Ag Commissioner wants $40 million to overhaul the Coliseum...

[Maroon Eagle]

Link.

Would it be better to invest $70+ million more (for over $110 million & it could be less with naming rights) for a new facility (using the wikipedia entry for North Little Rock's Verizon Arena as a guideline) or should the state ignore the Ag commissioner on this one yet use her $40 million wish for funding and use that to help fund a proposed JSU stadium (sized down so that it's a FargoDome on steroids - closer to 30,000 to 40,000 capacity - depending on events)?

 

[Arthur2478]

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. The state would be better off investing in a new facility, especially one that isn't controlled by the Ag department.

 

[dawgstudent]

I've seen drawings of the renovations. They are really nice.

The Ag department has got out of the dark ages some where at least alcohol can be served.

 

[The Peeper]

i.e. no more Lester "Beef Plant" Spell

 

[Arthur2478]

The Ag department has got out of the dark ages some where at least alcohol can be served.

I wasn't aware of that change. That's a start. I always found it ridiculous that it was supposedly illegal to sell booze because it was state property, yet the State Fair always has multiple beer tents set up.

 

[The Peeper]

and illegal to sell it @ hockey games because they wanted "a wholesome family atmosphere" yet they sold beer ads placed on the scoreboards, under the ice, on the blimp (when it wasn't sponsored by Trustmark) etc, damn hypocrites.....

 

[EAVdog]

They could do both.

Link.

Would it be better to invest $70+ million more (for over $110 million & it could be less with naming rights) for a new facility (using the wikipedia entry for North Little Rock's Verizon Arena as a guideline) or should the state ignore the Ag commissioner on this one yet use her $40 million wish for funding and use that to help fund a proposed JSU stadium (sized down so that it's a FargoDome on steroids - closer to 30,000 to 40,000 capacity - depending on events)?

40 Million isn't all that much. I think it would be nice to have another Arena for events that didn't have to be converted to a facility where animals could come in and poop on the floor. And where beer could be sold etc...

We don't need 3 Arena facilities though. It should go like this: JSU should get a new reasonably sized on campus open air stadium (contingent on sale of Memorial Stadium), A new Arena, and an renovated Fairgrounds Coliseum.

 

[FlabLoser]

I've seen drawings of the renovations. They are really nice.

The Ag department has got out of the dark ages some where at least alcohol can be served.

Not no, but HELL NO!

The Ag Dept doesn't to run our state's flagship arena. Name another decent multipurpose arena in the USA that is run by a damn agricultural dept. There isn't one.

Putting economic expansion in 2nd place to any agricultural event that wants to happen is a recipe for.....a shitastic facility that won't host good concerts and won't be able to be home to say a minor league hockey team.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Oh? That's interesting. But how long do the architects and Ag commission think the updates will be good for the Coliseum? 10 years? 25 years?

 

[Maroon Eagle]

I think I agree here with you as far as the coliseum and it's priorities are concerned. As far as a concert facility though, I'm surprised there isn't a larger open air venue in the Jackson area.

 

[EurekaDog]

I'd raze VMS and the Coliseum. Build JSU a 25-30K on campus stadium....

If JSU wants a bigger stadium, the university needs to hit up the alumni.

I agree with others about Jackson trying something along the lines of North Little Rock's arena. However, before breaking ground, there needs to be a realistic study as to how many events the arena can book each year. If they can't book enough events to justify its existence, don't go beyond architectural plans. Also, they shouldn't rely on MHSAA and the state's colleges to provide the biggest chunk of the bookings. (FWIW, I think the state basketball tourney ought to go on a multi-year tour of the state's other arenas.)

Technology has progressed so much that I don't see how they the Colisuem can be updated to accomodate such new technologies without basicaly tearing the building down.

I'd also like to know how they are going to prepare the renovated Coliseum (or a new Arena) for another "once-in-a-lifetime" Pearl River flood.

 

[Palos verdes]

The Coliseum is good for high school basketball games and livestock events..but nothing more. Other than that, it is worthless. The city doesn't need to make another multi-million dollar mistake!

Jackson should have waited and had a new arena built instead of a convention center..which was a total waste of money!! A sports/entertainment arena could have easily been designed to double as a convention hall. This way you have a purposeful, brand new, modern facility that could have held all of Jackson's sporting, convention, and entertainment events. Intead, Jackson has the problem of having a convention center with a clear schedule, while having the need for a currently non- existent venue to host the events that the convention center can't accommodate. What a stupid 17ing city!

 

[RocketDawg]

Uh ... we're spending more now on renovating Davis Wade. Are you saying we should have scrapped it and built a new stadium?

 

[RocketDawg]

Why does JSU need a domed facility, if it's not used for concerts, etc? Also, do they need something in the 30-40K range? I doubt it. Probably 20K tops, and they've probably never had that many for a football game. Doesn't need to be a dome if it's not multi-use.

But even if multi-use, what kind of event would ever need a 40-50K capacity? I can't think of anything, sporting even or otherwise. The only sporting events that have that attendance are MSU and OM football. And even if you bought out an "away" game for us (as Coach 34 suggests), you wouldn't want to build a huge facility for one use a year.

 

[Koldfire]

Give them the $40 million with the condition that it has a football field for JSU. And the horse crap has to be remove before home games.

 

[archidawg]

A few things on this subject:
1 - The coliseum is part of the MS STATE Fairgrounds. Run by the State, not the city.
2 -Renovation of the existing coliseum for 40M will give the facility about 20 years + of use. A new facility of the same size would cost 115-125M and yield about 40 years use.
3 - The 50K seat JSU domed stadium concept would cost closer to 500M than 200M. This project may need to be developed further, before asking the state for funding.
That said, I hope JSU gets a stadium, Jackson gets an arena and the Coliseum gets funded. Each of these projects would bring work to central MS...

 

[KurtRambis4]

Nice.

Where is the ag dept going to get this funding, from, tax payers? If so it'd be a $40 million donation to jsu that I was a part of. Look out. Jsu is challenging us for "The People's University" title.