage egress after the game. Despite only a few hundred attending, it took 40 minutes to escape (what is it when Marquette or Villanova are in town?). No biggie for me (I’ll just turn on postgame radio and browse the phone), but there were times it sounded like 10-12 vehicles were simultaneously blowing their horns.
07-02-2018 04:20 PM
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Love and Honor Offline
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RE: Wintrust Arena: Rahm Mahal A Financial Shortfall
(07-02-2018 04:03 PM)goofus Wrote:  They built the arena for the wrong school. They should built it for Loyola.

Maybe now with the benefit of hindsight, but up until this past season the Ramblers were perennial underachievers. Really no one should've gotten a new arena except debatably Northwestern until they decided to gut Welsh-Ryan this past season, but it was clear to most that Wintrust would be a waste of money. I went to the Miami-Depaul game around Christmas and the fact that our fans, rooting for a team that hasn't finished above .500 since 2011, made up a quarter of the crowd is pretty telling.

Depaul needed a new arena, but the problem is that land in Lincoln Park is way too expensive. In choosing the South Loop they cut the student commute down from over an hour via student shuttle to thirty minutes via the Red Line, but the problem is that when your program sucks like Depaul that trip might as well be to Siberia. Honestly the only somewhat practical location that may have worked would be a few blocks west along the river, though the only way for the real estate to be cheap enough would be if they built it among an industrial corridor and just pray that the increasing cost of living in nearby neighborhoods pushed redevelopment around there.
07-02-2018 06:40 PM
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Captain Bearcat Offline
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RE: Wintrust Arena: Rahm Mahal A Financial Shortfall
Urban schools have a big problem with getting enough acreage to field an athletic program. Even in a midsized city like Cincinnati, getting enough land for an arena/stadium/practice field is prohibitively expensive if you're anywhere near the urban core.
07-04-2018 12:57 PM
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GoldenWarrior11 Offline
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RE: Wintrust Arena: Rahm Mahal A Financial Shortfall
The reported numbers at Wintrust and the actual numbers at Wintrust are two completely different and conflicting figures. Frankly, any individual or organization that projected 9,500 for the new arena was either being incompetent or misleading with past numbers. DePaul has not gotten those figures in a long time, and when they were, they were actually competitive - something that has not been true since they joined the Big East. The South Loop project was a political power-play, plain and simple. Regardless, the city and school are now stuck with it, so it is what it is.
07-05-2018 11:32 AM
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