re: Proposal in BR to build large new Arena to replace both River Center and PMAC

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If it wasn’t clear, the issue is financing.

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Yeah they want to build something much larger than LSU’s peers, but they want a dedicated market from other non-LSU events to help justify the “north of $300 million” price tag. The advantage LSU has that most other SEC schools don’t is that LSU is sitting in a metro area with nearly 900,000 residents. There is a market for more concerts, professional sporting events, and live action entertainment that isn’t present in smaller college towns. They can exploit that in ways that Miss State, A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Bama can’t easy match.

The Centroplex and the PMAC cannibalized from each other. We can get a much bigger, nicer facility for both LSU and for regional concerts and events but the River Center has to get out of the arena business and focus on conventions.

I think the River Center is going to keep the hockey games for a few more years before they shut the whole Centroplex Arena down and build a hotel and another convention hall on that spot. I would bet that the hockey team will try to move to the new Arena too.

My concern is that the PMAC will be left to decay and end up being neglected like a lot of old, obsolete arenas across the country. It’s in a prime location. And it will be left mostly unused if a nicer, newer new Arena is built nearby. It probably will eventually have to be demolished.