My blogging cohort and all knowing Replacements fan, Scotty Hudson has been saying for years that a 15,000 seat Event Center would be too big for our demographic and population in the metro area, and apparently a consultant firm agrees;
A 10,000-seat events center would be optimal and could attract most concerts and compete for some national sporting events on the high school and college levels.
No surprise. Sioux Falls has often had the mentality, if you build it, they will come. Sometimes that is the case, but not always. Besides funding, and location, a 15,000 seat event center is just too big, especially when we have similiar facilities within an hour and two and half hours away.
Several factors threaten to limit the city’s potential to compete for large regional or national conventions, sporting events and concerts, Kaatz said. Too few hotel rooms, the availability and cost of airline service into the city, and the proximity of the centers to an entertainment district all could hinder Sioux Falls’ efforts to lure business.
What? They have a Buffalo Wild Wings just two blocks away? What do you expect, we reopen Happy Chef? Maybe the Ghost and Sy are right. Maybe it should be downtown. I know the perfect place for it, contaminated dirt and all.
In another major point, Kaatz said that dramatically increasing the size of the convention center without building up necessary support facilities, such as hotels, might not bring in corresponding growth. He argued that because the convention center is booked 60 percent of the time, and heading toward the 70 percent mark, it might be close to reaching its potential, given the existing support facilities nearby.
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“Let’s not put ourselves in a position where we are not as successful in the future as we were in the past,” he said.
The only good thing about Sioux City; a good punk rock music scene
That has always been my agrument about Sioux Falls fast growth. Slower educated growth is superior to fast haphazard growth. Who are we competing with? Seriously. We have NO competition in our region. NONE. You have to drive two and half hours before getting in a city larger then us, and frankly, Omaha isn’t that great. Are we afraid of Sioux City?
Don’t make me laugh.
Kaatz’s analysis is based on the Sioux Falls that exists today or one that will grow incrementally, Baloun said. But that’s not necessarily the city the task force envisions the new events and convention centers serving.
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“John gave us a very conservative look,” Baloun told Kaatz and the task force. “But there are strategies in place to do other things you don’t know yet.”
BAHAHAHAHA! Why are you holding out on us? And why didn’t you use those strategies instead of paying a consultant thousands of dollars for a report you are going to throw in the garbage?
Kind of reminds of the audit of the Pavilion a few years ago. “Thanks for the suggestions where we can improve. But we will ignore them and continue to go down the wrong path.”