Jul 25 2008
New Baltimore Arena
Baltimore City officials have deemed that the current arena location is the best place for the planned new Baltimore Arena.? Officials have also indicated that the new arena will have 18,500 seats or more…enough to house a new pro hockey or basketball team if the city so desires.?
9 Comments to “New Baltimore Arena”
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According to the poll on The Sun – the majority feels Baltimore could support a NBA or NHL franchise. I disagree. Let’s start with hockey. How many pro hockey players can the average American name – 0. How many pro hockey player can the average sports fan name – maybe 5. NHL hockey barely makes it on TV. The Stanley Cup barely makes prime time. Most Americans don’t care about hockey. The Capitals barely draw enough fans as is – unless they have a good season and playoff push. The Wizards and Sixers are too close to support another NBA team. If the team did well, attendance would be good. If the team did poorly they wouldn’t last 10 years here. Just look at the Orioles attendance. I think we should be more concerned with keeping the Orioles in Baltimore rather than trying to attract another team. With that being said, the new arena is good for the city to host concerts and other events. With a new arena the city will be able to bring the Capitals and Wizards into town for occasional games. They way the Bullets used to.
If a new arena were built, do you think Baltimore could support an NBA or NHL franchise?
Absolutely (958 responses)
47.4%
No way (762 responses)
37.7%
Not sure (299 responses)
14.8%
I agree…I am a HUGE hockey fan and there is no way Baltimore can support an NHL team. Basketball is a pesemestic maybe since Oklahoma City got one and Baltimore is bigger and “more demographically” in synch with the NBA.
From what I’ve heard, building a 15,000 arena as opposed to an 18,000 arena is a HUGE cost difference (something like 100 million). Why Baltimore would want such a large arena with no potential tenants is baffling.
Baltimore can probably support teams in the following leagues: AHL, AFL, MISL, MLL (indoor lacrosse). It’s not like any of the local colleges can fill a big arena and U of M ain’t playing outside of the Comcast Center. Build a nice quaint modern arena. Anything bigger is just going to have more empty seats.
The Bullets left long ago but I wonder if there is any chance of luring them back to their original home..
4 ways to do this better: 1) Build new medium-sized arena south of Lexington Market 2) Renovate market and connect with new arena & Metro 3) Demolish old arena; extend Park Ave south to Howard Street; reconnect east-west streets 4) Construct smaller scale buildings along new street grid
definitely seems silly to build a new arena with no tenant. Couldn’t the current arena already host anything that the new arena would house?
another idea…
if the NBA ever decides to grow its d-league, and give Baltimore a franchise.
Not only do we need an 18,000 seat arena for the Blast, we need a venue this size for the Baltimore Mariners. Yes, I’m joking. How many people even know Baltimore has an arena football team? – http://www.baltimoremariners.com
The Baltimore Thunder (Indoor lacrosse) drew pretty good numbers 10-15 years ago, but the city grew tired of them and they moved to DC, then Colorado.
How many fans do UFC (ultimate fighting) events draw? I heard something about Roller Girls at DuBurns arena in Canton – maybe the roller girls can compete in the new arena.
I have to agree with BmoreRob. That Arena will not draw any major league teams unless Philly and D.C. are wiped off the map. Then we woul dhave to support said team. Hockey is a great Sport, but it barely escaped extinction a few years ago and is not looking to expand anytime soon. We will never have a NBA team, not as long as Philly and D.C. have teams. I’m not even sure how D.C. landed a baseball team.
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