ROGER MONROE
The future of professional hockey in Peoria is being threatened by ASM Global, the people who manage the Peoria Civic Center. The ice-making equipment in the arena is 41 years old and needs to be replaced. That inevitable development was ignored decade after decade as another illustration of poor management. Annual budgets should’ve set aside money in a contingency fund. It wasn’t. To deal with the financial challenge, the answer by General Manager Rik Edgar is to send the Peoria Rivermen packing unless they can pay for new equipment. I seriously doubt the agreement between the Rivermen and the Civic Center over the years includes a provision that they’re responsible for the ice plant. The Rivermen are tenants. That’s like the owner of an apartment building telling a tenant the building’s furnace needs to be replaced, so you have to buy me a new one. Ice shows and other skating events unrelated to the Rivermen are held in the arena, so it makes no sense to demand the team pay for it.
Speaking of agreements, the Rivermen as well as Bradley University, not only pay rent, but come out on the short end of revenue the Civic Center receives from concession sales and parking fees. I’m told they both get nothing, and when the Rivermen hand out complimentary tickets to games, they must pay the Civic Center $2.00 per ticket. I’m surprised ASM Global doesn’t charge the Rivermen and Bradley a fee for fans parking in the city-owned deck.
A reliable source said former BU President Joanne Glasser was unhappy about failure of the university to receive a share of concession revenue, but was unable to convince PCC management otherwise. She then asked the school’s engineering department to do a feasibility study to determine whether the Renaissance Coliseum could be expanded beyond its 4,200 seat capacity.
The study concluded 1,000 seats could be added safely to each side of the basketball and volleyball facility. That would make a basketball arena on campus able to accommodate 6,200 people for Bradley games. Parking would be an issue as it was for the Robertson Memorial Field House where more than 8,300 fans attended games. If Bradley moved basketball on campus, more students would attend and the university would save thousands of rental dollars and receive 100% of concession income. Attendance for Bradley games this season is averaging around 4,500 this year, occasionally exceeding 6,000 as they did against Illinois State University. Fewer people each year are going to Bradley basketball games, and that includes this year when the Braves are fighting for the Missouri Valley Conference championship.
Those who want to dump the Rivermen cite money and the desire by Civic Center management to have more open dates for big entertainment opportunities. If they can get rid of the Rivermen and Bradley, they could better compete with the Rosemont in Chicago and the coliseum in Bloomington and the 12,000 seat Vibrant arena in Moline.
However, it seems like no matter who manages the Civic Center, they’ve been a failure making money selling naming rights. Covering 41 years, management has never acquired a single PCC/arena sponsor. In Moline, they’ve had at least three sponsor names and Bloomington about the same. To add insult to injury, CEFCU, based in Peoria, just announced it’s purchased the naming rights to Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University. State Farm has paid every year since 1963 for naming rights to the University of Illinois Assembly Hall.
So how much will it cost to replace the ice-making equipment? A year ago it was estimated at $2.5 million. Today, we’re told Civic Center officials are quoting up to $4 million, but have failed to provide actual bid results. Since the facility is owned by Peoria taxpayers, this is information that should be disclosed along with how much money is annually collected from HRA (Hotel, Restaurant, Amusement) Taxes to support operation of PCC.
The Civic Center Authority Board recently received $25 million from the state. The board discussed where to spend the money, concluding with a list of 20 priorities. A new roof was at the top. Close behind was $1.7 million for another scoreboard. Last was a new ice-making plant.
Second District councilman Chuck Grayeb supports efforts to keep the Rivermen in Peoria, saying, “We can’t afford to lose another magnet drawing people to downtown.”
COURT GOT IT RIGHT
Give Peoria school board candidate Keisha Alexander credit. The Peoria County Election Commission Board threw her name off the April 4 ballot for District 1 because of a clerical error by a notary public. One could call it a technical error.
Alexander disagreed and hired attorney Rob Hanauer to take the election board to court. He won. Circuit Judge Bruce Fehrenbacher said a clerical error was not sufficient grounds to remove Alexander from the ballot.
The complaint against Alexander was filed by her opponent, long-time District 150 board member, Martha Ross, who doesn’t want any opposition, Alexander said. Alexander claimed Ross filed petitions without the legally required names, but the election board refused to hear her complaint because it was filed by her daughter, Chama St. Louis, who doesn’t live in District 1.
MEDIA NOTES
If you’re tired of hearing 5-6 minutes of radio commercials every 5-6 minutes, you’ll be glad to learn that WOAM 1350 is back on the air playing commercial-free music 24 hours a day. About the only interruption the station has during the music is weather forecasts. The music playbook is a delightful mix of vocal and instrumental selections. The station is almost as good as WAZU-FM 90.7’s “Breakfast with Roger and Friends,” Monday through Friday from 6-9 a.m. No commercials, but some brief sponsorship messages, plus the best and most comprehensive newscasts produced by a professional news guy with more than 60 years of experience. Yes, he’s old. Very old. But, he served 22 years on the county board and many years on city and county boards and agencies. I know. A cheap plug.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably why so few engage in it.” — Henry Ford