Bemidji in the Big League...WCHA coming to the BREC! See Virtual Tour
Let’s stand back and take a breath regarding what has transpired. Getting $20 million dollars from the State of Minnesota in 2008 for an event center for a city of 30,000 and having the state billions of dollars in debt the next year is quite a stroke of luck. Then you have your bids for the center come in $12 million dollars under budget. Though your main tenant, the Bemidji State University Beavers Division 1 hockey team, is in a conference that is dissolving, they happen to do the impossible and make it to the Frozen Four of Collegiate hockey in 2009. And then three months later, the premier collegiate hockey conference in the country, the WCHA (Western Collegiate Hockey Assn) works some magic and accepts your program into their association for the year the event center opens.
Wow…not a bad couple of years.
With this weeks announcement comes a culmination of dreams, plans and ideas that someone writing fiction could not have imagined as possible. Truly the moon, the stars and the planets are all in alignment over Bemidji.
I am not sure that the average person in Bemidji realizes the magnitude of the WCHA announcement. With thousands of fans following their teams around the league, we can virtually guarantee sell outs for games here against Duluth, North Dakota, St. Cloud, the Gophers and even Mankato State. It means regular coverage in major newspapers all over the Midwest, along with Fox Sports North. These fans come to Bemidji, spend a lot of money, see our beauty, (in what could be the most picturesque venue of all of college hockey) and return in the summer for family fun…or book their convention in our new facility, or possibly even see an opportunity for a business venture. Sounds far fetch? So did the idea of getting into the WCHA.
So picture a snow covered aerial view of Lake Bemidji with ice houses and the lights of downtown on the shore and hear Frank Mazzocco and Doug Woog broadcasting on Fox Sports North saying “Good Evening and Welcome to the beautiful shores of Lake Bemidji in North Central Minnesota for tonights WCHA action between the Bemidji State Beavers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers!"
What else?
*The value of the entire South Shore redevelopment has just gone up significantly…a plus to the entire city.
* The chances of getting an attached hotel connected to BREC has just gone up significantly…a plus to the entire city.
* The amount of money the city will get for NAMING RIGHTS and for ADVERTISING has just gone up in value…a plus to the entire city.
* The possibility of development in the city has just gone up…restaurants, retail and helping nearby downtown … a plus to the entire city.
* Having a successful Division 1 hockey program with the premier league in college will eventually help all sports at BSU through gate receipts and revenue sharing. And just watch how everyone in the WCHA will want apparel of one of the great college logos…the BSU BEAVER.
* Attracting college students to a campus that is alive and vibrant will help recruiting and campus enrollment.
* And what will it do for junior and high school hockey? It will positively influence many young skaters in programs in Park Rapids, Grand Rapids, International Falls, Baudette, Roseau, along with right here in Bemidji.
And as far as what the true hockey bloggers are saying out there…Yes the WCHA did Bemidji State a favor. Yes they did it for the sake of college hockey. We needed them more than the WCHA needed Bemidji State. So what? We deserved the opportunity. We have been diligent, consistent and have the history of a storied and successful hockey program that the hockey world was not willing to let go of. We will always be indebted for this.
Our next step is to get a strong convention and arena management firm to take reins of the day to day operation. We need to begin marketing conventions and conferences to keep the entire facility in use as much as possible. We need to continue to build the most functional building and an esthetically beautiful lakeshore development surrounding it. And for the naysayers of the BREC, BSU Hockey and the entire Southshore development, this should be the EXCLAMATION MARK that finally silences the minority.
JUST POSTED: Brian Schultz, BSU Radio announcer, has just posted the BREC VIRTUAL TOUR!!!
http://www.brian-schultz.com/blogs/index.php/2009/06/29/bsu-press-conference-today
Here is a live webcam link from the city watertower of the Bemidji Regional Event Center:
http://www.paulbunyan.net/weathernews/webcam/eventcenter.html
here is the site plans and sketches of the arena:
http://www.bemidjievents.com/plans.html
Posted by: bemidjimike on 6/29/2009 at 10:31 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Tags: bemidji, bemidji state university, hockey, local, news, wcha, wcha expansion
Why Are Seatbelts Mandatory...Motorcycle Helmets Not Mandatory??
With Minnesota starting to pull over automobile drivers and enforce the mandatory seatbelt law, several people have begun to again question why motorcyclists are not required to wear a helmet. Let me state right from the start that I do not own a motorcycle and have never even ridden on one, so I fully admit that I do not know the exhilaration of having the wind and my few hairs blow freely without a helmet. I do drive a car though and there are times on long trips I don’t particularly care for a tight seatbelt strap wrapped around my chest.
One of the most memorable classes I ever had at the University of St. Thomas was Freshman Logic class. Dr. Berquist would tear apart arguments into equations. It would go something like this…If A=C, and if B=C, then A also must equal C. Let’s say A = seatbelts. And lets say C = saving lives. And let’s say B = motorcycle helmets. The argument should go… If wearing seatbelts is a safety device proven to save lives and if a motorcycle helmet is a safety device proven to save lives, then seatbelts and motorcycle helmets are equal and of the same nature. If our state legislature believes in legislating morality (and most governments do and that’s fine) then its tough not to have a mandatory helmet law.
But Minnesota is not alone. 29 states have mandatory seatbelt laws. 20 states (including North Dakota and South Dakota) have secondary seatbelt laws covering only the front seat. New Hampshire has no law for seat belts. Only 20 states currently have mandatory motorcycle helmet laws for everyone. Iowa, Illinois and New Hampshire have NO motorcycle helmet laws whatsoever, with the balance (including MN, WI, ND, and SD) having laws making helmets mandatory for operators and passengers 17 years old or younger. With about 5 million registered motorcycles (2003 numbers) and with 136 million registered automobiles, a person has to wonder how the motorcycle lobby has done it.
Most of the success is attributed to a group founded in 1971 by the name of ABATE, or the American Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments. They have taken the stand that they do not oppose helmets; they just advocate the freedom of choice. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the insurance industry continues to push for mandatory universal helmet laws. They bring up the fact that the fatality rate per mile traveled is more than 25 times as high for a motorcycle as it is for cars. Government has long taken a role in discouraging society from participating in risky habits such as smoking, drinking and overeating, believing there is an economic cost associated with these. They have put motorcycle helmets with this group of risky behaviors.
The motorcycle lobby states that they have proven motorcycle helmets do not offer the same amount of protection as seatbelts. Even the NHTSA has stated that their studies show that people who wear seatbelts are 20% less likely to be injured and 60% less likely to be killed, while motorcyclist with helmets were only 9% less likely to be injured and 35% less likely to be killed.
The bottom line to this is the debate continues. There has never been a well organized opposition to seat belt regulations in America. Part of this had to do with the automobile industry supporting and adopting regulation so quickly, whereas motorcycle manufacturers worry about antagonizing customers, and politicians are just worry about provoking single issue voters with fervent causes and long memories. Just another example of life not being fair. Or put another way….BUCKLE UP AND SHUT UP.
Posted by: bemidjimike on 6/26/2009 at 7:35 AM | Comments (4) | Permalink
Tags: helmet, local, motorcycle, news, seatbelt
Movie Rental Wars...Redbox vrs. Blockbuster and Netflix
Several months ago my daughter from Arkansas visiting here introduced me to renting movies from Redbox. It is a recent addition to the Bemidji scene, but has been actually in exsistance since 2002. I was pleased by how easy the machine operated, how it actually sends you a confirmation email, and the great selection for of new movies for only $1.00 price per night.
The Associated Press Tech writer Jessica Mintz recently did a piece about the company. They currently have 15,400 vending machine kiosks in operation and they are currently opening 1 new machine PER HOUR! The article quotes Netflix CEO Reed Hastings’ concerns about the competitor. “By the end of the year, kiosks will likely be our number 1 competitor. There are already more kiosks in America than video stores”. And with the tight economy, many people are renting videos rather than buying them.
I remember seeing Redbox in several McDonalds in the Twin Cities years ago. McDonalds developed the concept in 2002 as a way of branching away from fast food. In 2005 900 machines were operational and McDonalds opened it up to other financial partners. Current owner Coinstar took majority ownership and this year bought McDonalds out completely.
Redbox machines carry about 700 discs with 200 titles mainly new releases. About 4 million of us swiped our credit card through their kiosks just last month. Netflix and Blockbuster at Home pays postage twice for every DVD rented. It does best when customers choose ambitious subscription plans and are slow to watch and return movies. Redbox by contrast profits on renting out each disc as many times as possible before demand for the movie starts to fade. Redbox closely tracks rental titles to predict the right mix of titles and the right number of copies for each location. It has also started letting customers go online and reserve a DVD at a specific machine location.
Blockbuster has just signed a deal with NCR Corp (maker of ATM’s and cash registers) to develop a 10,000 DVD kiosk machine of its own. I’m not the most technological wizard…but I am surprised the technology doesn’t exist to have blank DVD’s and that the movie you choose is downloaded digitally and “burned” onto the DVD while you wait. That would eliminate the need for 700 discs and the machine would never be sold out of a popular title. Return the DVD and the old movie could be overwritten with a new one. Maybe I’m dreaming here.
There are a few drawbacks to the Redbox program. The one nearest to us is outside which in January makes it not very conducive to standing and searching the screen for a title. Also, the screen is hard to read on a bright sunny day. Another machine in Bemidji is located in a Walmart store. Not the greatest to fight traffic and parking just for a movie. But great if you happen to be at the store shopping and decide to watch a movie. Who would have guessed something “archaic” like a vending machine would be such a force in the rental movie business?
Posted by: bemidjimike on 6/21/2009 at 8:05 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink