It has been nearly a year now and the project manager for the new Evansville Arena and the management of the Evansville IceMen can’t seem to come to terms. Mr. Ron Geary, the owner of both Ellis Park and the Evansville IceMen went public with his plea for an intervention yesterday by the Evansville Redevelopment Commission on the IceMen’s behalf. Mr. Geary went so far as to state that “it seems as though the City of Evansville does not care if the IceMen play in the Arena or not”.
John Kish, the project manager for the Arena confirmed Geary’s statement with one of his own in stating that “the Arena will not be hurt by the loss of the IceMen”. He went on to state that the City of Evansville will not propose or support hockey if it loses money.

Excuse us, Mr. Kish but didn’t you just manage the investment of the people of Evansville’s $128 Million to build a hockey arena? Roberts Stadium is a basketball arena that is not large enough for hockey so the IceMen have spent their short time in Evansville at Swonder building a solid fan base of about 1,200 people. These fans are accustomed to paying ticket prices that are under $10 with abundant free parking close. This is the experience that this fan base is comfortable with. Changing this dramatically will risk alienating this fan base and blunt the efforts to attract additional fans.

The pro-forma for the new Arena projects 38 hockey games per year with an average attendance of 3,500 people starting from day one. Day one is October 21, 2011, a mere 10 weeks from now. The annual revenue projected from these 38 games is nearly $3 Million. The 38 games make up 28% of the events projected for the new Arena.

Mr. Kish, have you reviewed your own pro-forma lately? Are you seriously expecting the people of Evansville to believe that $3 Million in revenue and 28% of the events in the new Arena can be lost and that the performance will not be hurt? Sir, we may be from Evansville as opposed to Indianapolis but we are not that stupid. Please stop treating us like we are.

The IceMen were chosen as our hockey team. If the IceMen are not profitable we will have no team just as we have no BlueCats and no professional basketball team. If the Arena loses money we still have the Arena as it does not appear to be portable. Please come to your senses and reach an agreement that enables the Evansville IceMen to be financially viable while they continue to build a fan base and hire high quality players.

This is not the time to cripple this team with oppressive rental fees that reportedly are over 5 times what they are paying at Swonder. This is the time to develop an agreement that will incent the IceMen to excel on the ice and to grow their fan base so that Evansville will have a successful hockey franchise long into the future. The position of taking no risk and absorbing no losses on the part of the Arena is neither logical nor financially responsible. We can’t afford to lose this team right now. The Arena that you are responsible for can’t either.

We the people of Evansville just invested $128 Million and counting for a new Arena and we were not given the courtesy of a vote to do so. We were told all about how hockey was the game of the future and have eagerly watched as our HOCKEY ARENA has taken shape under your management.

The Arena is not yet finished. Mr. Kish, you have proven your capability to manage the Arena construction project but your prowess at getting a hotel deal and negotiating a win-win agreement with the IceMen is lacking.

We respectfully request that you concentrate on what you know (construction) with all of your might during the next 10 weeks so that the IceMen’s game on October 21 can actually be in the Arena. We also wish you well in your relocation back to your home in Indianapolis that we are certain will happen within days of the Arena’s opening.

We respectfully recommend and request that you leave further negotiating to someone or some group from Evansville. We have to live with the agreements and we do not wish to be saddled with any more legacy problems that have their origins in Indianapolis. Thank you for managing the Arena construction, now please take your money and go home.

As a request to the Evansville Redevelopment Commission we are begging you to do your jobs and manage the money of the people of Evansville responsibly. We realize that you all have jobs and lives but you did accept this political appointment voluntarily. The time for blindly following pied pipers and dancing when the puppet master pulls your string is behind you. We encourage that you take your appointments seriously and make the decisions that you would if this money were your own or your employers. You members of the ERC are Evansville people. It is time for you to start acting like it.

Multiple Moles, people, and business owners have come to the City County Observer after hearing the sales pitch for premium seating in the new Arena. The most recent sales pitch was heard in mid July, a full 2 months since the head of VenuWorks Evansville operation was congratulated by Mayor Weinzapfel for selling “ALL” of the Skyboxes.

According to our sources the sales pitch is a page right out of the marketing manual for time shares and bubble gum machines with the premium seats becoming the exclusive territory where there is always only one remaining. Here is an overview of the pitch as it has been described to the City County Observer. The pitchman in every case that the CCO has been advised of has been the project manager of the Arena construction project, Mr. John Kish. In some cases Mr. Kish was approached by a business and in others the businesses were approached by Mr. Kish. The sales song remains the same.

The Pitch: We are so happy that you have expressed an interest in the premium seating in the Arena. It just so happens that we only have one left and it is currently under consideration by another business so you need to make your decision quickly. You also need to know that the list of companies that have already committed to the premium seating that you would like to have includes the prestigious list right here.

In one case our source said that he was shown a rendering of the inside of the Arena with names of businesses on the skybox ad aprons. In this case our source excused himself and made a few calls to the businesses that were represented to have already secured the skyboxes. The results will surprise you as some of these businesses have been box holders at Roberts Stadium for a number of years. Some of the calls resulted in the business owners stating that they had been served the same sales pitch by Mr. Kish but that they could not afford the rates that were quoted and would not be buying the premium seating at the offer price. All were told that there was only one left.

The Facts: VenuWorks does not have a contract. The Evansville IceMen are in meltdown mode with the negotiations and may not be in the new Arena at all. Mr. Kish is now on record as saying that the IceMen who are projected to make up 28% of all of the events in the Arena are not necessary. The University of Evansville Aces have been reported to have no contract. The Evansville Redevelopment Commission has not authorized even one long term agreement in a public meeting yet VenuWorks was congratulated by Mayor Weinzapfel for a sell-out 2 months before they were authorized to sell anything. The Freedom of Information Act request filed by the City County Observer requesting all contracts yielded exactly ZERO signed contracts. We did receive blank agreements for both Loge seating and Skyboxes.

So let us ask the question, “what business person in their right mind would contractually commit to expensive premium seating in an arena that does not have contracts with any long term tenant?”

The Reality: The reality given the set of facts that have been established is that there has never been authority granted until July 19th for long term contracts for premium seating to be sold by VenuWorks. People have been subjected to a sales pitch that is misleading at best. There is a reasonable probability that the whole “we are sold out” announcements are really just a sales pitch of a different form. There may be an opportunity for the general public to have a shot at the premium seating if the facts are supported by the reality of the situation.

The Rewards: The City County Observer will offer a 1 month tower ad free of charge to any business or person that will come forward with a signed agreement for the purchase of a skybox in the new Arena that is dated prior to June 1st and signed by representatives of the company and a surrogate for the City of Evansville or VenuWorks.

The City County Observer will also offer a 1 month tower ad free of charge to the first three businesses or people that come forward with a story similar to “the Pitch” that we have outlined above provided that we are granted the rights to interview and publish the account of what your particular case entailed.

What do you think Evansville? Are the premium seats really sold at the $55,000 price that has been widely reported?

Take That: August 3, 2011

IN RESPONSE TO: Arena Premium Seating Analysis

“”EVANSVILLE, WHERE ARE YOU?” Just how close to the ankles, do the britches of the ERC have to drop before the citizenry stands up and proclaims, “NO MORE!” Demand the resignation of the ERC; rescind their decisions/contracts; offer premium/preferred seating to the taxpaying public. …” Bubbageek

“The Weinzapfel Administration continues “have it’s way” with the citizenry with impunity———–apparently. There will be NO CIVILITY shown these thugs and or their concubines in the Premiumn seats, if we meet in public, you can be sure!!” crashlarue

“Given this piece of information on the handling and timing of the sale of the “premium seating” one would expect our elected officials to be at the ERC meeting, armed to the teeth, demanding an explanation, then demanding the dissolution of the ERC, and the resignation of the Mayor.” Wsaa2009

“I questioned Kish about the sky-boxes at the end of the July 19th ERC meeting. He said they first contacted the current holders of sky-boxes at Roberts Stadium. One would assume that those contracts needed to be honored, although you would think a price increase might be in order.
Kish then said that they used a list or lists of former sky-box holders to offer the remaining boxes. At that time, July 19th, he said they still had one box left. I asked for a ball park figure on the boxes and he offered $55.K for the full monty (tickets to all the concerts, etc., and $35K without the concert tickets.
This was a straight 1 on 1 conversation and I have not sought any documentation to affirm his statements, but believe they are probably accurate.” Pressanykey

“The Mayor’s responds on May 25 at 7:49 pm of “Congrats!” in reply to the May 25 at 5:30 pm e-mail from VenueWorks that all suites are sold out at list price and all cash no trade (see last page of FOI production). However, the form Suiteholder Agreement shows on bottom left a “Revised 4/27/11″ date and the Lodge Seat Holder Agreements on bottom left show a “Revised 5/24/11″ date. How can they have forms revised May 24 and have all Lodge Seats sold out for cash the next day?? The City should produce all of the signed contracts for both Suites and Lodge Seats.” Joe Biden

“Anybody find it interesting that the ERC authority was not granted to VenuWorks until AFTER the FOIA was filed?” Bowhunter72

“What agency is responsible for watching over this like this and making the judgement of criminal or not? Whatever it entity that is, it’s not on the job.” Big Pappa

In Repsonse to: Councilman Friend Questions Civic Center IT Practices

“That is exactly what these knuckleheads are doing and they have been doing it for years. They force public construction projects to pay prevailing wages that are typically about double what the real prevailing wage is in Evansville. At the same time they set salaries that won’t even allow them to hire new grads in fields like computer science and information technology.
Brain drain??? It is not a drain, the local officials practically take a stick and drive talented people away with their antiquated way of doing business. And yes, the Evansville leadership and especially democrats promote overpaying for union jobs and then get donations (kickbacks) from both the unions and the construction company owners.

As they say in the CCO, this is Snegal (sneaky but legal). This practice also causes the people of Evansville to overpay for public projects by 50% or more. Witness the $240k Front Door Pride houses that sell for $100,000 or sit empty, the plans to spend $240,000 on apartments that are worth only $20,000, and that darn Arena that could have been built for at least $30 Million less without the restrictions on who could do the work and what they had to pay. And we wonder why smart people leave and fools are left with staggering debts.” TheDonald

“Nobody doubts that there are underpaid, overworked people in this community… the salary analysis proves it. The question is, in the big scheme of things, is our government actively squeezing professional staff/salaries while flushing the unions… actively fighting the tide of the times, all while complaining about brain drain, too? How long will they be allowed to have it both ways?” Eville Taxpayer

IS IT TRUE that there were a couple of revelations that came to a head at the meeting of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission yesterday?…that one of those was with regard to the anticipated forthcoming contract between VenuWorks and the Evansville Icemen?…that the other was with the silent punting of any discussion regarding the breached contract down at the McCurdy Hotel?…that both of these situations just underline the ineptness of the negotiating capacity of John Kish and the Evansville Redevelopment Commission?

IS IT TRUE that the whole Arena was sold (or forced down the throats) of the people of Evansville on the premise that semi-professional ice hockey was the wave of the entertainment future?…that the published pro-forma for the cash flow of the Arena includes just over 30 hockey games per year with an attendance of 3,500 people per game?…that at a conservative average price of $15 per ticket that the revenue from the chosen Evansville Icemen is projected is between $1.5 Million and $2 Million per year?…that the Icemen have been one of the main reasons to have even designed the Arena the way it was designed?…that now project manager John Kish is quoted as saying “LOSING THE ICEMEN WILL NOT HURT THE SOON-TO-OPEN FACILITY”?…that we are once again shocked and amazed at the inconsistency of the statements that come out of Mr. Kish’s mouth?…that it is a good thing that there is an audit trail of public statements to refute this nonsense because no one could ever make this stuff up?

IS IT TRUE that you all heard the term Louisville Icemen right here in the City County Observer first back in the spring?…that this statement was dismissed by Mr. Kish and others who are paid to cheerlead for the Weinzapfel Administration?…that it was even stated by administration surrogates that there could be no VenuWorks contract without the Icemen?…that at this stage of the game that the Arena needs the Icemen more than the Icemen need the Arena?…that even if the Icemen are given free use of the Arena for the first couple of years that the Arena will be better off for it?…that we are all seeing the unraveling of another ill thought out scheme that seems to change every month or so with the temperature and humidity?

IS IT TRUE that the ERC has kicked any action regarding the McCurdy Hotel down the road to September 7th?…that when this whole mess is exposed that this could be a career ending debacle that will make the attempt by the Weinzapfel Administration to sneakily revoke the Homestead Tax Credit look like good judgment?…that the financial mess down at the McCurdy may take years to work out?…that when this truth comes out and you can bet that it will that the Executive Inn Dilemma will seem like a walk in the park?…that the City County Observer is on this story like the Watergate reporting crew was on President Nixon in his last days in the White House?…that we are solidly in the fact checking stages and will release purely factual information within the next week that will make even the most financially challenged among us shake their head in disbelief?

IS IT TRUE that Evansville Icemen owner Ron Geary is quoted as saying that “it is almost like the City of Evansville does not even want us in the new Arena” when he was asked about the state of the negotiations?…that if there is no hockey that we wonder what the purchasers of the premium seats, that bought them from VenuWorks before VenuWorks was authorized to sell them, at prices not yet disclosed to the public will think of their blind call options now?…that thanks for the $55k, the contract is voided, and there is no hockey anyway may just make a few people angry?

In a shocking response to Ron Geary’s public statements that the negotiation with the City of Evansville are not going well, project manager John Kish has countered that the Arena doesn’t really need the Icemen or even hockey to do well and that the Arena will not be hurt if they do not reach an agreement.

A close examination of the pro-forma that is available to the public on the City of Evansville website promoting the new Arena the City County Observer discovered that 38 out of the projected 135 events for the Arena are actually semi-pro hockey games. That calculates to 28% of the total of the projected number of events and nearly $3 Million of the projected revenue. Links to the website and instructions to examine the pro-forma are below. The relevant information is on slide 10 of the presentation.

Click on Powerpoint link at the bottom of the following page

http://www.evansvillearenaproject.com/content/economic-impact