Which Would You Choose ?

[Dale]

With the Magic apparently settling into their accustomed mediocrity, if you had to choose, would you prefer a new performing arts center, or a new arena to keep the Magic ?

[cwetteland]

With the Magic apparently settling into their accustomed mediocrity, if you had to choose, would you prefer a new performing arts center, or a new arena to keep the Magic ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think the arena issue goes beyond how the Magic are playing a the moment. What does it say about a city that can't hang on to one premiere league professiobnal sports franchise? What does it say to a company that may be considering moving hundreds of employees to a new HQ, if they can't even say to the employees they have a sports team?

It goes way beyond having a facility for the Magic and their fans. If the city is planning to be more then the town near Disney, it is important to do both.

[firemick]

Me being a normal red blooded male that likes sports, I would have to go with a new arena, however said that i know the impotance and significance of having a PAC as has been stated in earlier posts. So my first choice would be a new Arena. (because i know that the only reason the magic are losing is that they dont have shiny new arena to play in....sarcasm)

[Dale]

Yeah, I'm just as susceptible as you are to the "Build us a new arena and maybe we'll play better" argument.

[sunshine]

Me being a normal red blooded gay male that likes theatre, I would have to go with a PAC.

[prahaboheme]

This city needs to start being less of a pushover to the likes of Disney, or in this case, the Magic. Hold these people responsible for their bad record, their inability to get people to fill the seats, etc. I barely see an advertisement for the Magic anywhere. Its not like that in Boston, NY, hell even Miami. They do NO investing in the city, so why should the city invest in them? There should be some serious agreements made between the City and the Magic before anything takes place in the future, and mostly that should mean that the Magic have to invest at LEAST as much into the city as the city invests in them. It's a joint enterprise.

[Dale]

Here, here ! praha.

[tm68]

Both of these capital funding projects come from the Tourist Developent Tax. I say tax the tourists (NOT the locals) and build both!

ironic that I consider(ed?) myself fiscally conservative.....

[Dale]

^^

You're just saying you wouldn't be consevative with the tourists' money, eh ?

[tm68]

tourism demand in orlando is extremely inelastic. with all due respect, those beotchs will continue to take their families here, will continue to attend conventions here and will continue to free-ride off our infrastructure.

I'm a vampire for their money, as long as it's not mine.

[bobliocatt]

How about building a new PAC and renovation the arena, instead of building the Magic a new one?

[demon]

This city needs to start being less of a pushover to the likes of Disney, or in this case, the Magic.  Hold these people responsible for their bad record, their inability to get people to fill the seats, etc.  I barely see an advertisement for the Magic anywhere.  Its not like that in Boston, NY, hell even Miami.  They do NO investing in the city, so why should the city invest in them?  There should be some serious agreements made between the City and the Magic before anything takes place in the future, and mostly that should mean that the Magic have to invest at LEAST as much into the city as the city invests in them.  It's a joint enterprise.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pushover? The Magic have been asking for a new arena for quite some time. I see advertisements for the Magic at most local Subway restuarants and on TV.As for investing in the city perhaps you are unfamiliar with the building Devos donated to UCF.

[demon]

Me being a normal red blooded gay male that likes theatre, I would have to go with a PAC. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm a straight guy who teaches acting and coaches basketball, so I say we need both.

Just keep in mind a new arena doesn't mean the Magic will start winning, and a new PAC doesn't mean we'll get good theatre.

[Dale]

^^

A straight guy who teaches acting ?

Riii-ght.

[Brickell]

I'm for whatever will be most versatile.

Which probrably means the arena, but I'm open. Not only the Magic, but the Predators use it, concerts are held there, graduations, etc etc.

Orlando does have a performing arts center already and it does have an arena already, so it's not like you're providing a service that isn't already there. You all just want bigger toys.

[F-L-A]

I don't think Predators fans would want to move though, even if a new arena is built. AFL fans seem to be emotionally attached to that one for whatever reason. It's the longest serving arena in that league.

It's mostly the Magic getting bossy.

[Tim3167]

Professional sports these days is kind of like a social club for the cities that host teams. There is no financial justification for building facilities for organizations paying it's employees multi million dollar salaries. The reality of the club however is that you have to pay to be part of it. Cities have no leverage whatsoever with the teams. If the organization wants a new facility and does not get one, it will move to a waiting list of cities willing to pay to be in the club. In some cases when that happens, the city realizes it misses being in the club and ends up paying more than the original price tag to keep the first team to lure another.

It may not be right or fair but I say build a new arena. I want in the club still.

[cwetteland]

Pushover? The Magic have been asking for a new arena for quite some time. I see advertisements for the Magic at most local Subway restuarants and on TV.As for investing in the city perhaps you are unfamiliar with the building Devos donated to UCF.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There are many millions more Devos donates personally to area charities, not to mention charities the organization as a whole supports. There are other cities out there with vision who for years have offered to build the Magic a new arena if they would move but Devos has stuck by Orlando.

[sunshine]

^^

A straight guy who teaches acting ?

Riii-ght. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LOL. Dale...that's so funny

[GRS328]

I will have to go along with Tim & cwetteland on this one. Regardless of whether you enjoy sports or not, I would think it is hard to deny the fact that they do play a fairly major role in defining a cities image. I think it would be very damaging to Orlando if it were to lose the Magic. And considering the structure of the state, I would find it hard to imagine Orlando being able to attract another team in any of the major leagues. It's haighly doubtful Orlando would ever see an NFL team with Tampa & Jacksonville teams so nearby, and Miami not too far away. I don't think the market could support so many teams so close together. Same for baseball. And hockey... whatever. And despite the AFL and US Soccer's increasing popularity, they are NOT in the same class as the traditional major leagues. Bottom line, it sucks teams hijack cities into getting new arena/stadiums. But it happens, there's not much that can be done about it... and in the long run, it is probably more damaging to a city's image to lose a team than it is to fork out the money for a new arena.

I disagree that the Magic don't invest in the community, either. I know several of the players go out to schools to promote reading campaigns, etc. Call it superficial if you want, they're still out there doing it. And the Magic organization was quite generous, both with their time and money this past summer after the hurricanes came through.

All that being said, I definitely want to see the new PAC come to fruition, and I hope that it doesn't have to come down to "one or the other." I'm with TM68 on this one. Tax the hell out of the tourists for it. Considering how weak the dollar is currently, it would hardly much of a difference to them anyway.

[demon]

^^

A straight guy who teaches acting ?

Riii-ght. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Know a better way to meet cute girls?

[sunshine]

Hang out with gay guys and in gay club to get their hag hag. Normally, pretty girls with no attitude. At least mine is.

[Hisma]

new arena, hands down.

I am really excited about a PAC, but for any city to be considered "important" they absolutely HAVE to have a pro sports franchise. No way around it. What would be even more damaging would be to have one & then run it out of town.

There are just certain shallow qualities that people take into consideration when they intially judge a city. A typical person would first think "have I heard of the city before?" Well, Americans love to watch sports, so if someone is a sports fan they are automatically going to recognize the cities that have football, baseball or basketball teams. That's positive exposure, automatically boosting the cities image. Yea, it doesn't single-handedly make the cities image, but it adds a big plus. It also adds to civic pride (something orlando lacks). If a team actually plays good, it makes the locals proud & brings people together. You shoulda saw Tampa when the Bucs won the super bowl. Orange & yellow was EVERYWHERE. So despite the fact sports are almost always money losers in the long run, the image and pride sports provide to a city are priceless, whether you're a fan or not... trust me!

Oh yea, I still want a PAC too.

[cwetteland]

Arena number 1. The only thing that says "second rate town" more than not having a pro sports team is having one then loosing it. Keep what you have first and then add to it (PAC).

Are the Magic being demanding? Of course they are, because there are other cities out there that know the value of a sports team to the community image and are offering mega new stadiums to lure away the Magic. It's the nature of the business. And don't say, it's a business and shouldn't get public funds. The city and state were offering 500M to get Scripps here. The downtown development board has handed our hundreds of millions in incentives to other businesses to get them (Seimans, Cirent Semiconductor, PremiereTrade etc, etc.).

Second place is a tie between Citrus Bowl and PAC.

[corpkid]

Well, watching the Magic is pretty dramatic, in a classic tragedy kind of way..

I'm all for the PAC first - when the Magic can win at least 50% of their games then maybe a re-do of their facilties.

Look at the UCF stadium proposal - what a load of crap! Does anyone REALLY think that a new cheap-o stadium is going to put them up in the same league as UF, FSU and UM? I think this is totally putting the cart before the horse.... You should EARN such things - what happens if the Magic still suck? You will have a 50% attendance rate at a top notch arena -- not much better than a 50% attendance rate at a crappy one!