Some contrarian viewpoints on the announcement of the

Southern Conference tournament coming back to Asheville:

Where can I start? First of all, funny they had the press conference at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, and NOT at the banquet hall, you know, where the WNC Sports Hall of Fame plaques are, which seems like a more natural setting for the announcement of a sporting event. That's okay, they would have had those plaques covered up anyway. Kind of tells you how Asheville truly thinks of sports.  Yet one speaker said this was going to be a "world-class event." How adorable.

Also funny seeing County leaders speaking there when they have done nothing to work with the City on the future of the Civic Center. 

It is also hypocritical for  the hotel industry to support this since they would benefit from the "economic impact" when they have steadfastly refused any hotel tax increase to fix the Civic Center and build a new performing arts center.

Remember all those studies that said that it was going to take tens of millions of dollars just to get the Civic Center comparable to what competing arenas can do? Shall we now state that after these fix-ups everything is fine?  If so, then the previous studies were a big lie.  If not, this is nothing more than a glorified "Band-aid" that pushes the real issues of the Civic Center aside for a future Council to consider five years from now.

Any city leader that wants to state that this will help get support for addressing the Civic Center ought to be reminded the D-League specifically promised to be the CATALYST for that very thing. How did that go? We hear this with every new tenant of the building.  Same song, different day.  This "Band-aid" is actually a dereliction of duty with the same "stars in the eyes" pipe dream the D-League was.

The article said the City thinks it can make money. Yet for the $3.2 million investment they themselves think they MIGHT get $700,000 a year back in tax revenue, which is only $2.1 million over the 3 year deal. Yup, a million dollar loss at least right off the bat.  And it’s not like the upgrades like the basketball court will help the City except for one venture.  No pro league, not even a recreational league in the summer.  Just a few fix-ups that should have been done, oh I don’t know, FIFTEEN years ago. 

There was a public outcry over the public funds that helped the NBA bring their D-League. The same D-League that was the last nail in the coffin for the Asheville Smoke hockey team.  The money spent to bring the D-League here was LESS than for this project. 

It’s obvious that the Southern Conference is not accepting a big amount of that money, only possibly $150,000 a year, which is curious given the $5,000 a game rental of the D-League and the even larger rental per game of either hockey team.  Also curious given how “expensive” keeping public skating supposedly was at the Civic Center, which was the excuse they gave for getting rid of public skating, but the City is paying much more to cover the rent for an enterprise that will likely be gone after 3 years.  The Asheville Smoke brought in larger crowds for more games, why didn’t they get this kind of break?

So if Asheville had a well-maintained Civic Center they’d only be on the hook for $450,000 over 3 years, not $3.2 million.  Compare the building to the Ramsey Center at WCU, 25 years old and looks as good as ever. 

That event MIGHT have a few games on TV a year, a few hours a year for all that money. Probably in HD so every wart of the building will be seen in stunning high definition.

The sad truth nobody else wants to state is the Civic Center will be in WORSE condition than when the tournament left, even with the fix-ups. Oh yeah, the attendance the first year might be good. Kind of like when you get back with your ex, the sex is great at first. But if the problems that caused the breakup to begin with weren't addressed, it will be worse.  It won't take long to remind returning visitors that the Civic Center is worse than when the tournament left, the bathrooms are worse, even the parking is worse.  So don't look at the attendance of year 1, look at the attendance of year 3, if it gets that far.

For that kind of money, Asheville would have been better off building a recreational ice rink, which unlike the tournament, would be here for a long time. Even if only open 5 months a year it will have an increasing attendance from locals and tourists every year, unlike the decreasing attendance the tournament will have.  

The City should not be investing in any tenant of the building until they get a resolution for the Civic Center's future first.  Funny how nobody wants to hear that after all these years.  "I don't care, I just want (insert sport here)."

That’s all.  I think.  Have a pleasant day.

Dennis Justice

 (P. S.:  And I know this is a minor point, but the sales presentation reportedly had a Metallica song.  If they didn’t get permission from the group, expect a legal notice from Lars Ulrich. /sarcasm)