Wells Fargo Arena...

[FDWxMan]

What are those? Regional Finals? They don't hold the first two rounds in the Metrodome or Ford Field, the Edward Jones Dome, etc, etc...

Des Moines isn't bidding on a Regional semifinals and finals, so your list has, well, absolutely nothing to do with what we're talking about.

If the argument was that Des Moines doesn't have the capacity to host the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, you might be on to something, but it isn't, and you aren't.

Every arena that hosted a regional from 2000-2011 had a higher capacity than WFA, except for four. And those four were all awarded a regional before WFA was built.

Regional sites, 2000-2011:

Phoenix (18,000+)
Anaheim (17,960)
Oakland (19,000+)
San Jose (18,500)
Washington DC (18,725)
Atlanta (Georgia Dome)
Rosemont, Ill. (17,000+)
Indianapolis (Lucas Oil Stadium)
Lexington (22,000+)
New Orleans (18,300)
Boston (19,000+)
Auburn Hills (21,000+)
Detroit (Ford Field)
Minneapolis (Metrodome)
St. Louis (Edward Jones Dome)
East Rutherford (19,500)
Newark (19,900)
Albuquerque (16,000) - awarded before WFA was built
Albany (15,200) - awarded before WFA was built
Syracuse (Carrier Dome)
Charlotte (19,000)
Philadelphia (20,000+)
Memphis (17,700)
Austin (16,240) - awarded before WFA was built
Houston (Reliant Stadium)
San Antonio (Alamodome)
Salt Lake City (19,900)
Madison (16,000) - awarded before WFA was built

[IcSyU]

Honestly, if I'm the NCAA and the choice is between

Sprint Center in Kansas City
C-Link in Omaha
Wells Fargo in Des Moines

I can tell which of those is never getting selected. Omaha has to be about perfect with the airport, arena, and hotels all right next to each other.

[Three4Cy]

Read the rest of the damn post. They made up the monetary difference to the NCAA by offering the arena rent free. The NCAA isn't losing any $$$ on capacity.

So it has an extra ~2000 seats. Big freaking deal. The WF crew said it's actually only 1,500 seats, and a lot of those are likely nosebleeds.

I'm going to take the word of the people that operate the arena and work for convention and visitors that would have direct knowledge of what is holding it back when they say it is HOTELS.

IIRC the hotels have to be full service, meaning they have suites, many meeting/ballrooms, and a full service restaurant. Of the hotels downtown, you are limited - Embassy Suites, Savery, Marriott, Hotel Ft. DSM, Holiday Inn and possibly the Holiday Inn @ Mercy.

[TallKidIsTall]

While it isn't the greatest, it could be a lot worse.

Its a great place for state wrestling with all the floor room.

this

i swear half the posters on here will complain about everything in life

and to the guy complaining its not big enough for the nba - lol if you truly think they should have built it with the hope of attracting an nba franchise

dsm has a metro of 600k, memphis has 1.3 mil, new orleans has 1.17 mil and sacramento has 2.5 mil

there is absolutely no comparison b/w those 3 cities' ability to get a pro sports team and des moines'

[michaelrr1]

Read the rest of the damn post. They made up the monetary difference to the NCAA by offering the arena rent free. The NCAA isn't losing any $$$ on capacity.

So it has an extra ~2000 seats. Big freaking deal. The WF crew said it's actually only 1,500 seats, and a lot of those are likely nosebleeds.

I'm going to take the word of the people that operate the arena and work for convention and visitors that would have direct knowledge of what is holding it back when they say it is HOTELS.

You shouldn't. They are part of the propaganda machine to cover their own *****. They'll tell you what they want you to believe, not the reality of the situation.

[michaelrr1]

Link?

I ask because I believe that this is also claimed to be another widely repeated myth and they are actually above it.

And if they are below it as you claim, it can't be by much, since Omaha is only 2,000 seats bigger. Omaha would have to be just barely above it by a couple hundred seats. So that's BS.

Info on Murph and Andy said the requirement was is has to be >10,000 seats. Won't go that low, but that's the hard number the NCAA had back a few years.

Link?

[FDWxMan]

You shouldn't. They are part of the propaganda machine to cover their own *****. They'll tell you what they want you to believe, not the reality of the situation.

So are you going to dispute the link above that actually shows the seats claim to be BS with anything other than a tin foil hat?

[FDWxMan]

Link?

Two different posts in the thread.

This statement just isn't true. See this article posted after 2014/2015 sites were announced this year that references the minimums required for hosting the first weekend of the tournament.

Viejas Arena to host NCAA men's basketball in 2014 | UTSanDiego.com

Fail ribbon for Shadow.

Then known as Cox Arena, it hosted tournament games in 2001 and 2006 to soldout crowds and rave reviews, only for the NCAA to mandate a minimum of 12,000 “sellable” seats for future venues. Viejas Arena has a capacity of 12,414 for San Diego State basketball games, but seats “killed” for media, bands, TV and other reasons during the NCAA Tournament lowered it to about 11,500. Not enough.

What changed?
Viejas didn’t for the NCAA; the NCAA did for Viejas.
Last spring the NCAA quietly lowered its minimum “sellable” capacity for the tournament’s opening weekend to 10,000, and then asked to meet with SDSU athletic director Jim Sterk when the Aztecs were in Columbus, Ohio, for their opening NCAA Tournament game against North Carolina State.

Nice link Adam.

[SyracuseCyclone]

this

i swear half the posters on here will complain about everything in life

and to the guy complaining its not big enough for the nba - lol if you truly think they should have built it with the hope of attracting an nba franchise

dsm has a metro of 600k, memphis has 1.3 mil, new orleans has 1.17 mil and sacramento has 2.5 mil

there is absolutely no comparison b/w those 3 cities' ability to get a pro sports team and des moines'

They're all about double the Des Moines metro is relatively small. Its hard to believe nearly 10% of the Des Moines metro area is at JTS on any given Saturday in the fall. Goes to show how passionate Iowa St fans are given its the second most popular team in the state. Sort of shows that a pro team might have a fighting chance.

Sac really isn't 2.5 mil either the city is about 600k with the same amount in the suburb cities next to it in that valley if your counting whatever might be counted to get to that number (Stockton, Lake Tahoe) you might as well count the entire Bay Area too.

All 3 cities are struggling economically and are on the way down. Des Moines is a city on the rise that will continue to grow pretty rapidly.

Good luck finding a similar sized US city that is doing as well as Des Moines is economically.

If you are replacing a suitable 12k seat arena with a brand new one you make it top notch. Don't waste an extra 200 million in bells and whistles mind you but make it legit.

20 years from now Des Moines is likely a much better place for an NBA team than Sac or New Orleans. (Expect both of those teams to be long relocated to a different city by then of course.)


Yes that is a stupid argument but the Wells Fargo arena is big enough that they should have made it 1-2k seats bigger with pro level amenities.

[theshadow]

Then if hotels are the issue, how is it possible that the NCAA deemed there were enough for 8 teams, media, officials, and other workers in 2008 -- but not in 2013?

[michaelrr1]

So are you going to dispute the link above that actually shows the seats claim to be BS with anything other than a tin foil hat?

Uhhh, did you even read the link?? Obviously not. The capacity requirement wasn't lowered until this past spring. Wells Fargo was built well before that, and has been rejected numerous times before that because, in part, of the lack of seating.

[FDWxMan]

Then if hotels are the issue, how is it possible that the NCAA deemed there were enough for 8 teams, media, officials, and other workers in 2008 -- but not in 2013?

What are you talking about? Link?
Des Moines hasn't ever had the tournament, so I don't know what you mean.

[FDWxMan]

Uhhh, did you even read the link?? Obviously not. The capacity requirement wasn't lowered until this past spring. Wells Fargo was built well before that, and has been rejected numerous times before that because, in part, of the lack of seating.

Ugh. You didn't read the link.

It was lowered from 12,000 to 10,000.

Wells Fargo holds over 16,000.

[TigerCyJM]

I remember reading something in the rag couple months ago saying that they were looking at making a full-service hotel at the Iowa events center...anyone know anything more?

[fwiw]

WFA is a multi-purpose arena without a true primary tenant. If you have a basketball or hockey team as a permanent tenant, you're probably going to end up with a configuration that the tenant wants, and other things come second.

For WFA, the setup is pretty good for concerts and wrestling and arena football, and not as ideal for basketball.

I think the design feature that causes a lot of the issues with the upper deck angles and row widths is the suite level. And you could maybe tie that back to the "atmosphere" if you wanted. But the suites bring in huge $$ and they weren't going to scope those out of the plans for anything.

Bottom line is WFA makes money for county, so they're happy. And they are working on getting another hotel close by the arena, the problem as always is the financing.