Quote:I'm not too sure about that.

 

Everbank is approaching 20 years old.

 

Typical stadium shelf life is about 30 years.

 

The Astrodome was built in the 1970s.  By the mid 1990s it was obsolete.

 

The TWA dome (St. Louis) was completed circa 1997.  The Rams aready want a new stadium.

 

The Georgia Dome was completed circa 1992.  They are already talking a new stadium in Atlanta.

 

The meadowlands was completed in the mid to late 1970s.  It was replaced a couple of years ago.

 

Tampa stadium opened 1975 or so.  Raymond James stadium replaced it in the late 1990s-early 2000s.

 

We keep upgrading the stadium, which is a good thing.

 

But upgrades will only take it so far.

 

We can't afford to wait until the last minute to ensure we have a new stadium in place, or at least have plans for major renovations.

 

It's not as if they haven't made any upgrades to the stadium in the time since the old Gator Bowl was torn down and replaced with the current structure.  Over the past decade or, there have been major renovations including the prep for the Super Bowl and the current proposal.  They've been able to add premium seating in the stadium, and the existing sky boxes and club seats received extensive renovations in the past few years.  Now we're looking at yet another $65 million in renovations along with roughly $10 million spent on upgrading the locker and weight facilities. 

 

The kind of upgrades they're doing the stadium currently are significant, and more along the lines of major renovations considering they're basically demolishing half of the upper portion of the NEZ to create this party deck. 

 

I think with the steady stream of upgrades in the stadium, we're fine for at least another 10 years if not more depending on any future enhancements.  There will certainly come a time when there needs to be a discussion about a new stadium, but we've got time before we need to start worrying about that.

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