State and city leaders unveiled plans yesterday to tear down the aging 1st Mariner Arena and replace it with a new venue big enough to attract a professional basketball or hockey team to Baltimore - an idea that drew a skeptical response from the sports world.
Calling the 46-year-old 1st Mariner Arena "functionally obsolete," officials said a new 18,500-seat facility would draw the biggest concerts and acts to Baltimore and could play host to major events such as the NCAA basketball tournament. A new arena would probably cost $300 million or more, paid for largely with public money, and could open as soon as 2012.
Gov. Martin O'Malley and Mayor Sheila Dixon chose to put the new venue on the site of the current arena because of its proximity to the Inner Harbor, the Baltimore Convention Center and transit lines, and said they believe it would anchor the revitalization of downtown's west side. They rejected alternative sites in Canton, on the South Baltimore waterfront and in struggling neighborhoods that need an economic boost.
The National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association have no plans to expand or relocate any of their franchises, but city and state officials said they would build an arena even without a commitment from a professional sports team. Previous state policy called for attracting a franchise before building a sports venue, but city officials said this project would thrive even without a team.
"We need a state-of-the-art arena because whether we have a major-league team in Baltimore playing basketball or shooting hockey pucks, this is a major-league city and it deserves a major-league arena," said M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp. and head of a panel formed to evaluate arena options. The panel issued its recommendations yesterday with the support of the mayor and the governor.
Brodie said the city should think big, which it doesn't always do. "Sometimes we're a little pessimistic about the city," he said.
But experts say it is unlikely that Baltimore could lure another professional team and that the city would have trouble finding enough corporations to buy luxury seating, which teams depend on for a large part of their revenue.
A large arena would rarely sell out and would feel cold and impersonal when only half-full, experts said.
