oduengineer

The CUSA basketball tournament was not set before ODU entered the league... the suburban Dallas location was chosen last year and will be there next year as well. Last year it was held in Birmingham, Alabama (hosted by UAB) and, if I remember correctly, it was hosted by UTEP in El Paso Texas before that. One of the restrictions to hosting the tournament is that the host city needs to provide two arenas, one for men and one for women. We haven't hosted because there is no paired arena for the TED that is available and deemed appropriate. The MEAC uses Scope and Hampton was either being used or deemed too far away when ODU was considered for this year's tourney. The worst thing about CUSA basketball is that there is little national interest so crowds will be small unless fans of each team travel to the tournament. The Dallas site is good for the four Texas schools, but anyone east of the Mississippi probably won't travel to Dallas. El Paso to Norfolk is almost the equivalent of a cross-country trip, which is unrealistic for the typical ODU fan. Simply put, ODU needs to find a better option for conference alignment.

I am.... ACC will never happen, in its current configuration. I guess we don't know how things will play out in 20 or 30 years, but ODU and Duke or UNC in the same conference won't happen anytime soon. CUSA has been a drag in all sports except football... so in some ways it has been a success. We raised a lot of money to play "with the big boys" and, in some ways, it has been a success. I have had season tickets from day 1 and ODU has grown a lot (both literally and figuratively). Basketball has suffered b/c of a lack of local rivals even though attendance has been relatively stable. I also support obscure sports like tennis and wrestling.... these sports are kind of on their own with tennis playing big name non-CUSA teams regularly. Teams that have traveled here this year include Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Utah, South Carolina and NC State. Wrestling found its home in a different conference. The new hope is for either the AAC or a new conference of Sun Belt, CUSA, and possibly some AAC teams forming an East Coast conference... App State, JMU, ECU, Temple, Georgia State, UCONN, Georgia Southern, FIU/FAU, etc are similar teams. I personally hate CUSA.

Downtown Norfolk has been slow in the past 15 years but the entire Town Center in VB has developed in that time period. I was working in Portland for 6 weeks this summer, and a friend was there for 5 months. To each his own, but we both came back feeling that Portland is full of homeless addicts living on dirty, urine-stained streets. The business climate and quality of life is VERY different than that of HR.

Have you ever been to Virginia Beach??? Nearly half of the land is rural or undeveloped by design (national and state parks including First Landing SP, False Cape SP and Back Bay Natl Wildlife Refuge. Density is increasing in several areas, however it will, thankfully, never be like Richmond. VB is mostly suburban right now, but the availability of land IS NOT an issue. Eventually, land below the green line will be developed more than it is now. According to my rough calculations, these three parks alone are approximately 40% of the size of the entire city of Richmond.

You do realize that Virginia Beach had growth rates in the 80's and 90's that is similar to what Raleigh is experiencing now, right? After the merger there were 172k people in 1970, 262k in 1980, and 393k in 1990. For some reason, perhaps intentionally, we have slowed over the past 20 years. 50% growth rates for each of these decades. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Beach,_Virginia

My bad... wishful thinking.

Looks like Stone is still thinking about Norfolk... or playing Richmond! http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/stone-brewing-delays-decision-on-east-coast-location/Content?oid=2117707

How cool is that? It looks relatively easy to do (relative to some of the light rail engineering, at least).

Thanks. I have to bike down there this week so I can check things out. Might you have an opinion as to whether this route could ever be used to bring rail from Ches/Suffolk to the existing southside LRT either by (1) having an amtrak stop there or (2) running LRT along the route that Amtrak will use? I guess I am wondering if this could be used in some way to tie Ches/Suffolk to LRT rather than building a tunnel for it.

I am trying to picture how the new line will get to Harbor Park. 460 runs through Suffolk, and must go through Chesapeake, I guess. Might this be a way to transport people from those areas to the LRT which hopefully will go to our bases? Or maybe LRT can install a track adjacent to the Amtrak line at the same time. There are some great possibilities here. If VB can at least get to Town Center (only 2 or 3 miles), it will make a big difference. I really hope that Harbor Park develops to include TOD. It is a decent site and could help to spur the extension of downtown beyond St. Pauls. I see this as major progress for this area.

These times may be a little low, but I don't know how you drive. Doesn't everyone pretty much accept that this system won't really make a big dent in the traffic problem in HR, but rather serves as a starter line? I personally don't think that it will reach even minimal ridership goals, but if it is expanded it will be very popular. I don't think that the extension to the beach will make that much of a difference until it goes to naval bases and the airport.

Because he complains about freaking everything.

Does anyone know if the district will wipe out the actual streets between 38th and 43rd? I'm also wondering about the time frame for completion. They haven't really touched anything close to the University Villiage or Hampton Blvd. A few of the apartments and businesses close to ODU are still occupied. Supposedly some (or all) of it will be open in June, but they still need to tear down several businesses and apartment complexes.

I think that you missed my point, maybe my bad. I am simply saying that someone in power (major political figure AND financial backers) has to believe that we (ppl in Hampton Roads) will pay that kind of $ for a team. It hasn't happened. Why do you think? Not exactly sure, but big league sports IS A GAMBLE, AN INVESTMENT - a gamble that no one is willing to take in HR. In markets where teams suck, the gamble is often a big loss. I'm not saying that it is right or wrong, its just that ppl in power don't believe in us. Maybe if we sold out Scope at the Admirals/Tampa game, or Harbor Park regularly, or had corporate sponsors throwing $ around, or whatever. But it hasn't happened. That should be the call to action to we little folks. Make what we have sparkle (sell out stuff) and maybe something will happen.

You're kidding, right? Facts that something hypothetical won't happen . . . hmm. I guess if you really wanted a fact that it hasn't happened, history proves it b/c we don't have any teams that charge that much. But this is all beside the point. A team represents a massive investment, a risk. Someone (a large organizing body) has to invest, to believe may be a better phrase, that people WILL pay that much to see a team. It hasn't happened for a reason. I'm not saying that it couldn't or that it won't only that it is a big deal and maybe not in the best interest of our area.

The exact $ value is not the point. The point is that these tix are a lot of green, and an investor in a team, much like an financier of a building, must believe that they are going to sell the tickets in order to finance a team here. That obviously hasn't happened. Look at ODU football. Seasons passes are cheap ($120, I believe - less than basketball). Individual tix are $16 for the ones I got. They sell out. Simple formula. And regarding your ticket prices - they are incomplete. Go to Ticketmaster, I found them and was one click from buying them. There are $300 tix and those that cost more (first rows, I guess). Perhaps there are $10 tix, don't know, but do you really think that a team can support itself on $10-$30 tix when they have plenty of $300 ones available?

Did a quick search for tix to the Charlotte Bobcats and price level 2 tix cost $300. This level includes the inner/lower deck sections in the Time Warner Arena. I am sure that all tix in that part of the stadium don't cost this much, but this was the 20th row and not in the middle of the court. There are clearly more expensive tix than this. I used to work in Raleigh and Hurricanes tix can easily cost $100 and it is very difficult to go less than $50. Rangers tix and Knicks are a lot at the Garden (<$50 is rare/impossible). These things aint cheap!

I agree that we all want great things for the area . . . we live here. This isn't a big money metro, though. We are a Lousiville, a Salt Lake City, an Albany/Schnectady/Troy, a Mobile, a Birmingham, an Austin. I know a few of these places well and just because they don't have a major league team they aren't cruddy places to live. I am such a geek that I check up on construction projects in Norfolk on a weekly basis. Hey, I lurk here a lot (just started posting). I love what is happening here and believe that we need to continue to build upon what we have. Most places would die to have what we have: beaches, historic areas, the world's largest naval base, steady employment, we all know this. We just need to be real careful before we wreck the local budget by supporting millionaire athletes.

So, private investment is ok for your major league sports dream but not for anything else? C'mon man open your eyes. It costs a lot of money to have 8 football, 40 basketball/hockey, or 81 baseball games. Don't you see this? Private investment NEVER covers the expense associated with a sport that has a budget in the 100s of millions per year.

I'm from New York City and 44 years old. I know what it is like to live with professional teams. It is great if they are good (the point I made awhile ago). Most teams aren't good enough to warrant a lot of excitement, and their games can be boring. And Yankees tix can easily run $200. Be sure that you know what you wish for. HR is clearly minor league. I am only saying that it isn't such a bad thing. Sure, if we had a good team it would be great, but we often overlook the little things that make a place like HR great in an attempt to chase the big dreams.

I'm not a fan of soccer either, it's the environment . . . the attitude . . . the excitement. And what do you mean that ODU is a school, not a city? How is a professional team any different/better (other than the level of play). If anything, ODU is better associated with a city b/c the athletes choose to come here.

For that kind of $ you could make a big dent in any light rail/transportation issues here. And what are the odds that HR can spend the $ necessary to have a good team. IMHO, it is better to pay a little $ support ODU and our local teams, who are pretty good, than to be bummed out paying big $ supporting a team that stinks. I went to an ODU soccer match last night. Cheap or free. Good crowd (estimate 800-1000). Our guys are 19th in the nation. Why not go?

New poster here. This development runs from 38th up to 43rd street and from Hampton to Killiam. It is huge and is moving along quickly. It will be a great addition to ODU as it will create a much better entry to campus from Ghent/Hampton Blvd south. Source: http://blackswanblog.com/2009/08/13/studen...struction-loan/ NAI Bluestone Real Estate Capital has secured a $44 million construction loan for The District at ODU, a 909-bed, 307-unit student housing facility in Norfolk, VA. The 909-bed facility is located within walking distance of Old Dominion University, one of the nation