Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Hockey league eager to talk new Arena

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Wednesday, June 30, 1999

Hockey league eager to talk new Arena
In other cities, WPHL has invested in new sports facilities
By Mark Button
Caller-Times

Rick Kozuback and the Western Professional Hockey League had a clear understanding about the future venue for the IceRays when they decided to put an expansion franchise in Corpus Christi back in June of 1997.
   Memorial Coliseum was not going to be an adequate facility for the 21st century.
   "We told the city, 'Let's assess this after three years,' " said Kozuback, the WPHL president. "With the new ownership and our other arena plans developing, we're ready to start talking right now, or as soon as the involved parties would be willing to sit down."
   When that day comes, Kozuback will come to the meeting with more than a hand out and a plea for money.
   He has a plan and an interest in investments.
   The WPHL recently developed a subsidiary called International Coliseums Corp. The goal is simple:
   They build multipurpose arenas that can be used for a variety of events other than minor league hockey. In doing so, the league, through ICC, becomes a business partner with local interests.
   The first project is scheduled for a September groundbreaking in Hidalgo County on a structure that will house a WPHL expansion franchise for the 1999-2000 season. The owner/operator of that franchise is Corpus Christi radio station owner Rick Dames.
   "We can put up this facility with ice-making capacity in the structure to minimize changeover times, for $12 million," Kozuback said. "It could go up to $15 million depending on amenities to the structure, but this is something that is certainly affordable in this day and age of $200 million arenas."
   ICC is investing $3 million in the Hidalgo building for its share of the public-private funding partnership with Hidalgo County.
   The basic structure is a concrete dome with glass windows that form an atrium-like entry. Kozuback said he's involved in discussions with four other Texas cities - not including Corpus Christi - about similar facilities.
   "Corpus Christi might be the ideal place," Kozuback said. "Obviously, the hockey team needs something, and with Texas A&M-CC (basketball programs) coming, (Memorial Coliseum) isn't going to be good for them, either. We're talking about a building that's very cost-effective and really looks like a good fit for this area and its needs."
   Ready to talk
   Kozuback said the prototype building would hold 7,500 for hockey, slightly less for rodeo, about 9,000 for basketball and approximately 10,200 for concerts.
   Twenty-six luxury suites and 1,000 premium-priced club seats - a percentage of which could go to pay off funding debts - could give the city a long-term home for a variety of entertainment events.
   In town last week for an IceRays news conference that dealt with the signings of Geoff Bumstead and Chris Robertson, Kozuback said he's ready for serious discussions about the funding of the project.
   "The timing on all these things is crucial," said IceRays general manager and part owner Bill Davidson said. "The public has to see the need and there's no doubt that there's a real buzz around town about (a new arena). How that translates into the big picture, I guess, is all a matter of speculation at this point."
   Davidson balked at a characterization of the IceRays new local ownership group as starting to push,for an arena.
   "I don't think that's what is happening," Davidson said. "But I'm not going to deny that people have been talking to people in town. It's probably fair to say we're at a grassroots level right now."
   Team effort
   Ed Martin, another part owner of the team, voted to bring hockey to Corpus Christi when he was a member of the City Council two years ago.
   Martin said a new coliseum has been on the city's wish list ever since.
   "That was the dream, that someday there would be a bigger facility, but there was no commitment made on it or even a serious discussion," Martin said. "There's a lot of stuff that going to have to happen before that's the case."
   Robert Furgason, president of A&M-Corpus Christi, saw state and private funding combine with a student user fee to finance the $17-million, 98,000-square-foot University Center, which opened June 21.
   With the Islanders' men's and women's basketball programs to start this fall, Furgason sees the need for a new sports complex. He said the state doesn't fund such projects, but a combined effort could still work.
   "That is what we think is necessary to probably get that kind of facility," Furgason said. "If every sector of our city decides the only thing they are going to vote is something that paves the street in front of their house and they don't give a hoot about what happens in the next neighborhood over, then you'll never get anything done. So you have to kind of collectively put programs together."



Mark Button can be reached at 886-3613 or by e-mail at buttonm@caller.com

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