Future of Edward Jones Dome?

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

Move the Championships to Indiananpolis, IN

Since Indy was nearly selected back in 2010, it would be one of the stronger candidates to succeed STL whenever FIRST moves on.

I lived in St. Louis for a long time, and have enjoyed going back for CMP these past several years. I've also enjoyed going to IRI at Lawrence North HS these past several years, so in my imagination Indy is an ideal place to play robots. While I have a personal bias toward the outstanding FIRST volunteer corps in St. Louis, I know from many direct experiences that their counterparts in Indiana can match or exceed any others, anywhere. [And yes, I include Michigan.]

However, the logistical challenge of CMP is an order of magnitude (at least) larger than that of IRI, or any other event Indiana has hosted so far. Is downtown Indy a good place to walk around, near the venue that FIRST would use? Is there metro rail from the airport to that part of town? Enough hotel rooms? I know those were important considerations when St. Louis made its pitch to FIRST, and I think we all have seen how CMP growth has strained St. Louis' capacity.

TL/DR; does Indy have the capacity to handle CMP?

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edit@Foster: Unlike Indy, St. Louis population figures divide into city (~300k) and county (~1M), so the per capita figure for stadium improvements is not as high as you calculated. In any case your main point is correct -- sports teams demand and often get funding concessions that are not justified by their impact on the community.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

Since Indy was nearly selected back in 2010, it would be one of the stronger candidates to succeed STL whenever FIRST moves on.

I lived in St. Louis for a long time, and have enjoyed going back for CMP these past several years. I've also enjoyed going to IRI at Lawrence North HS these past several years, so in my imagination Indy is an ideal place to play robots. While I have a personal bias toward the outstanding FIRST volunteer corps in St. Louis, I know from many direct experiences that their counterparts in Indiana can match or exceed any others, anywhere. [And yes, I include Michigan.]

However, the logistical challenge of CMP is an order of magnitude (at least) larger than that of IRI, or any other event Indiana has hosted so far. Is downtown Indy a good place to walk around, near the venue that FIRST would use? Is there metro rail from the airport to that part of town? Enough hotel rooms? I know those were important considerations when St. Louis made its pitch to FIRST, and I think we all have seen how CMP growth has strained St. Louis' capacity.

TL/DR; does Indy have the capacity to handle CMP?

That would be a tough question for even previous places like Atlanta.
I do wonder why Houston was never considered. Reliant Stadium was a fine place to host the championship. It was the Astrodome that I had issue with...

[MrTechCenter]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

That would be a tough question for even previous places like Atlanta.
I do wonder why Houston was never considered. Reliant Stadium was a fine place to host the championship. It was the Astrodome that I had issue with...

Maybe there's no easy access between the convention center and Reliant Stadium? I also think it would be an ideal location, as it also has Reliant Arena in the plaza and Houston is a major hub for United Airlines which means it wouldn't be as hard to get flights as it is for St. Louis.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by KPSch

This may all be a moot point. FIRST has a contract to hold their championship event in Saint Louis at the Edward Jones Dome through 2017. 2018 and beyond is still up in the air, Rams or no Rams.

There may well be out clauses for both FIRST or the Edward Jones Dome. It wouldn't surprise me if losing their main tenant triggered such as clause for the EJD, as it would signal a huge restructuring of their business model.

[Conor Ryan]

I was very surprised when I saw this:
http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/...nvention-city/

Then I saw this:
http://www.travelandleisure.com/arti...worst-airports

And when you combine the two, you'll get a pretty good idea on what cities are the most qualified. I'd weight the first one more than the second.

[rich2202]

Over the short-term (few years), loosing the football team is not a big deal operationally (other than revenue). Football is only a guaranteed 8 days per year.

Most of the costs are fixed costs (debt service and maintenance). So, running a full program of non-football events helps to offset the fixed costs.

The first budget item to be cut will be maintenance. That should not materially impact the facility in the short-term (through 2017). Whether non-football revenues are enough to cover required maintenance (health and safety issues) will determine whether it is cheaper to keep the facility open past 2017, or to close it.

If St. Louis does commit to a new stadium, that may have a more immediate impact. If the current facility is closed in order to build the new stadium ... Chicago did something similar a few years ago, and games were played at the Univ of IL in Champagne during the renovation.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by rich2202

Football is only a guaranteed 8 days per year.

10 days. All NFL teams (that don't play a regular season game in London) host 2 pre-season games and 8 regular season games.

If St. Louis does commit to a new stadium

The Rams don't want a new stadium. https://explorestlouis.com/rams-proposal.pdf (Visuals start on Page 20)

[steverk]

Originally Posted by MrTechCenter

Maybe there's no easy access between the convention center and Reliant Stadium? I also think it would be an ideal location, as it also has Reliant Arena in the plaza and Houston is a major hub for United Airlines which means it wouldn't be as hard to get flights as it is for St. Louis.

NRG Center, a large (706,000 sq ft) convention center, is about 200 yards from Reliant Stadium in Houston.

I don't know why, or even if, Houston is being considered as a future site. The facility is certainly large enough. However, that 200 yards is uncovered and exposed to the elements. Given Houston's climate, that may be an issue.

That said, Houston is still considering what to do with the old Astrodome. It's always possible that whatever is done will result in a better venue for FIRST championships.

[Craig Roys]

This is what can happen to a football stadium in a very short period of time when left alone.

http://youtu.be/vAKCNK5TAiE

Crazy.

[BethMo]

Originally Posted by steverk

NRG Center, a large (706,000 sq ft) convention center, is about 200 yards from Reliant Stadium in Houston.

My team would find it hilarious if Championship were to be held in a place named NRG.

- Beth Moursund, 13 year mentor of team NRG 948

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by MrTechCenter

Maybe there's no easy access between the convention center and Reliant Stadium? I also think it would be an ideal location, as it also has Reliant Arena in the plaza and Houston is a major hub for United Airlines which means it wouldn't be as hard to get flights as it is for St. Louis.

What the championship looked like back in 2003. You can see both domes were being used.

[Foster]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

The Rams don't want a new stadium.

It appears they want 1/2 of a new stadium. They want to rip the interstate highway side of the building down, move the field over 52' in that direction and then put a new set of seating in place.

The document was pretty interesting. Thanks for posting it.

@Richard Wallace - thanks for the population count update. I was sort of wondering why St. Louis appeared small in the population graphs. The triple sized county around it makes up for it.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by Foster

It appears they want 1/2 of a new stadium. They want to rip the interstate highway side of the building down, move the field over 52' in that direction and then put a new set of seating in place.

It is an ambitious plan. I'm not surprised the CVC didn't go for it.

The document was pretty interesting. Thanks for posting it.

Here's the CVC's proposal: http://slcvc.explorestlouis.com/cvc/...t%202 012.pdf

[nicholsjj]

The dome is not going to be torn down for at least the next 10 years for a few reasons. First and foremost the convention center brings millions if dollars to the Saint Louis area each year and losing the dome would make much of that money go away. Secondly there would be not much the city could do with the space to match the money that the convention center is bringing in without convincing and giving major tax breaks to a large manufacture. Finally Saint Louis has a strong soccer fan base and I wouldn't be surprised if mls would expand for a team in the dome. With all that being said, I still believe that First will leave after 2017 just for a change of scenery. If another location has similar perks of Saint Louis, i.e. Indy, then I thinka move will be in the works. I think it would actually help the Eastern Mo./Western Il. teams as well since it would allow our event organizers to focus more locally, not that they don't do a great job for both but Champs does take focus away.

[Christopher149]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

It is an ambitious plan. I'm not surprised the CVC didn't go for it.

Here's the CVC's proposal: http://slcvc.explorestlouis.com/cvc/...t%202 012.pdf

The CVC's proposal was a good read (and actually readable compared to the apparent legalese in the beginning of the Rams proposal). Seems like some reasonable renovations (and thankfully no demolishing of the whole building).