By Gene Frenette
Times-Union sports writer

Every time the eyes of John Delaney gaze at that decrepit building with the gray exterior, it reminds him of how much he looks forward to his last days in office.

Not that Jacksonville's mayor wants out of politics or public service. Delaney just doesn't care to look any more at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a 41-year-old structure that is scheduled to be torn down and replaced by a $125 million arena as part of his Better Jacksonville Plan.

"The Coliseum is just plain crummy," Delaney said. "You get embarrassed when somebody from out of town goes in there. It looks like a water plant from the outside. We want to make a statement down in that area."

A state-of-the-art arena -- complete with luxury suites, nicer seating, better acoustics and a wide assortment of other amenities -- is one of Delaney's crown jewels in his vision for a new and improved Jacksonville. If all goes as planned, Delaney will see this building close to up and running just as his administration exits on June 30, 2003.

Together with a new baseball facility to replace Wolfson Park, the arena, which will be located one block west of the current Coliseum, is expected to bring economic vitality to Jacksonville's sports and entertainment business. Not just more concerts with big-name performers, but a wider variety of sports attractions that are either limited or unfeasible now because of the antiquated Coliseum.

"There's no doubt that we've lost out in the last 10 years to other cities who have built better arenas," said Gator Bowl Association president Rick Catlett, who also served as a senior administrative aide to Mayors Jake Godbold and Tommy Hazouri from 1979-90. "With what we have now, we can't even compete with the Richmonds, Gainesvilles and other smaller cities than us because this facility is too old and only holds 8,000 seats."

Plans for Jacksonville's new coliseum won't be finalized for at least another month, but the target capacity is for 14,000-16,000 seats, the higher number being for concerts because of more available floor space. Those involved in the planning, from Spectacor Management Group (which will run the facility) to city officials, fully expect that the new arena will put Jacksonville in a significantly higher league in the sports entertainment industry.

"It's going to be a quantum leap," said Wayne Boy, the arena project manager for the city. "Quality is our No.1 goal. We'll adjust the seating to make sure we can afford the excellence that we want."

What dividends will be reaped on the sports scene is speculative, but many agree that the new arena will be an immediate producer on several fronts. Topping the expected wish list is a return of minor league hockey, which was put on hold in April 2000, when the Lizard Kings of the East Coast Hockey League suspended operations after losing $2.2 million in four years.

"I don't foresee [returning to Jacksonville] being a problem with a new coliseum, providing the lease negotiations are normal," said Charles Felix, the former Lizard Kings president and president of The David Berkman Group, which owned the Lizard Kings and currently operates the Pensacola Ice Pilots and Barracudas, an arenafootball2 franchise.

Once the new arena goes up, Jacksonville also hopes to upgrade from an af2 team -- the Tomcats -- to join the Arena Football League, possibly with Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver taking over since he has rights of first refusal on an AFL franchise. Several NFL owners, among them Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys), Dan Snyder (Washington Redskins) and Tom Benson (New Orleans Saints), have made commitments to owning AFL teams in their markets. Weaver, who expects to make a final decision after the NFL owners meeting in October, appears to be leaning in that direction.

"There's persuasive reasons why to do it," Weaver said. "It's certainly an opportunity to attract a different demographic and younger audience to football. The Tomcats have been successful and I think Arena football will be well supported. Arena football is good for us because it builds more football fan passion."

Other sporting attractions on the city's to-do list, such as luring the first and second rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, present a more formidable challenge because that's more of a bidding war. Anywhere from six to a dozen cities usually put out bids for the combined four NCAA sites in the East and South region, the only regions where Jacksonville could serve as host. The next available first- and second-round sites for bidding are the 2006 and 2007 NCAA tournaments. They go up for bid no earlier than December 2002.

"We're going to make a hard run at the NCAAs," Delaney said.

Sizing up the place

Few dispute that a new arena is necessary for a city experiencing Jacksonville's growth, but how much bigger should it be than the old one? Since the 8,000-seat building there now was considered too small and outdated after 25 years, isn't it possible that the approximate 15,000 seats might not be enough in the not-too-distant future?

These are questions that Delaney, Boy and city officials hear quite frequently, but the overwhelming consensus from their consultants is that the capacity of the new arena is just right for Jacksonville.

"What we're shooting for here is good seats for everybody," Delaney said. "They're making [seat configuration] a little steeper so it gets you closer to the court and stage. We're not going for a 20,000-seater. One, we don't need it. The higher you go up in [in number of seats], the more it costs for each tier because of piping, air conditioning and the rest.

"We're capped at the price of $125 million because that's what the voters approved. I'd rather build a 15,000-seat arena for that price than a 20,000-seat for the same costs. I don't want to sacrifice quality for quantity. You want good sight lines, good concessions, a comfortable and attractive facility."

Bob Downey, the general manager for SMG in Jacksonville, says it's more important for Jacksonville to focus on a nice building that fits the marketplace than get caught up in the-bigger, the-better philosophy.

"I've talked to counterparts in Tampa and South Florida and they feel 15,000 puts us in the hunt for just about anything in the foreseeable future," Downey said. "If you build it too large for family-type shows like the circus, then you got a problem with too much capacity. Seating of 15,000 is plenty for nearly all the events. We've only got so much to work with in budget. When you start adding more seats, you start reducing locker room space and other things."

The question is -- as seen in cases of many sports facilities -- how much staying power can this new arena expect to have in this millennium? In several cities, professional team owners are asking for renovations on stadiums or arenas that are less than 10 years old because they want bigger revenue streams to keep up with the competition. The Jaguars are making the same pitch with Alltel Stadium to make it nicer for the 2005 Super Bowl.

"By the time Jacksonville gets big enough to support a major hockey franchise or the NBA, we're going to have to replace this thing," Catlett said. "But for 10-15 years, this will be a viable facility."

At its planned size, the seating capacity for the new arena is smaller than any current NHL or NBA facility by, in most cases, anywhere from 2,000-8,000 seats. But those involved with the design of this state-of-the-art coliseum (details should be finalized in August or September) aren't concerned about trying to get the seat numbers high enough to attract a major professional sports franchise.

"Oh, no, no, no," Delaney said. "We're so long and far from that. That's 20-30 years away, if then. We're looking more at events like Disney On Ice, truck pulls, rodeos, NCAAs. It's a rare event that we would need 20,000 seats, so I'd rather make the quality of the fan experience superb, like having 21-inch seats instead of 19 inches and nicer bathrooms."

Al Kinard, the director of Engineering and Project Development for the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, thinks it's better to focus on a new coliseum that stays within budget. Not one that tries to be bigger than what the market can adequately support.

"Building facilities is like building your own house," Kinard said. "You do the best you can given the conditions you're working under at the time. We have to build it to accommodate the events we think we can attract here."

A March Madness?

Jacksonville has never been known as a basketball hotbed. It has seen more than its share of minor-league hoops franchises fold due to poor attendance. The newly formed American Basketball League announced plans to come here last year, then changed its mind.

In the last two decades, the few NBA exhibition games held here have rarely come close to filling the Coliseum. Three years ago, Jacksonville University -- too often playing before crowds of 500 or less -- moved its permanent basketball homecourt from the Coliseum to on-campus Swisher Gym that seats nearly 1,500.

Except when high school rivals such as Ribault, Jackson and Raines play each other, basketball is rarely a hot-ticket item on the First Coast. But city officials are convinced that with a new coliseum, they can overcome this hoops apathy and make a successful pitch to host first- and second-round games in the NCAA men's tournament.

"We're not going to get the Final Four, but we're going to have a nice complement of amenities," Downey said. "This thing it's going to be spectacular in terms of the ambience and creature comfort. I think the NCAA will be very interested in coming here."

By NCAA standards, the new arena would meet the organization's minimum 12,000-seating capacity to host first-and second-round men's tournament games. But with the exception of four future NCAA tournament sites from 2002-05, the expected seating capacity of Jacksonville's new arena is still smaller than any of the other 28 sites for first- and second-round games.

Tampa and Orlando will play host to NCAA tournament games in the next three years and St. Petersburg played host to a regional final and Final Four, respectively, in 1998 and '99. The NCAA isn't shy about bringing March Madness to Florida.

But could Jacksonville and its new arena get in on the action?

"If Jacksonville wanted to bid, we'd take a visit down there and let them show us the facilities and the basketball committee would make a decision," said Jim Marchiony, the NCAA media coordinator for the men's basketball tournament. "The NCAA has a history of going to new cities as well as traditional venues."

Since the earliest the NCAA would be selecting tournament sites for 2006-07 is in December 2002, it's likely that Jacksonville won't have a completed building. Or even a shovel in the ground.

Given that drawback, plus having one of the smallest facilities in terms of seating capacity, it appears Jacksonville would be a real longshot, but the quality of a new arena could help offset those perceived disadvantages.

"Jacksonville wouldn't automatically lose out because the committee looks at everything," Marchiony noted. "Seating is certainly not the only issue, though it could be a tiebreaker if another site had more seats and the committee thought those seats would be filled. There are other major factors involved in whether a bid is successful or not."

Marchiony cited the prices that teams get on first-class hotels and the arena's amenities -- locker room size, meeting space, media workroom areas -- as the most critical items in site selection. The NCAA visits all cities that put in a bid for the men's tournament. While it seems unlikely Jacksonville could earn a bid for 2006-07 without a completed arena, the NCAA did select Oklahoma City as a 2001 first- and second-round site several years ago before its Myriad Center was finished.

When construction on the SMG-operated building got delayed, resulting in the 19,650-seat Myriad remaining uncompleted until next year, Oklahoma City traded with Kansas City, then Dallas in the NCAA rotation. Oklahoma City will now play host to NCAA games in 2003.

"This is obviously a football city, but we need to submit a bid for NCAA basketball and be ready for the next round," Delaney said. "There's no reason not to try for an event like that if you've got the facility."

When the Coliseum was built in 1960, it was one of the top sports facilities in the Southeast. Now it's an eyesore that'll soon be leveled and turned into an extended parking lot for paying customers at Jacksonville's new sports complex.

That day can't come soon enough for Delaney.

"It's time," he said. "This is way overdue."