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Basketball (41 home games + playoffs) and baseball (81 + playoffs) are much better attractors than football (8 games + playoffs). Football stadiums are also muc

Basketball (41 home games + playoffs) and baseball (81 + playoffs) are much better attractors than football (8 games + playoffs). Football stadiums are also much larger. The Staples Center in LA, Camden Yards in Baltimore, Wrigley in Chicago, and Fenway in Boston are all great in this regard.

mikeyouse 10y ago
Not to mention at ~18,000 seats and enclosed, it should be able to host tons of other events. So you'll have 41 NBA games during the year but also dozens of attractions -- they're planning on ~200 events per year.
- crooked-v 10y ago
  This helps, but it's still kind of a problem if you have an "event space" that nobody ever visits outside of events. Portland's Rose Quarter is like this, for instance - in theory it's an entertainment district, but literally all that happens there is (a) scheduled events and (b) people crossing between transit lines, so most of the time most of the area is just a big expanse of empty unused concrete.
  - shoover 10y ago
    It may take more than just the event space. The grandparent gives good examples and notes basketball and baseball are better attractors. My town, Indianapolis, manages to integrate most events right into the downtown along with the convention center, hotels, and the financial district. Lucas Oil Field and Victory Field are around the corner on the edge of downtown; that section feels slightly more dead. But Banker's Life Fieldhouse is right there in walking distance and hosts concerts, circuses, Disney on Ice, etc., in addition to the main draw of NBA and WNBA games. So there are multiple events per week, plus conferences and conventions during the week. Plus youth sports events. When you add up the hustle and bustle of weekday office business, restaurants, and all the events, it feels like there's always something going on. Somehow all that fits in a relatively small downtown. There are no expansive parking lots like one might expect for a football stadium outside the city, so that helps the feel; I don't know where people park when Lucas Oil is full but somehow they get there.
  - pchristensen 10y ago
    The Rose Quarter in Portland is extremely isolated, from a pedestrian sense. Compate the Moda Center Portland - https://goo.gl/maps/pAzRD2rLFRv https://goo.gl/maps/pAzRD2rLFRv with Wrigley in Chicago at the same scale - https://goo.gl/maps/oTKEs75Y7BL2 https://goo.gl/maps/oTKEs75Y7BL2 There's probably 2-3 orders of magnitude more people within a pedestrian mile.

mikeyouse 10y ago

Not to mention at ~18,000 seats and enclosed, it should be able to host tons of other events. So you'll have 41 NBA games during the year but also dozens of attractions -- they're planning on ~200 events per year.

crooked-v 10y ago
This helps, but it's still kind of a problem if you have an "event space" that nobody ever visits outside of events. Portland's Rose Quarter is like this, for instance - in theory it's an entertainment district, but literally all that happens there is (a) scheduled events and (b) people crossing between transit lines, so most of the time most of the area is just a big expanse of empty unused concrete.
- shoover 10y ago
  It may take more than just the event space. The grandparent gives good examples and notes basketball and baseball are better attractors. My town, Indianapolis, manages to integrate most events right into the downtown along with the convention center, hotels, and the financial district. Lucas Oil Field and Victory Field are around the corner on the edge of downtown; that section feels slightly more dead. But Banker's Life Fieldhouse is right there in walking distance and hosts concerts, circuses, Disney on Ice, etc., in addition to the main draw of NBA and WNBA games. So there are multiple events per week, plus conferences and conventions during the week. Plus youth sports events. When you add up the hustle and bustle of weekday office business, restaurants, and all the events, it feels like there's always something going on. Somehow all that fits in a relatively small downtown. There are no expansive parking lots like one might expect for a football stadium outside the city, so that helps the feel; I don't know where people park when Lucas Oil is full but somehow they get there.
- pchristensen 10y ago
  The Rose Quarter in Portland is extremely isolated, from a pedestrian sense. Compate the Moda Center Portland - https://goo.gl/maps/pAzRD2rLFRv https://goo.gl/maps/pAzRD2rLFRv with Wrigley in Chicago at the same scale - https://goo.gl/maps/oTKEs75Y7BL2 https://goo.gl/maps/oTKEs75Y7BL2 There's probably 2-3 orders of magnitude more people within a pedestrian mile.