Is It Time for Roberts Stadium to Be Torn Down?

Here we go again: another Roberts Stadium issue. This time, the Evansville City Council has denied Mayor Winnecke’s request to transfer proceeds from the Roberts Stadium auction to the demolition fund thus, delaying the demolition yet again. The time has come to resolve this issue one way or the other and leave partisan politics out of this. The city council wants to put Roberts up for sale instead of paying the demolition and clean-up fee, which I don’t think anyone would necessarily oppose, but just selling the property as is has some very serious flaws that nobody wants to acknowledge. Again, sounds like partisan politics in it’s purest form.

If the city council would just pull their heads out of the sand long enough to look at this realistically and not politically, we would all be better off and we might actually be able to accomplish something with this issue that would make everybody happy. Raise your hand if you’re sick and tired of all the bickering and no action!

Selling Roberts Stadium and the land surrounding it is a great idea as long as we maximize the profit potential and from my vantage point, the only way to do that is to demolish the structure and sell the empty parcel. The land itself is what carries the value because the structure, (Roberts Stadium), is a money sucking albatross that has to go. It’s costing us, I believe, somewhere around $20,000 per month to just sit there.

Roberts Stadium, in it’s current state, is not structurally sound and would cost the city way more to repair it, than just knocking it down. It’s kind of like buying a house: a potential buyer comes in and wants the house, but the required inspection reveals some major problems that will cost some serious money. There are two options at this point, either the seller makes the repairs and re-negotiates the selling price, or the buyer can buy the house, as is at a greatly reduced price depending on the issues.

It seems to me that knocking down Roberts and selling the empty parcel is a much smarter business move than selling the site as is at a greatly reduced price if at all. I don’t know if a green space and dog park is the answer or not, but I think something to utilize the current structure, like a pool or sports complex is a good idea. However, with all the repairs and upgrades that would have to be made, the attractiveness to a potential buyer is greatly reduced – it would simply cost too much. It would be cheaper to build a new complex on an empty lot, wouldn’t it?

Roberts Stadium has served this community flawlessly and proudly for more than fifty years and we are eternally grateful for all of the wonderful memories that have been made there for generations. The reality is, Roberts Stadium has passed on and it deserves a decent and respectful burial. Roberts will always hold a very special place in all of our hearts and seeing it in it’s current state when driving by is very, very sad. Let’s say goodbye to our dear friend and move forward – it’s really the only thing we can do.

Let’s stop playing games and stop spending money on life support that is simply no longer necessary or feasible.Enough is enough, you have to know when to say when and that time is now.