The consultant has spoken, and he says Lincoln should build an arena in the 13,000 - 16,000 seat range. A convention center, on the other hand, isn't such a sure deal.
The way I read it, it sounds like Lincoln would do just fine if we stay below the 15,000 seat mark. I don't know much about the arena market, but staying below that number feels a lot more comfortable to me than swinging for the fences. That being said, I'm a huge fan of constructing these sorts of buildings in such a way that additional seats could be added ten or twenty years down the road, if needed.
I still feel like Lincoln should strive to dominate the mid-level and small events. So what if we don't win the biggest of the big events? Those events will always go for the latest and greatest facilities. Lincoln might attract a few of those shows in the first five years. After that, they'll become more and more rare. Let the Omaha's and Des Moines' and Kansas Cities fight over the huge spectacles. While they're beating up on each other, we should swoop in and become a formidable player in the market for smaller events. I look at it like the difference between Lincoln's and Omaha's zoos. They are very different creatures, they are both very successful, and they are both very good at what they do. Everybody wins.
Whatever ends up getting built, look for a price tag in the $250 million range.
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I couldn’t agree with you more. Lets stop pretending we will be able to compete against the Qwest for the big shows and carve out a niche for ourselves.
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