New NBA Arenas Page

[Doug Loudenback]

I've started a new NBA Arenas web page over the weekend. It's not done yet but here it is so far: http://www.dougloudenback.com/hornets/NBAarenas.htm.

[Patrick]

Looks nice! I thought I'd point out that the Spurs no longer play in the Alamo Dome. They're playing in the SBC Center. Hope that helps!

[Doug Loudenback]

Thanks, Patrick! I'll get that fixed this afternoon! When looking around on the web, it wasn't clear to me where they were playing ... and I guessed wrong! Please let me know if you find other errors.

[BDP]

Very cool. I love stuff like this. It's very interesting how innovative and creative arena designs have become. Dallas's is by far my favorite. It's beautiful.

I think the Ford Center is very pedestrian, but I'm not complaining. It'll never be mistaken as an architectural achievement, but there are worse arenas for sure. Being that it was 100% publicly funded without a major league tenant, I think the city did very well in building an arena that is major league ready, not offensive in any way, and for an EXTREMELY good price. I think keeping the frills modest allowed MAPS money to go a lot further and give us a complete downtown package.

[metro]

I think Miami's is the most magnificent on the interior and the exterior is not bad. If memory serves me right, it is the most ever spent on an indoor arena

[Doug Loudenback]

My memory is about as lame as memory's get, but am I not correct in recalling that the arena's cost, compared to what the orignal maps sales tax issue covered, was not sufficient and that the item had to be submitted to an additional vote to cover the cost? It may well be that I'm wrong about that ... but I seem to recall a debate of some type about whether to fund the areana well into the MAPS stuff progressing, much before that "last" item even progressed.

In any event, this may, and I think that it will, prove to be the best money (tax wise) we ever spent.

[BDP]

We did vote on it twice, but I don't remember the details. In any event, that place for under $100 mil is a bargain.

[windowphobe]

There was a vote to extend the MAPS sales tax for six months to cover cost overruns in general; it wasn't specific to any single project.

[bdl1411]

If you want to get technical the SBC Center is changing into the AT&T Center or AT&T Arena shortly....so get ready for another change.

[OkieHornet]

I think Miami's is the most magnificent on the interior and the exterior is not bad. If memory serves me right, it is the most ever spent on an indoor arena

If I remember right, the American Airlines Center in Dallas was the most expensive arena - somewhere around 350-400 million? Tom Hicks and Mark Cuban ended up spending around an extra 100 million themselves to upgrade the locker rooms, scoreboard, etc....

[Doug Loudenback]

I've updated the NBA arena pics ... just 9 more to go and I'll be done. Hope you enjoy the pics, and please let me know if I've made any (more) mistakes! The link is: http://www.dougloudenback.com/hornets/NBAarenas.htm

Enjoy!

[Doug Loudenback]

My NBA Arenas pages at http://www.dougloudenback.com/hornets/NBAarenas.htm are now done.

Please let me know if you find any mistakes.

Enjoy!