New Arena Bids Are In!

The Baltimore Development Corp. issued a press release yesterday announcing it has reviewed the submitted proposals for the new Baltimore arena and "invited four finalists for interviews."

More from the Baltimore Business Journal and the Baltimore Sun. 

More comments, and hopefully, some links to artist's renderings later.

Baltimore's Arena Football Team Doesn't Cancel Season

On December 12th, the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA) announced it was not canceling the upcoming season. This follows the news that the better-known, 22 year-old (!) Arena Football League (AFL) decided they will cancel their 2009 season. Read about it at ProFootballTalk.com, PennLive.com or The Los Angeles Business Journal.

The Baltimore Mariners return to the 1st Mariner Arena Sunday, March 15, 2009.

Lecture Today!

"New Arena, Old Location!", part of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation's Fall Forums, will be held today from 12 Noon to 1 PM. The location is the Berman Auditorium at the Johns Hopkins Downtown Center, located at Charles and Fayette Streets. Bring your lunch.

Reminder: Lecture This Week!

A reminder from the Baltimore Architecture Foundation: the next installment of their Fall Forum series, "New Arena, Old Location!" (hosted by Kimberly A. Clark) is this Wednesday from 12 Noon to 1 PM. It is being held at the Berman Auditorium of the Johns Hopkins Downtown Center located at Charles and Fayette Streets.

More From Dennis Coates

Dennis Coates, president of the North American Association of Sports Economists, has posted his take on yesterday's Baltimore Sun article. If you recall, he wrote an Op/Ed piece about the proposed new arena for the Sun this past August.

Mr. Coates finds that arena "consulting firms effectively assume that workers on these projects would have been unemployed if not for building the sports venue" and that "if the unemployment rolls continues growing, businesses unable to borrow to finance new projects, and real investment falling ... the possibility of building it dries up." It sounds like Mr. Coates thinks the arena has a shot at getting built before the economy gets really bad.

Economic Crisis Threatens New Arena

Is it time to take odds on when (or if) a new Baltimore arena gets built?

The Baltimore Sun's Childs Walker reports today on how the current economic crisis is having an impact on the business of major league sports in this country. This past Friday's Baltimore Business Journal had a story (subscription req'd) about how potential arena developers have funding concerns.

In other news, chocolate milk is brown, things get cold in the refrigerator and my cat's breath smells like cat food.

Lecture Tonight!

Baltimore Architecture Week starts today and runs through Sunday, Oct. 26th (shouldn't it be Baltimore Architecture Week and a Half?) Tonight's lecture, "West Side and Arena Metamorphosis" features Klaus Philipsen and Matthew Fitzsimmons discussing the future arena site and its relationship with the West Side Strategic Plan. 6 PM at The Johns Hopkins University Downtown Center (10 N. Charles St.). Free.

Anaheim Looking For NBA Team Within Five Years

The OC Register's Eric Carpenter quotes Greg Smith, Anaheim executive director of sports, entertainment and conventions, that "within the next five years, Anaheim will have its own NBA team." That city is currently upgrading the 15 year-old Honda Center (formerly Arrowhead Pond at Anaheim) to make it more desirable for a team looking to relocate.

Add Anaheim (part of a metropolitan area with two NBA franchises already) to the list with Seattle (with existing KeyArena or a new venue), Las Vegas (with a new arena that is yet to be built) and Baltimore (with an unbuilt NBA-sized arena and the Washington Wizards about 40 miles south) that desire an NBA team. 

Does anyone really think a new arena is going to be built anywhere with the U.S. in an economic crisis? I sure don't.

Another NBA Expansion Opinion

MVN.com, or Most Valuable Network, "an independent sports media network", has a story by Bijan Bayne for their Outsider column titled "NBA Expansion & Franchise Movement 2.0-The City Game". 

Bayne's story is a little weak; there is no mention of  Las Vegas as a future NBA site (more on that here) and it takes a reader response to mention the newly vacant city of Seattle as a likely site for a team to relocate or expand to.

More importantly, for this blog anyway, is the statement that Baltimore "lacks a large downtown, or even suburban arena" with no mention of the city's upcoming plans to replace the 1st Mariner Arena with an NBA-ready venue. Statements on Baltimore's job loss and urban flight "since the 1970's" doesn't take into account recent stories (like this one) showing the "slowing of the city's decade-long population loss" or the Raven's dominance on the local sports scene.

Blast Announce 2008-09 Schedule

WBAL-TV has a story announcing the Baltimore Blast's 2008-09 National Indoor Soccer League schedule, promotions and ticket information. No mention of the arena's future fate.

"Start Thinking Small, Baltimore" Design Conversation

From the Beatbots calendar and Urban Palimpsest blog comes the announcement of a design conversation, "Start Thinking Small, Baltimore" at The Wind Up Space on North Avenue in the Station North neighborhood. It's Wednesday, October 1st, 6:30-8:30 PM. "Join architects, designers, artists, activists, planners, and interested citizens to talk about the future of Baltimore's built environment."

"Best Misuse of Taxpayer Funds"

The "New Baltimore Arena" won "Best Misuse of Taxpayer Funds" in the 2008 CityPaper "Best of Baltimore" issue! 

From The Washington Times

Today's Washington Times has a great, concise story by Tim Lemke about Baltimore's plans to build a new arena.

Blast To Play 2008-09 In New League

PressBox has an exclusive story by Kyle Knopp announcing that the Baltimore Blast will play in "the newly formed National Indoor Soccer League." Exact dates were not listed for the "18-game schedule" but the First Mariner Arena will host all Blast home games.

Serena Williams To Play At The Baltimore Arena

When I started this blog I knew I was not going to list every single event held at the Baltimore Arena, but this is different. This year's PNC Tennis Classic, aka Pam Shriver's yearly charity exhibition, is going to include Serena Williams! A quick read from The Examiner and a more detailed story from The Sun. The event will be held Friday, November 21st.

Blast To Play One More Season At The Arena

From September 6th's Baltimore Sun, Kent Baker reports that the Baltimore Blast will defend it's Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) title. The MISL ceased to operate on May 31, 2008 but Mr. Baker reports the league is reforming and quotes Blast general manager Kevin Healey, "The season is shortened a little bit." Their schedule has yet to be announced.

"New Arena, Old Location" Discussion Announced

Save the date! The Baltimore Architecture Foundation has announced its series of free Fall Forums to be held at Johns Hopkins University's Downtown Center (located at 10 N. Charles Street). 

"New Arena, Old Location!" will be held on Wednesday, November 19th from 12 Noon to 1 PM and will be hosted by Kimberly A. Clark, executive vice president of the Baltimore Development Corporation. Here's a printable (PDF) schedule of the entire series.

Transit Hub Considered For New Arena

From the September 1st Baltimore Sun, traffic columnist Michael Dresser reports, "... a group of local transit advocates..." have proposed a "Central Maryland Bus Station below the arena itself". This idea makes sense in a lot of ways: light rail, bus lines, and the subway are all close by. A safe 24-hour transit hub is also a great idea. Baltimore isn't a 24-hour city, but this would do wonders for the safety and security of shift workers, as mentioned in the article.

Dresser admits the need to build "underground passageways" to link the arena with the subway line. New York City's Madison Square Garden and DC's Verizon Center take advantage of numerous subway lines. Newark's new Prudential Center was built a block and half (PDF map) from the rail station, however. Will Baltimore take the bold step and integrate the subway into the new arena or will it cheap out and make you walk a block from the existing Charles Center stop?

Field of Schemes' First Take

The great Neil deMause over at fieldofschemes.com posted his first take on the proposed new Baltimore Arena. He has two good links detailing a couple of different scenarios. Neither of them sound great.

Formal Request For Proposals Announced

From today's Baltimore Sun comes the news that the Baltimore Development Corp. (BDC) has asked "for proposals that would design, develop, build and operate a new arena, with iconic design that might include ground-level shops and housing a tower." M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of the BDC is looking for proposals with "...maximum private financing..." 

Yesterday's Baltimore Business Journal (BBJ) has its more detailed take here. They mention a separate request for proposals "seeking a consultant to assist in the process of reviewing the  (new arena -Ed.) proposals..." and to come up with a plan for a possible temporary location for events during the new arena's construction.

The Sun article admits the venture would be paid "largely with public money". The BBJ's article says "City and state officials have said they will be willing to contribute public financing towards the project..."

The deadline is November 26, 2008.

Edit 8.28.08: Here is the BDC's official press release announcing the two requests for proposals.

More Arena Memories

Check out this Baltimorean's memories of the Civic Center/Arena from brightestyoungthings.com, a largely DC-centric entertainment site.

Another Pool Push From Dan Rodricks

The Baltimore Sun's Dan Rodricks' continues to push for "the Michael Phelps Aquatic Sports Center in the new downtown arena". From August 19th, here's my take on it. I will agree with Mr. Rodricks questioning the logic of investing in a flood plain.

Another Opinion (from Frederick, MD)

Frederick News Post columnist Elizabeth Marsh Cupino writes an opinion piece about Baltimore's plans to build a new arena.

You Can Probably Forget About Putting A Pool In The New Arena

From today's Baltimore Sun, a rumor that Michael Phelps and his business partners are going to buy the "North Baltimore Aquatic Club's Meadowbrook facility, neighboring ice skating rink and post office..." in the Mount Washington neighborhood. 

Best part of the rumor: buying the post office. Yes, it is small and likely needs to be replaced, but has a new location for it been found? I need to look into that some more.

I always thought Dan Rodrick's idea of putting a pool in the basement of the new Baltimore Arena was an interesting one, but a bit of a stretch realistically. It would just drive up the cost of the building. I'd love for Olympic-caliber swimmers to train (and live and eat and shop) in downtown Baltimore. I just don't know how a training facility like this pays for itself. 

If the pool is in the basement, it would have to be for training purposes only. Otherwise, where do the 10,000+ spectators sit?

Baltimore could still host an Olympic swimming trials without a pool in the basement. Omaha built a temporary pool on the arena floor for the 2008 U.S. trials. It only cost $250,000.

Baltimore Mariners Indoor Football Team Sold

The Baltimore Mariners, of the American Indoor Football Association, have been sold to a local ownership group. The Baltimore Business Journal has all the details. Their season is expected to start in March 2009, with games at the Baltimore Arena.

Baltimore Indoor Football Tryouts

The Baltimore Mariners of the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA) have just announced registration details for open tryouts. Tryouts will be held in White Marsh on October 12th. The Mariners second season will begin in March of 2009 and games are held at, you guessed it, the Baltimore Arena.

More from Rodricks

Another push for a swimming pool in the basement of the new Baltimore Arena.

A History of Rock & Roll in Baltimore

Vocal "major-league sized arena" proponent (here and here), radio personality and Baltimore Sun columnist, Dan Rodricks posted this blog entry detailing Civic Center appearances by Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Monkees and Herman's Hermits.

A History of Pro Wrestling in Baltimore

From August 4th, here is a nice history of professional wrestling at the Baltimore Civic Center/Arena by Bob Magee of WrestlingDotCom.

Beijing Inspiration

The 2008 Olympic Games began this past Friday and a number of the venues may inspire the designers of the new Baltimore Arena. The National Stadium (aka The Bird's Nest) and the National Aquatics Center (aka The Water Cube) have gotten a lot of press.

However, The Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium, with a seating capacity of 18,000, is a better "apples to apples" comparison. Also, with a seating capacity of 20,000, is The National Indoor Stadium. But Baltimore already has something similar, don't you think?

Baltimore Sun Op/Ed from Aug. 6, 2008

Dennis Coates penned this Baltimore Sun Op/Ed piece from this past Wednesday. Mr. Coates doesn't put forth an opinion per se, but clearly points out "All the evidence is that stadiums and arenas have little or no effect on the number of jobs or on the level of income in the community." He also suggests "... as you decide how you feel about the project, focus not on the economic development benefits or what Baltimore deserves, but on whether this is the best use of public money..."

Mr. Coates is the president of the North American Association of Sports Economists. 

Baltimore Arena Watch: The First Post

Two weeks ago city and state officials announced that they will replace the Baltimore Arena, currently named the 1st Mariner Arena, with a new, bigger venue on the current site. 

There is much debate over the building of a large arena. Will it bring a major league (NBA or NHL) tenant? If it can't, shouldn't the city build a smaller (and cheaper) arena that matches the capacity of the current one? And what about the issue of building on the current site? To the casual observer, there is enough room to construct a bigger building on that site, using the eastern surface parking lot and the parking garage on the south. 

The loss of income for the 2-3 years of construction worries many. But that die has been cast. My feeling is there are fewer infrastructure costs with this site versus sites mentioned further south, near the other stadiums. Mass transit, water lines, etc. are all ready in place. Ground floor retail opportunities in the new building hope to bridge downtown to the city's ongoing west-side redevelopment.

This blog hopes to be a hub for news and discussion concerning the funding, design, construction and occupancy of the Baltimore Arena.