Grand Rapids Sports Authority

[GRDadof3]

Ive seen landfils be redeveloped as parks and stuff, but like getting a big league team in GR, its all dream isnt it?

If the 2020 games are going to be held in Michigan it wont be Grand Rapids...

I would bet you've seen them CAPPED and then redeveloped as parks, not completely removed and redeveloped. I've seen landfills capped and used as ski hills. But you'll never see a building on the Butterworth dump. It's one thing to have an unreaslistic dream, quite another to have an impossible dream.

[Nitro]

But you'll never see a building on the Butterworth dump. It's one thing to have an unreaslistic dream, quite another to have an impossible dream.

It's not impossible for this to happen. The site would need to be severely capped and a building could be designed with a floating foundation. A floating foundation is one where the weight of the foundation equals the weight of the soil that it displaces. Same principle that makes a boat float.

A lot of landfills get redeveloped in some form or another. When I worked in West Bloomfield there was a subdivision that was built on an old bottle dump. They had to haul all of the old bottles out to make it work. You should have seen some of the treasures that were found.

There is an old landfill on the east side of the Beltline across from Robinettes. I was told at one point it was one of the most contaminated landfill sites in the state of Michigan. I had heard they were considering trucking some of the fill away but I don't know what they are doing over there. The scary thing was that they had planned a subdivision directly to the north of that site (read: downhill)

[GRDadof3]

There is an old landfill on the east side of the Beltline across from Robinettes. I was told at one point it was one of the most contaminated landfill sites in the state of Michigan. I had heard they were considering trucking some of the fill away but I don't know what they are doing over there. The scary thing was that they had planned a subdivision directly to the north of that site (read: downhill)

I had heard about the West Bloomfield subdivision on the landfill. There's also Bay Harbor that was built on the old kiln dust along Lake Michigan. You're right that it's POSSIBLE, but can you really see any major development (ie stadium or neighborhood) on the Butterworth dump?

The landfill on Beltline has been capped, and has vents sticking up in the air in several locations. They talked about putting in a Soccer park, but I don't know if it was feasible because they wanted to run underground sprinkling, and they couldn't do it (the last I heard).

[snoogit]

I had heard about the West Bloomfield subdivision on the landfill. There's also Bay Harbor that was built on the old kiln dust along Lake Michigan. You're right that it's POSSIBLE, but can you really see any major development (ie stadium or neighborhood) on the Butterworth dump?

The landfill on Beltline has been capped, and has vents sticking up in the air in several locations. They talked about putting in a Soccer park, but I don't know if it was feasible because they wanted to run underground sprinkling, and they couldn't do it (the last I heard).

You gotta admit though, if it werent for the dump, that would be an excellent spot

[Kayak1]

I think it would be great to have GR host a regional game for the mens NCAA basketball tournament. If Boise can host I think GR should be able to support the tournament. Plus the midwest is a hot spot for college basketball. I think it would draw really well.

I think that the NFL is a stretch.

[Rizzo]

http://www.mlive.com/business/grpress/inde....xml&coll=6

Stuff like this making the news reminds me that an infastructure is being put in place to bring a team here. I don't need to mention which one either. I think thats the larger milestone in the this whole Downtown master plan from the family.

Create an infrastructure, create a commison that can actively get the little sports hosted here to cover costs to offset the biggie: a big league franchise.

While the infrastructure is being built, actively own a team and build their national presence, credibility, and track record. Build the team, learn how to run it in a city where if you screw up its not your home town getting screwed, etc. When the nest back at home is complete bring 'em.

[wyoming_mi]

By the way..... Van Andel Arena, while only seating about 12,000 for basketball is actualy not too small for the first and second round weekend of March Madness. Spokane Arena in Washington is built strikingly similar in design and capacity for basketball and was host a few years ago and I believe will host again in the next year or two. That event would be one of the toughest sports tickets in GR.

[eyestosee]

The sports authority should concentrate on one thing: building a football stadium and establishing an NFL franchise. There is no single action that moves a city to the "big-time" like getting an NFL team. It's instant credibility for so many other areas: conventions, corporate HQ's and regional offices, airport expansions, and service industry jobs to name a few.

I was one of the attendees at the Peter Secchia called meeting today. A wonderful report was submitted by the GR/Kent County CVB. The handout was nice, the food was nice, but is the commission needed? Could we really persuade the NCAA and other amateur organization, to choose us? I hope so...but... Does anyone have thoughts? I would love to sow time and dollars into it. Is the ground ready for sowing? Is the City a thorn waiting to hinder growth?

Would anyone like an electronic copy of the report from today's meeting?

[GR8scott]

I think this committee is definatly needed, we are out of the norm not having one right now and the benifits can be huge if the committee does their job and market GR.

Right now there is NO friggin way I could see an NFL team here. Green bay is an exception that you could not start a francise like that now anywhere in the country and sucede. This is a second rate city in the state and overshadowed by bigger cities like Detroit, Indy, Chicago. and Green Bay being to north there would be a very small fan base. People outside of west MI are not going to stop being their hometown fans and root for GR because they are new. College football would only take away somefans and there are 3 large D1 schools not including WMU, CMU, and EMU that draw fans from here. Also East Lansing can support that 70k fans because theres 50k students there and many more alumni that go to the games, not the same in NFL

Nashville is a complete step ahead they are the capital and center of the state and have fan base across the state including Memphis and probably draw from nearby states with no team (Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas) they were also nationally known before they had sports as being the home of country music, what are we known for Amway?

As far as a stadium the butterworth site would be ideal and I just dont see why with all the technology we have that its impossible? Might be a good longterm thing to look into.

Back to the topic, I think the sports comitte should push for Van Andel arena expansion first and foremost to draw larger events like NCAA I tournaments (the only one that actually does draw national attention, I mean who watches the DII swimming champoinship?) Dyton, Greensboro, Boise, why not GR, oh because noone markets us here and we have a small arena. Mybe eventually lead to NHL or NBA in 10-20 years for now maybe an NBDL team and double or triple A baseball would be great to see some rising stars.

I'm a sports fan and thats one thing that kind of bothers me is that GR has nice small college teams and some nice minor leauge teams but gets very little exposure nationally. Its probably the largest market in the US without a D1 sports progam. Also single A baseball is pretty lame and theres not a minor league basketball team here, so there are a lot of improvements needed before we are major league. thats my rant

[Rizzo]

We should be attracting thoes little non televised events and lots of them. We can't simply build and expect to have consideration for the big NCAA basketball tournements. We need to build a reputation and that will be built by hosting solid by bringing in the small to medium events until we have a name for ourselves. We can't simply just put our name in the hat for the big NCAA turneys when scores of capable cities are doing so also.

On the Bigs: What would be nice is to see local business owners with plenty of money to invest in market studies to see if there is a market. I suggest contracting big league teams for exposition games to see what kind of numbers you can grab.

As far as I know, by the numbers there is a market for all leagues except MLB.

[GR8scott]

yeah I agree with starting smaller to eventually attract the larger events, any kind of tournament is going to sell hotel rooms and restraunts but the NCAA tournament could be a much larger boost with the national exposure

I know a pro team besides mlb might look good on paper but I can not see and NFL team. Hockey seems most likely because there Indy and green bay dont have a team, chicago doesnt really support their team. So theres a much larger draw of fans, also there are a lot more hockey fans in the north vs. south so we could get a team over houston and other large markets. I know there are about 40 home games vs. 7 but being in the winter and a much smaller arena I think ticket sales could be steady. NBA a little less likely because hockey has that northern feel and NBA is more innercity urban feel. Football would be great but I think we are just too close to other markets to draw fans and not enough support in the metro area. just my thoughts

[snoogit]

yeah I agree with starting smaller to eventually attract the larger events, any kind of tournament is going to sell hotel rooms and restraunts but the NCAA tournament could be a much larger boost with the national exposure

I know a pro team besides mlb might look good on paper but I can not see and NFL team. Hockey seems most likely because there Indy and green bay dont have a team, chicago doesnt really support their team. So theres a much larger draw of fans, also there are a lot more hockey fans in the north vs. south so we could get a team over houston and other large markets. I know there are about 40 home games vs. 7 but being in the winter and a much smaller arena I think ticket sales could be steady. NBA a little less likely because hockey has that northern feel and NBA is more innercity urban feel.

the NBA has admitted that it does best in smaller markets, which is why you see NBA teams in Salt Lake City, and Sacramento. And the NHL is still of the mindset of "expanding the game into new unexplored areas" and not "building up its fanbase" it would take someone moving their team to GR in the NHL, not an expansion...

[MJLO]

I had heard, although I don't remember where, that the Jazz are one of the most unprofitable NBA teams.

[Rizzo]

Forbes values the team at #21 with a worth of 274 million. The team has a revenue value of 91 million making it number 21 also.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/32/Revenues_1.html

[gvsusean]

the NBA has admitted that it does best in smaller markets, which is why you see NBA teams in Salt Lake City, and Sacramento. And the NHL is still of the mindset of "expanding the game into new unexplored areas" and not "building up its fanbase" it would take someone moving their team to GR in the NHL, not an expansion...

like devos's magic

[snoogit]

like devos's magic

I don't think you'll see the Magic move here, what you might see though is the Devos Selling the Magic, and buying a different team to bring to GR.

All depends on if Orlando approves a new arena.

[Rizzo]

WNBA is doing a sort of exhibition game here in GR... I think it will bring crowds, especially with a large amount of support for womans sports here in Metro. What we should be doing is contracting for exhibition games not of the Detroit variety, just to see what kind of numbers we can get out of it. I think the VAA is of NBA/NHL court/rink standards. I'm not sure though.

In all this chatter about shakeups in NHL or NBA I just wish it would happen already.

[tamias6]

OK, everyone repeat after me: "The Butterworth Dump will never be redeveloped" " The Butterworth Dump will never be redeveloped". Wash, rinse, repeat.

I'm not aware of any landfill in this country where the contents have been removed and shipped elsewhere. Who would take it? It's full of a bunch of medical waste, in addition to your standard landfill variety.

Hmmm. If the Butterworth Landfill is where I think it is, then this is the very spot I'm placing big league football and baseball stadiums in my Fantasy Grand Rapids I'm toiling away on.

It's still a work in progress but here's a basic overhead shot of the stadiums I'm working on. The two stadiums are in place and I'm currently working on infrastructure to support them as seen from the upgrading and extention of Wealthy Street and the additions of some intechanges off of 131 and 196.

My two stadiums

Of course stadiums do come with emence seas of parking lot. I think asphalt and concrete would act as a cap to imprision any bad stuff from below. But I'm no architect. So that's why architects and engineers are hire to build buildings, I'm sure they'd have a solution to building anything on the Butterworth site.

[snoogit]

Hmmm. If the Butterworth Landfill is where I think it is, then this is the very spot I'm placing big league football and baseball stadiums in my Fantasy Grand Rapids I'm toiling away on.

thats the landfill

I think your stadiums are a bit small though tamias, altough I think a good second location would be just a little farther north almost southwest of GVSU.

[tamias6]

thats the landfill

I think your stadiums are a bit small though tamias, altough I think a good second location would be just a little farther north almost southwest of GVSU.

I thought about the GVSU site for one of my stadiums, but I felt that site was too small to accamadate it. Also I wanted to expand GVSU southward in my Fantasy GR when I get to that project.

[Rizzo]

Letter special to the press by Peter Secchia.

There are many aspects to a proposed sports authority for this area that have nothing to do with sports. This proposal could help us build a stronger financial foundation for our community.

-- http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ss....xml&coll=6

Taking pride in Grand Rapids and looking for a solution to this potential revenue bond problem must be considered.

Discuss....