ABQrising

Albuquerque is home to no major professional sports franchises. Albuquerque, however, is home to Ben Johnson, a bad MF’ing dude.

Johnson, an Albuquerque Academy senior, is a phenomenal runner. This past weekend Johnson competed in the United States Track and Field Cross Country Championships and World Trials. Actually, Johnson didn’t compete… he dominated. The 18 year old was one of 100 distance runners selected to compete in this past weekend’s event. The field was composed of approximately seventy college freshmen and thirty high school seniors from across these fifty sovereign United States. The top six finishers qualified for he U.S. Jr. National XC Team and will compete next month in the World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland. Johnson finished sixth, 0.10 seconds faster than future teammate Brendan Gregg of Stanford University.

Johnson wasn’t the only Burqueño to do the Duke City proud. Matt Tebo, Eldorado ‘07 and University of Colorado freshman, finished tenth, and Johnson’s former teammate, Dustin Martin, Albuquerque Academy ‘07 and Columbia University freshman, finished thirty-fifth. Albuquerque-area distance runners have shown on the national radar for awhile now, but this breakout race is really a huge coming out for locally raised talent.

So, what does it take to kick so much ass? Try running a minimum of nine miles in approximately one hour for two months, everyday, without exception. Yeah, that’s nine consecutive miles at roughly a little more than 4 minute mile 6:40 minute mile pace. Oh, and that is after leading your high school team to the number one spot in the nation… and training at elevation… in the winter… through sand and over mountains. I think I just lost a good twenty pounds trying to wrap my brain around that.

Congratulations, Ben. You’re a freakin’ stud. We’re less than two months into 2008 and you’re, uh, already running away with Albuquerque sportsman of the year.

I’m sorry, Scorps. I’ve been rough on you lately. But, I still think super minor league teams… if not hurting our image, [then they're] at least not helping it.

Between the Posts - Entre les Poteaux:

Yes, Bunkie New Mexico has a hockey team. Rio Rancho New Mexico is home of the New Mexico Scorpions.

The Scorpions started in Albuquerque 11 years ago. They played in Tingley Coliseum an old metal building that had rodeos & monster trucks shows. But that didn’t stop an average of 4,000 plus people from coming for every game.

I didn’t say it.

The post is actually supportive of the Scorps. And why not? I like Scorps games(!) and I’m trying not to be ungrateful, but I don’t believe I’m out of line when I ask for, eh, for a little more.

Enough arena talk, ok? Let’s talk stadiums.

Isotopes Park is a super facility. I think the only complaint one could argue is its location. It’d be nice to see the stadium closer to restaurants, bars, and shopping, but there isn’t a whole lot anyone can do about that now.

On location. There is one spot in this town head and shoulders above all other potential stadium locations. Winrock Mall. I don’t really need to see a third shopping center in Uptown. Spruce up Coronado and fertilize ABQ Uptown; we’ll be fine. Build me a nice stadium in Uptown and, oh baby, talk about an cash boom!

Look, for years the city has begged for a stadium or arena Downtown. They say a Downtown venue will bring retail and residential back to the city center. And you know, they’re probably right, but that doesn’t mean Downtown is the be all end all of potential sporting sites. Let’s look at Uptown for a second. It’s already Burque’s retail center, and with ABQ Uptown rolling we’re starting to see some residential infill. Hotels, restaurants, a bar (hmm… we need to work on that figure)… we have the ground work laid for a really exciting urban district. Throw some entertainment in the area… property will sky rocket.

Winrock is adjacent to a freeway and near one of the city’s major mass transit centers — an ideal setup with regard to the traffic issues sporting venues create. Speaking of which, when the city finally expands its transit services beyond bus, you can guarantee we’ll have multiple lines converging in Uptown. No need to build a special line and station!

Ah, this jigsaw fits together after all!

Let’s talk the dollars this thing would bring. Right now, Uptown retailers make the black during the holidays and the State Fair. During those periods people come from all over the state to hit up the best shopping in a 300 mile radius. What happens if you throw in some game days! People would make a weekend out of coming into Albuquerque to catch a game. They can spend the night at one of the many hotels, dine at a descent restaurant, and buy a MacBook at ABQ Uptown. Oh, I like the dollars I see coming into our town.

So why a stadium instead of an arena? While Uptown is setup for an urban neighborhood, it surrounded on all sides by suburbia. You don’t want a giant, ominous fortress in your backyard. You want a warm and inviting park! Arenas, no matter how hard you dress them up, are cold buildings. They’re gentrified warehouses (or, ahem, convention centers). Stadiums at least feel public. Something about a large grass field, blue sky overhead, and the community coming together behind one banner gives stadiums a ‘park-y’ feel. Look, you’re pushing the outdoor shopping experience and trying to encourage walkability in the area… you need an open air facility.

Now, I have one caveat with the Uptown stadium. It can’t be a football stadium. Football stadiums are monstrous, generally ugly, and are in use (professionally) for eight weekends a year. The best football stadiums recently constructed are domes and we’re not building a dome in Uptown. That just isn’t happening. (Hear that? That’s Bill Richardson’s heart getting crushed for the second time in a month. Sorry, Prez Guv.)

We have two stadium options: baseball or soccer. New era baseball stadium are beautiful structures. Architecturally, new stadiums are hitting a nice stride mixing classic ballpark and modern luxury. (See Isotopes Park, for example.) Tickets to baseball games are way more affordable than tickets to football games. Baseball parks are half the size of football stadiums and also see use for at least half the year. Soccer stadiums are the right size, too. Like baseball stadiums, soccer stadiums are pretty sexy structures. In order to attract fans to this relatively new professional sport (in EE. UU., anyway), these stadiums need sexing up. And that’s the potential problem with soccer. How well would it draw? There is a pretty strong soccer community in Albuquerque and Las Cruces, but would it attract fans outside these sleeper communities? If we get in on the action now we could become one of those ‘classic’ franchises in MLS, but that doesn’t really take an edge off the odds of success. The safe bet is on baseball.

There it is. Big time sports and Albuquerque doesn’t have to be a dream. I’ve said my piece. I’d love to hear yours.

Postscript: Let’s go Chargers!

The purposed Downtown arena is dead. What? No one’s told you? Rio Rancho officially landed the New Mexico Wildcats. An arena football team in the American Indoor Football Association. Awesome. Double-A hockey and rookie league arena football in Rio Rancho — if you’re interested.

I’m all for a Downtown arena, but we shouldn’t be competing with Rio Rancho. A new arena in Albuquerque needs 19k to 23k seats. University Stadium holds 42k, The Pit: 18k, Isotopes Park: 12k, Tingley Coliseum: 11.5k, the convention center’s largest auditorium: 9k, Journal Pavilion: 9k, and the Santa Ana Star Center: 7.5k. So why on earth does the city want to build a 16k seat arena? That makes no sense. No offense to the T-Birds, but this city shouldn’t build a new arena for a D-League team. Concerts? No. We should not build arenas for concerts. Let LiveNation, Clear Channel and HOB take care of concert venues. Conventions? What can a 16k seat arena host that a 20k seat arena can’t?

I’m skeptical of anyone who supports the current arena proposal. There just isn’t a need for a 16k seat arena. Who stands to benefit from this thing? The developer gets a nice payday, elected officials get to give voters a shiny (albeit, unnecessary)
gift, and Albuquerque sports fans gets the same old minor league teams. Great deal, huh.

Economic revitalization? A 16k seat can’t touch the revitalization a 20k seat arena brings. Yes, you may get more conventions, but will Burqueños regularly attend minor league arena football games in their new pint sized arena? Uh, no. And who the hell cares about these ultra-minor league teams anyway? What kind of press do these clubs get? How do they contribute to enhancing Albuquerque’s image? Economic revitalization of Downtown? Why not look the whole city’s economic health? Will an af2 team really raise Albuquerque’s profile? Will major corporations see a CHL team as huge quality of life incentive — enough to relocate operations here? NO!

We aren’t competing (well, directly competing) with Dayton, Scantron, and Little Rock. In the Southwest we compete against Phoenix, Denver, Tuscon, El Paso, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City. Phoenix and Denver have teams in all the big four sports leagues. Las Vegas has a gambling problem to settle before it enters those ranks (but they do have big time boxing and MMA). SLC has a NBA team, and — hello — they’ve hosted the Winter Olympics. So that leaves us in the company of Tuscon and El Paso for Southwestern metropolitan areas without a major sports franchise. El Paso is the 21st largest city in the country, followed by Tucson at 32nd and Albuquerque at 33rd. In terms of metropolitan areas, Tuscon is the 52nd largest in the county, Albuquerque place at 61st and El Paso at 68th. Albuquerque’s television market is 44th in the country, Tuscon is 68th, and El Paso is 99th. Albuquerque’s radio market is 69th, Tucson’s is 61st, and El Paso’s is 76th.

Unfortunately, C. H. Johnson never looked at Tucson or El Paso when creating its market analysis. Nope, they looked city’s shooting for af2 and CHL/ECHL franchises. Ugh. The closest city to Albuquerque (in distance and in sense of ‘metro area’) in Johnson’s analysis is Oklahoma City. Fine. Let’s look at the numbers and see what we get. According to Johnson’s Market Analysis, Albuquerque has a media market size of 1,707,100, and Oklahoma City has a media market size of 1,642,300. OKC has a population of 1,083,346, and Albuquerque has a population of 712,738. Whoa! A team in Albuquerque would have a bigger media market than a team in OKC despite a population difference of roughly 300k? Folks, this is kind of important. OKC doesn’t have a professional club in any of the four major sports leagues, at least not yet. When the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets were forced out of the Crescent City by Hurricane Katrina, they found themselves in OKC; in front of frenzied sellout crowds. The Hornets returned to New Orleans to help mend that city’s psyche, and rightfully so, but a group of OKC businessmen liked what they saw while the Hornets were in town. Light bulb! What did they do? Bought the Seattle Supersonics! What’s the deal with the Sonics? Their aging arena sucked! OKC could give them a first class NBA ready arena and fans. What can’t OKC give the Sonics? A market as large as Albuquerque’s!

Ok, here is where I have to remind myself to breathe. Deep breath. Good.

Yes, Albuquerque has a larger market than OKC despite its smaller population. The real problem, as C. H. Johnson points out, is that we lack large firms in Albuquerque. Our biggest employers include Kirtland Air Force Base, APS, and UNM. There is nothing wrong with that per se, it just… those kinds of employers don’t buy fancy suites. (Does anyone remember Sun Healthcare’s box at University Stadium? It put everything else to shame. Fifty yard line, outfitted in Ernst Thomas, televisions and catering… oh, baby. Too bad nobody tried to keep them HQ’d at One Sun Plaza. Nope. Now they’re in Orange County basking in the glory of recent World Series and Stanley Cup victories.) Ah, ha! We may not have the large firms usually necessary for a NBA or NHL sized arena, but we do have that waiting list for suites at Isotopes Park. We do, in fact, have a demand for suites in this town!

Reality check. I’m not going ‘Field of Dreams’ on you, but, if you build it, at least there is a chance they will come. A 16k seat arena? Whoopy! More conventions and Journey concerts. Great. Good for you, Albuquerque.

Ok, I have one more post on sports in Albuquerque that I’d like to write. What are you doing tomorrow around… say, at this time. Fantastic. See you then.

UPDATE: What was I thinking. It’s Friday. Yeah, right, I’m going to write a post. Ha! Let’s aim for tomorrow. Happy hour starts when?

What can Albuquerque do to support professional sports? Simple. Facilities.

The Isotopes are an amazing success. So much so, I think Albuquerque should top MLB’s list of potential expansion cities. C’mon, the Topes pull better than their major league club! A lot of the Topes’ success is due to baseball’s long history in this town, but really, what town doesn’t have a baseball tradition? The Dukes always did well in the warm body count, but ultimately left town because the Albuquerque Sports Stadium was a complete dump. Knock the thing down and build a first rate facility… BAM. A franchise from Calgary moves in and we get record breaking attendance figures. Go figure.

What’s that? We have a new facility? The Rio Rancho Santa Ana Star Center?! Pssh. Give me a break. Have you ever been to the Star Center? Exactly. The thing is on the absolute edge of the metro area… and it houses the equivalent of a Double-A hockey club! In twenty years when Downtown Rio Rancho rises from the desert sands, then a minor league team might pull well out there, but until that day arrives playing in Rio Rancho will be a death nail on any professional franchise. Sorry Scorps. I’m not trying to bring you down… it isn’t like you had much of a choice. Tingley is a dump not worthy a Double-A hockey club — we’re in agreement.

Tingley. Where to begin. Stop pouring money into the damn thing. It was never intended to house a modern professional franchise. We all know it is a barn. A freakin’ barn! Playing basketball in a barn is OK if you’re a high school team from Des Moines, New Mexico circa 1946. A professional basketball team deserves a professional venue. Not the over sized barn at the State Fair Grounds.

How about the new Downtown arena? Yeah, how about it. What a farce! What a fleecing of Albuquerque tax payers! Every city official with their name tied to the current proposal should be fired. Tarred and feathered it were still possible! Page 2 of C. H. Johnson’s Market Analysis report (PDF):

The arena would likely host minor league hockey and will target an af2 (arena football) franchise, and accommodate other events such as concerts, family shows, and other community-oriented events.

Stop it. Just stop it. Are you kidding me? An af2 team?! A minor league hockey team, too?! Oh, stop it. Just stop it.

The Barrett Sports Group’s review of the market analysis report, page 10 (PDF):

Comparable Arenas

Reviewed Operating and Financial Characteristics of the Following 15 Arenas:

+ Sovereign Bank Arena –Trenton, New Jersey (1)
+ Budweiser Events Center –Loveland, Colorado (1)
+ Dodge Arena –Hidalgo, Texas (1)
+ John Labatt Centre –Ontario, Canada (1)
+ Everett Events Center –Everett, Washington
+ Wachovia Arena –Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania
+ Spokane Arena –Spokane, Washington (1)
+ Sovereign Center –Reading, Pennsylvania
+ Verizon Wireless Arena –Manchester, New Hampshire
+ Laredo Entertainment Center –Laredo, Texas
+ The Mark of the Quad Cities –Moline, Illinois (1)
+ Van Andel Arena –Grand Rapids, Michigan
+ Pepsi Arena –Albany, New York
+ Ford Center –Oklahoma City
+ Alltel Arena –Little Rock, Arkansas

(1) –Arenas referenced in C.H. Johnson Consulting, Inc. report.

Ladero, Albany, and Spokane? What? Excuse me, I need a drink.

Back to the Market Analysis, pages 7-8:

The Albuquerque market continues to grow as a destination. It has continued to support existing and new destination venues, such as Isotopes Park, the Journal Pavilion, and downtown movie theaters. Its corporate, military and high-tech government presence is solid and growing. The market has a very low ratio of professional sports facility seats on a per-capita basis, meaning it should be able to demographically support the proposed arena with little stress on market entertainment spending capacity. The market strongly supports its existing professional and college sports teams. The market has also shown it is willing to purchase premium seating in minor league venues, as there is a waiting list of 40 for suites at Isotopes Park.

Did anyone read this thing? I can copy and paste for ages here, just go read it. There is a waiting list for suites at Isotopes Park! MLB, are you listening? There aren’t many ‘minor league’ markets that can boast something so substantial. Baseball makes more money on ticket sales than any other sport/theater/amusement park venture in the world. (Huge venues with long seasons equals lots of tickets sold. There is a reason MLB bought out Tickets.com.) If we have 40 groups lined up for suites at a minor park, does it sound like we could maybe support a franchises outside a Double-A hockey team and Junior Varsity arena football team?

I have to stop here. Is the writing not on the wall? Maybe it is in Mandarin — I don’t know — but the last thing we need is an arena to support micro-minor league franchises. I’ll continue this series of posts tomorrow with more thoughts on the Downtown arena and Albuquerque’s potential for big league professional sports. Good grief.

UPDATE: I said I’d write the next post today (1/9), right? Ok, well, I’m half way through it, but the more I write the more I want to continue the bender yesterday’s post (above) induced. Choices… and bender it is. See you tomorrow.

Rio Rancho Observer: Where are City of Vision Duke City sports fans?

ABQrising: In front of their televisions watching the big leagues!

Its no secret the Scorps and T-Birds struggle to pack the stands. The Scorps are easy to diagnose: you’re in Rio Rancho; you’re hockey. Nothing against Rio Rancho or hockey, but getting people excited to drive out to the middle of nowhere to watch third tier hockey — look you don’t need an Anderson grad to tell you that isn’t a winning business plan.

T-Birds are a little more difficult to square than the Scorps. They’re in Albuquerque and we’re a basketball town. D-League basketball is actually a great product. The quality of player in D-League basketball is certainly on par with the player in Triple-A baseball. The problem? How many future hall of famers will come out of the D-League compared to hall of famers out of Triple-A ball? You see, minor league baseball has a real impact on major league baseball. Heck, if the NBA regular season barely impacts the playoffs, how can you expect fans to care about the D-League season?

College basketball is the second biggest stage in its sport. D-League, in many ways, is a step down. Sure you get paid, but where is the respect? Where is the love? College basketball players are put on pedestals for ‘[Major College Program] Nation’ to worship. D-League players are anonymous figures. Is it any wonder most of them jump to Europe or Australia/New Zealand as fast as they can? Abroad, they can reclaim the spotlight and earn a paycheck. Nice.

This isn’t rocket science. Look in our own backyard. The Lobo’s are again packing the 18,000 seat Pit. The paid-to-play T-Birds had their best attendance in franchise history when they forged a double header with gimmicky pro wrestling. How many T-Birds returned this season? Zero. Who cared? No one. Lobo’s men’s and women’s basketball — we get at least one print story a day! Two or three stories when the Lobos actually play a game!

It’s not that the T-Birds can’t survive in Burque, but they are doing a terrible job of connecting with the community. Sponsor a 3-on-3 tournament. Play in the tournament! Get on the radio a talk the product up. Not just the lone sports AM station — get on the FM dial and talk about your college days, your opponents’ college days and how you can wait to avenge your college team’s March loss on the Tingley hardwood. Send a player or two to area high school games and let them talk up the T-Birds at half. “T-Birds in Tingley.” Great alliteration there. Not Thunderbirds in Tingley; T-Birds in Tingley. That phrase should be the tag line of every print and broadcast ad. Kick down the doors of city administrators, the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, NM Department of Tourism, and every entity with a stake in raising Albuquerque’s profile — what a horrible job we did of celebrating the championship two years ago! Where is your T.V. presence? High school sports and UNM athletics have a weekly show, why not our professional teams?!

Don’t get me wrong. T-Birds, I’m only talking to you like this because I love you and I think you need to hear it. I want you to succeed. Every Burqueños should want you to succeed. Your success is directly tied to our self-perception and how outsiders perceive Burque. We need to support each other. Tomorrow I want to address how Albuquerque can help you and our other professional sports. Tonight, rest up.

After spending 20 months giving America’s pastime a thorough check up, former Maine Senator George Mitchell is ready to give baseball a clean dirty bill of health. Don’t look now Albuquerque, we may not have a Major League team, but we didn’t escape the four corners of the Mitchell Report. According to the Los Angeles Times, former Duke’s strength and conditioning coach Todd Seyler watched as many as five Dukes inject steroids.

Whoa! Everybody, freak out!

…And regain composure. Weird, life goes on.