DePaul to receive $300 million McCormick Place Arena

[xu95]

Would the casino be considered the same complex? Sky bridges don't make two places the same complex, not does being built as part of the same project. I don't see where the NCAA could say anything unless the arena was in the casino.

Which would be awesome in my opinion.

[yorost]

A quick look found that UNLV occasionally plays games at a casino, the same place the WCC and WAC hold their conference tournaments. I don't think the NCAA has a problem with legal gambling establishments.

[yorost]

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mens-college ... arena-deal

It does answer the question about the women, they get up to 10 games there a season as part of a 2 arena arrangement.

Also, the Fox media deal is apparently where much of DePaul's $70 million is coming from.

I still find it odd that people don't buy the notion that some venue would go up if DePaul were involved. If a casino is going in, this is something they want nearby. The only things that matters are what the plan and public costs are with or without DePaul involved, but nobody has that information. I don't know what's right, but arguing that just doing this for DePaul doesn't make sense, while tossing out the given explanation that it isn't just for DePaul? That feels like you were going to complain no matter what. Maybe this is stupid on the city's part, but I don't see why such a large project would not consider accepting a partner like DePaul to bring in big funding. There are win-win situations in the world. Even if you think the project is dumb, it could be a smart move on funding the project.

[xu95]

A quick look found that UNLV occasionally plays games at a casino, the same place the WCC and WAC hold their conference tournaments. I don't think the NCAA has a problem with legal gambling establishments.

Especially since there won't be a sportsbook there.

[bostonfriar]

Who would build an arena for basketball next to a convention facility?

State of Rhode Island. The Dunkin Donuts Center is a 12,000 seat arena connected to the RI convention Center - and owned by the RI convention authority.

There are 2 primary tenants - Friars basketball and the Providence Bruins AHL hockey team. Everything else seems identical to DePaul - except there is no casino.

Things are going pretty well with our facility in Providence.

[sandw04]

While all financial aspects are not known, consider that McCormick is a large convention site. It lacks an arena for convention purposes and now DePaul is sharing costs for that facility with the city. Benefit to the city is not only the arena, but an opportunity to revitalize an area close to the loop and realize additional revenue sources. Benefit to both city and DePaul is that the primary time DePaul uses the arena is during the winter months when demand for convention space is at a minimum. Sounds like a win-win to me. And I, for one, do not think this has all transpired just during the past few months. Our much-maligned AD has talked and actually worked on partnering on an arena for many years.

[QueRico]

A quick look found that UNLV occasionally plays games at a casino, the same place the WCC and WAC hold their conference tournaments. I don't think the NCAA has a problem with legal gambling establishments.

A casino is viewed differently than a sports book in the NCAA's eyes. Mohegan Sun Casino in Ct. hosts games & may wind up w/ the AAC tournament.
New Jersey is currently in court in an effort to legalize sports wagering (after flubbing their established right years ago). As soon as the Gov. signed this new bill, the NCAA banned all post season play w/in the state. While this eliminated a potential return of March Madness to Newark, the only real impact was on the D3 programs of the state schools. More brilliance from the home office, because there's so much concern about organized crime getting involved in a Kean-Misericordia baseball game...

[falcon]

A quick look found that UNLV occasionally plays games at a casino, the same place the WCC and WAC hold their conference tournaments. I don't think the NCAA has a problem with legal gambling establishments.

Especially since there won't be a sportsbook there.

Just to clarify a bit, in addition to the Orleans Arena hosting the WCC and WAC tourneys, the PAC 12 plays their tourney at the MGM Grand Arena. While both Hotel-Casinos have sportsbook wagering, they do not have betting on the games being played in their arena. The Mountain West plays their tourney at the Thomas and Mack Center, on UNLV's campus. Betting is available on all these games. So far, no problems with the NCAA.