At issue with mark welp | s01 e20: revitalizing bloomington’s arena | season 1 | episode 20

(suspenseful music) (suspenseful music continues) - The city-owned arena in downtown Bloomington has seen its share of ups and downs over the years, but the recent announcement that a new

hockey team is moving in has the area buzzing. We'll talk to Bloomington's mayor in just a few minutes, but first, our Phil Luciano looks at the impact that sports teams have in

Peoria. - [Phil] What does a professional sports team do for a host city? A lot says J.D. Dalfonso. - When we see a professional sports team come to town or stay in town, that adds that

persona within the destination, adds to that community life, the quality of life, and the community pride that all goes together. - [Phil] The city of Bloomington recently landed a new

hockey team, the Bison. They'll start playing next season in the ECHL. That's a different league than the Peoria Rivermen who play in the SPHL. Bison games will be in downtown

Bloomington at the Grossinger Motors Arena. - One of the greatest thing a professional team brings is an additional identity for the destination, right? No matter what level of professional

team comes to town, no matter what sport, it does bring a sense of identity, and civic pride to that destination. Whether that's a for Peoria, semi-pro soccer team, whether that's

the Peoria Rivermen, whether that's minor league baseball and the Peoria Chiefs, for us here in Peoria, that adds identity to who we are. And Bloomington's getting that with their

new ECHL team in the Bloomington Bison. - [Phil] Could the Bison trigger a ripple effect economically? "Yes," says Alfonso, whose organization aims at bringing conventions and

tourism to the Peoria area. To land business gatherings, sports teams can be more influential than a convention center. - The draws to the destinations in which they're picking now is

not necessarily the food and beverage rates per se, or the square footage, it's what are my friends going to be doing when we're not in our meetings? And that is the big draw as to

how we recruit for the destinations. - [Phil] Word of mouth can spark out of towners to buy tickets for a sporting event and spend money at restaurants and other attractions. - The more

positive we talk about our home destination adds to more people coming to visit, wanting to live, which has that residual effect of greater economic impact. - [Phil] And in part because of a

sports team, some of those visitors just might move to town. - I think it has an effect. I heard plenty of testimonials through conversations with Civic Center and the Rivermen that the

Rivermen were a draw for people to live here. Is it the only reason why they would pick Peoria? I don't know, but it does add a perspective of why it's a great place to live, you

know? And so, when people come to visit our destination, that's the first step and really appealing to it being a great place to live. And when they see the great things that we have,

like the Rivermen and all the things that happen at the Civic Center and our vibrant downtown, that plays a large part in the decision to pick up and move their family or themselves for

their career to establish roots here in the greater Peoria area. - And now, joining us from Bloomington is the mayor, Mboka Mwilambwe, good to see you. - Well, good to see you, Mark. Thank

you very much for having me. - Well, exciting times, especially for an arena that is seen, like we said earlier, its share of ups and downs. What does this mean having a minor league hockey

team come in there, be an anchor, and have at least 36 home games a year? - It means a lot. It is actually the culmination of a couple of years of efforts from our staff. Coming out of

Covid, it was very difficult for us to be able to, you know, to manage, you know, the arena. We didn't have a lot of folks, you know, coming to the arena. But now that we are back and

really roaring, you know, we've hired new staff. We used the Covid situation to try to change our model. You know, we had a model where we had a private contractor that was helping us

manage the arena, but we went to an in-house model, hired very talented staff, particularly the director, who has been instrumental in getting us to this point. - And the announcement that

you made that press conference at the Grossinger Motors Arena, a lot of people watched it, a lot of people excited. The team says within two weeks of that announcement, they got 300 resumes

for employment, deposits for 624 full-season ticket plans. So, you're guaranteed those people in the building. That's gotta be a good start for everyone, I would think. - I think

it is a great start. And it's only the beginning, you know? It shows that there's a lot of excitement for it. You might remember that we've had some years of ups and downs

with different teams in lower leagues. But now, you know, the buzz, the excitement, is palpable. Anywhere I go in town, it's not unusual for me to run into somebody, you know, who asks

me about the Bisons and expresses their excitement that hockey is back. And this being a minor league that has a minor league team that has the potential to be affiliated with the NHL, it

guarantees pretty much that we're going to have NHL caliber athletes who are going to perform. - And I think something that's different that we've seen from the previous few

teams that have been in there, the Hallett Sports Group, which owns the Bison now, they have experience in this. They've got a minor league team in Indianapolis, and I believe

they've sunk $4 million into this. Is that right? - Yes, it is right. So, it is a sizable investment on their part. And it is an expression of their belief in the community, because

they know the market is good. We have quite a few people who like hockey, and I think it's going to, it is extending beyond Bloomington normal, because, you know, initially what I had

heard is that they were getting some purchases of season tickets from other communities around the area as far away as, you know, 40, 45 minutes. So, this is very, very exciting. - And as

far as the agreement it's generated to expected to generate I should say about $750,000 in profit annually, and the team is gonna get a percentage of food and beverage sales and parking

and things like that. I guess for the city, it seems like it's more about not necessarily just money, but having, again, that tenant in the arena and being able to use that to say to

other people, "Hey, we've got this great facility, we've got a great fan base, we can bring concerts to town, other sporting events," things like that. - Yes, Mark,

you're exactly right. I think it is about, you know, communicating to not only the community, but also people outside the community that yes, we do have a great product. As you

mentioned, the Halletts have invested quite a bit of money, and they do know one of the things that they've said is that this particular investment, you know, hockey is not just about,

you know, the hockey, the pure hockey fan, the diehard hockey fan, you know, it is a family type of atmosphere. So, they want that to be a family friendly, and that's who is going to

really fill up the arena. They expect a certain number of people who will be, that are hockey fans, but a large number of people are people who, you know, may not even be season ticket

holders, but they want to come in and have a good time with their family members. So, there will be a lot of things around the hockey to entertain people, the food, and beverages, and

everything. But the whole thing really is not about profits, you know, it's about having a tenant there that is certainly going to help us, you know, beef up, you know, some of the

coffers, because otherwise, you know, it's not getting used to its full potential. And that's what we really wanted to get back to. - Earlier we talked about the effect that the

Chiefs and the Rivermen have had in Peoria. Thankfully, they've been here both teams for a long time steadily. How big of a deal is it once we do get this team in Bloomington, and

hopefully, they're successful and they've been here a few years. What does that mean in terms of bringing other businesses, people moving to the area? No one's gonna move here

just because we have a minor league hockey team, but the fact that we have those options and we have things for families to do. - Yeah, and really, I think that's the thing that is

special about Bloomington is that there is a number of things, you know, for people to do. You know, there's a little bit of everything. You know, we have a great arts division. We have

lots of parks, lots of activities for kids to do, but also for adults. So, we really want to give people that, you know, that overall package. We have, which, you know, translates into a

great quality of life for people who live here. And then there's other things that are really special about our community is that, you know, I like to think of our community, you know,

Bloomington as really we give it that we have a small town feel, but we also have large city opportunities. And that's what people want, you know, very short commutes, you know, within

15, 20 minutes, you know, you are where you need to be and therefore you have a lot more time to devote to other activities. - And we know with the contract the council approved, the team

will pay a total of $5.4 million in rent over 20 years, which is good, but have you thought about or done any kind of study to see what kind of overall economic impact it could potentially

have on downtown Bloomington, surrounding hotels, restaurants, things like that? - Yes, you know, I couldn't give you exact numbers right now, but I know over the years that has been,

you know, anecdotally, you know, you can talk to a lot of the businesses, particularly in the downtown area. They would tell you that when there's an event at the arena, well, you know,

the restaurants are full, the hotels are full. So, I anticipate a pretty significant economic impact, especially, because we're going to bring in, you know, people from outside the

community as well. - In the past, we've also seen indoor football at the arena, we've seen basketball. You have a wishlist of any other things that you'd like to see maybe

come and use the facility? - Yeah, yeah. You know, I think at this time, you know, we really have to, you know, one of my instructions, you know, to city staff, you know, in regards to the

arena was that we needed to find our niche. You know, we are a certain size, so we're not as big as some venues, you know, in the Chicago area, for example, but we need to find those

kinds of products that allow us to be successful. So, it depends, you know, for example, in terms of concerts, you know, we certainly, because of our size, you know, we could not bring

someone like Taylor Swift to the arena, but, you know, we can certainly bring an artist that is on the way up that is ascending. Who would be more affordable, but yet, allow us to really

fill up seats in the arena. So, those are all important things. You know, you talked about basketball and indoor football, those were not very successful. So, and again, that is part of my

instructions to staff is really to take, to kind of scan the environment. You know, we have Illinois State University basketball, for example, where you get quality basketball. And so, in

comparison to the two, we found that, you know, there was not a whole lot of desire or appetite for people to go to the games that we were offering at the arena. The same for indoor

football, you know, it's kind of a, it's a special thing, you know? It doesn't have the shine of the Super Bowl and football outdoor. So, that's probably not something

that we need to engage in at this time. - And when you are looking at events, you know, I'm sure the city's been instructed to look for something at least that appeals to certain

age groups, demographics, cultures, things like that. I'm curious what lessons maybe the city learned from, you know, you had those other companies in the past run what was then the US

Cellular Coliseum, now the Grossinger Motors Arena. What kind of lessons has the city learned in terms of anything from booking concerts to just finances? - Well, one of the lessons I think

initially and even prior to me getting on the council, you know, is that, you know, let us not promise the public, you know, profits in one way or another, you know? The one thing we can

promise the public is that we're going to do the best we can. We're going to work hard at it. There will be some times where we will make a profit on a specific show, but there are

times where you might not. But you have to be very intentional with those shows or the different events that you are having at the arena and know what your actual goal is for that

particular arena. So, let's take for example, and again, this is just for an example. Someone like Taylor Swift would cost you a lot of money to bring here, but we don't have

enough space in order for us to be able to make the tickets cost efficient for people. So, that's something that we know now. Okay, we can't go for that. But there are, you know,

other artists that we could bring that might be either they're on their ascending phase, so they're a little cheaper, or they're on the descending phase, they're also a

little bit cheaper, but where the numbers might work. And by bringing some of those artists, we can also really make a big splash and really help communicate to people in the area. But

sometimes outside the area that the arena is a very exciting venue for them to be able to perform here. - When I'm on social media, reading about, you know, the arena, what acts are

coming, what acts people want to come, I don't know that everyone understands that the arena is owned by the city, which is, you know, taxpayer funded. I don't know if everyone

understands that the arena is not something that the city put there to make a huge profit, but rather it's a quality of life issue. Can you explain a little bit more about that? - Yes,

and you're actually right. So, this goes back to what I was saying earlier, you know, for one, not to promise to people that we are going to, this is going to be a huge money maker, you

know, particularly over the course of a full year. These are the kind of things that you put together to enhance the quality of life and bring more people to the area. And for not only

people who are visitors, but also people who like the opportunities that we have and decide to become, to reside in the area. So, that I think it's something that's very important

for the public to do. Now, in that process, we're going to do as much as we can to be revenue neutral, but, you know, especially on the operational side. But, you know, people do have

to understand that, that was not the primary purpose of things, because it's very hard to make money with these venues. One of the thing that I should have mentioned as well that is

likely to be in the equation and kind of goes back to what you were saying about some, you know, companies and being interested in the arena and things are, well, you know, at some point

I'm hoping that with the introduction of this new hockey team, we will be able to, you know, to have discussions, you know, with companies about naming rights, because it's

definitely, the arena is gonna get a lot of visibility. - And right now, it's the Grossinger Motors Arena. Is that naming rights, is that up already? Is that contract over? - Yes, but

that contract is over. So, because Grossinger is no longer in the area, yes. - As far as any naming rights, I mean, can you pinpoint any companies that you'd like to do business with? -

Well, we are open to any company that would be interested. And so, I'm not gonna play favorites at this time, but I'm gonna have more of a, you know, come one, come all, this is a

great opportunity for a company to have more visibility. Certainly, you know, we would welcome any of the local companies that have been very supportive in the area over the years of the

city, residents, and everything to be involved with us. If anything, you know, we're hoping for people to purchase suites and things like that. - How is the arena doing physically, the

structure of the building? I know there were some heating and cooling issues recently, but structurally, how is it doing and do you anticipate any big influxes of money being needed to keep

it up? - You know, it is doing really well. That is actually one of the things that I did mention at our council meeting last night, and it bears repeating, you know, we repeat it as much as

we can. The facility is very well taken care of and we did invest quite a bit of money into the HVAC. So, over the years, even though, you know, we had some, you know, we had the Covid

years, but definitely, we never gave up on the arena and we've continued the investments that are necessary to keep, you know, the physical infrastructure, you know, up to par. And I

can tell you last summer we had a delegation from Japan, you know, our sister city who came and visited the arena. And they were very impressed, because they had been, it was part of, they

were having some discussions in their city of Asahikawa about building an arena. So, this was a great opportunity for them. So, the infrastructure is great in the arena. And hockey would not

have happened if it wasn't, you know? - You mentioned during that press conference that making the deal with Hallett Sports, both sides said it was surprisingly easy. Is that because

they had their act together or was it a little bit of the arena really wants to get a tenant like this, or both? - No, it was both, you know. One of the things that is, for one, I have to

give a full credit to the staff, you know? The city manager and the deputy city managers and their teams have been really, really fantastic. Rolled out the red carpet for the Hallett family,

knowing that they are people who are experienced and they know what they're doing. So, that was, I think a determining factor for us, because we know we have somebody who's

experienced. They know their product and they know how they're going to roll it out. And they built a first-class organization back in Indy with their other team. But at the same time,

you know, we are not, you know, the city is never really under the gun, you know, to do a bad deal just for the sake of it, you know? So, we're going to do, we've been fortunate. I

think Bloomington is a very prosperous community and it allows us not to be desperate when we are looking to do, you know, have some agreements with private partners. - Any update from the

ownership group on the offices that they're going to be setting up on Washington Street across from the arena? - No, I have not. You know, I do remember that they were trying to set up

those offices and one of the family members, one of the brothers, was going to set up shop there and kind of go back and forth. Sometimes staying in hotels and try to work it up. But I

don't have the latest update on that, but I'm assuming that they, you know, they're up and running. I mean, having so many applications to sift through. That's another

measure of the excitement, you know, to have 300 applications for people who want to work there when in fact, I don't know that the total number of people who that they will hire is

gonna be more than 50 to 100. So, that's quite a bit of excitement, that says a lot. - All right, so like I said, exciting times, Mayor. We appreciate your time today and I guess

we'll see you at the first puck drop this fall. - Absolutely, Thank you so very much, Mark. I really appreciate it. - Thank you, we'll talk to you soon. - Take care, bye. - Back

now with Phil Luciano and I think Central Illinois is really blessed to have the amount of minor league sports teams that we do have. It gives everyone an option to do something different. -

Oh, it's great. And like they were talking about, the more sports, the better economically for all concerned. And I do know the Rivermen have said that although they, of course, want

everyone to come from all over the place, the Bison that won't pull much many people away from Peoria. They don't have a huge fan base in Bloomington. So, it's gonna be good

for everyone. - Yeah, not yet. It could be an interesting competition down the road. - It'd be nice if they could play maybe even exhibition or something like that, you know? It'd

be kind of new war on 74 kind of thing. - Yeah, maybe on a pond in Goodfield during the winter, you know? - Wherever. - Neutral territory. All right, Phil, you gotta see this coming up in

just a few minutes. - Got a few great stories here. One, is the Zoe House. It's the latest effort by Dream Center Peoria. This is their new plan to help single moms with babies. And

it's kind of layered and complex, but stay tuned and check it out, they'll explain. It's a really, really cool program. And we also have, it's springtime, right?

It's almost time to hit the road. We got two road worthy stories. We've got one about a motorcycle expert. He is an old timer who fixes bikes that no one else can fix in the middle

of nowhere, but he gets people coming from all over the Midwest. We also have another small town place. It is a, where you get gasoline, you know, some places you can find once in a while

that maybe they'll have a full service, a bay. This is the only thing you can get at this place. Only full service. So, don't even try to pump, we'll take you out there. -

Interesting, I didn't know, I just found out that New Jersey only has full-service gas stations. - Yeah, you can't pump there. - Isn't that crazy? - Yeah, or it's really

great. - Well, yeah, I remember as a kid, you know, it was kind of cool watching the guy clean the window and then I remember I turned into the guy having to clean the window. - Took the

shine off it, huh? - Yeah, it depends how much extra they charge for that full-service option too. All right, good stuff. Well, we will see you back here in just a few minutes. - All right.

- And we wanna thank you for joining us. If you wanna get in contact with us, just go to our Facebook page, WTVP. You can also check us out at wtvp.org where you can check out all the past,

you've gotta see the shows and "At Issue" shows, and all the fun documentaries we've done here at WTVP. Check it out anytime. Thanks for joining us. Have a good night.

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