Can Jackson ever have a nice arena?

[The Situation]

Watching the game in person, and seeing the complaints about the Coliseum, it raises the question of what has to happen to for the metro area to get an arena worth using. Seems like it shouldn't be in Jackson, because if they were capable of running an arena, wouldn't the Coliseum have been upgraded by now? Pearl has the baseball stadium, and Brandon has the amphitheater, so I doubt either of those are interested in an arena. Ridgeland maybe, convert Northpark mall eventually? Who actually owns the Coliseum?

And of course if we ever wanted to host NCAA events, we have to change the flag first. Me personally, I don't think the answer is to not play games in Jackson anymore. I think we should play more, especially around the holidays. But I can't get around what the Coliseum is, and the way it's run. Having to stand in the rain to wait for tickets isn't fun.

Wouldn't mind seeing a game or two at the Landers Center or Bancorpsouth too. Come to think of it, are those two big enough to host NCAA events?

ETA: Appears the MS Dept of Ag owns the Coliseum, and it of course has other uses that might not always be so suited for basketball. Suffice to say it's probably never going to be renovated to the level needed to host the 'nice' events like NCAA sports or the truly nice concerts.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

No. Jackson can't even have functioning infrastructure.

 

[thatsbaseball]

How bout in the area of the new convention center at the airport ?

 

[The Situation]

How bout in the area of the new convention center at the airport ?

Yeah forgot about Flowood. There's already a big development out that way, not the Refuge, but right south of 25 to the east of airport parkway.

 

[catvet]

No, they cant. The Coliseum and fairgrounds are under the Dept of Agriculture.

What Jackson can have is crime and a shitload of it. They have loaded up on the daily double of murderers, rapists, car jackers, robbers, gangs, etc.

 

[BoDawg.sixpack]

Almost as likely as a nice arena is to get A) a bill for your water usage in Jackson. B) get billed for an amount you actually owe.

So given that we that hurdle yet to go, I'm ruling out a nice arena at this time.

 

[SteelCurtain74]

Probably not but if they did I would suggest converting Smith Wills into an arena. Easy access to interstate and next to MS Sports Hall of Fame. Could remove the high school field located in front of Smith Wills to make additional parking if needed. Make it state owned and state run.

 

[Rupert Jenkins]

Jackson is beyond hope. The best thing for Jackson would be if the dormant volcano under the Coliseum awoke and erupted. Then it could start over from scratch. Everything there gets worse daily.

 

[Misfit]

Make it state owned and state run.

So the cure for the problems with the state-owned and state-run Coliseum on the fairgrounds is to build another state-owned and state-run arena on Lakeland Drive.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

Have a glass of clean water on me!

 

[bruiser.sixpack]

They need a state referendum to move the State Capital. Jackson is the armpit of the country. Jackson qualifies as a 4th World Country.

 

[SteelCurtain74]

If I have to choose between the city of Jackson or the State of MS to run an arena then I'll choose the state all day every day. The current Coliseum has outlived its usefulness and should have been torn down years ago or at a minimum had a major renovation.

 

[Nunya.sixpack]

What would the arena be for? Shouldn't be hosting games like yesterday at all, no matter the arena.

 

[the dog is on the loose]

An arena needs to built by a private organization and the naming rights could be C Spire arena. I’ve been saying for several years that the absolute perfect spot would be on the wooded vacant land directly across the interstate from bass pro shops. That way it could be accessed from I-20,I-55 and hwy 49. Access to plenty of hotels and restaurants nearby.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

No. Jackson can’t have a nice arena because it’s incapable of building and maintaining something of that magnitude. Jackson is a lost cause and an embarrassment to our state. However, a new arena is needed in the Jackson Metro area. One of the Jackson suburbs would have to step to the plate. It’s sad to say this, but Jackson is just a lost cause and has been for quite a while.

We need to play a home game in Jackson, Tupelo, Biloxi and Southaven every year. Preferably November and December home games.

 

[ronpolk]

Some of you guys are dramatic. Jackson is by no means an awesome place but it’s certainly not a 4th world country. The Jackson metro area is a pretty nice place to live.

 

[engie]

Some of you guys are dramatic. Jackson is by no means an awesome place but it’s certainly not a 4th world country. The Jackson metro area is a pretty nice place to live.

Had the 3rd highest per capita murder rate in the country last year and will match it again this year. Double Memphis' rate and triple Chicago's. Pretty nice compared to where?

 

[Maroon Eagle]

No. The demand doesn’t exist.

 

[ronpolk]

Had the 3rd highest per capita murder rate in the country last year and will match it again this year. Double Memphis' rate and triple Chicago's. Pretty nice compared to where?

Compared to a 3rd world country, which is the comment I replied to. But it’s also better than pretty much any other town in Mississippi. You can act like murders happen all over the city with regularity or you can just stay out of west Jackson and more than likely be ok. I’ve live in Madison for about 8 years and work in downtown Jackson. I’ve never had one issue.

 

[Nunya.sixpack]

Compared to a 3rd world country, which is the comment I replied to. But it’s also better than pretty much any other town in Mississippi. You can act like murders happen all over the city with regularity or you can just stay out of west Jackson and more than likely be ok. I’ve live in Madison for about 8 years and work in downtown Jackson. I’ve never had one issue.

So you've never been murdered? Nniiiiiiiice!

 

[ronpolk]

So you've never been murdered? Nniiiiiiiice!

No, I have been. Just never been robbed or anything like that**

 

[bruiser.sixpack]

Some of you guys are dramatic. Jackson is by no means an awesome place but it’s certainly not a 4th world country. The Jackson metro area is a pretty nice place to live.

I live in the metro area. The metro area ain’t Jackson. I drive through it when I have to and limit spending money there except around Fondren or in the hospitals.

 

[Awwhellnaw]

So let me ask you why it is you live Madison? You work in Jackson so why not live there full time? I mean, not like it’s a 3rd world country or anything?* Give it a few more years, it will be.

Jackson is beyond saving. If you think any different, you are in utter denial. Or not very smart. Maybe both.

 

[fedxdog]

I'd planned on attending the Dixie National Rodeo in Feb...Is that unsafe too? I assumed most would be heavily armed that week!

 

[ronpolk]

So let me ask you why it is you live Madison? You work in Jackson so why not live there full time? I mean, not like it’s a 3rd world country or anything?* Give it a few more years, it will be.

Jackson is beyond saving. If you think any different, you are in utter denial. Or not very smart. Maybe both.

I live in Madison because my wife works in Madison and wanted to live there. And I was indifferent. I would be fine in several neighborhoods in Jackson.

I’ve not once predicted Jackson will be great. Hell I started my first post in this thread saying it’s not great. But it’s not a third world country. No where in America is. I’m saying calling Jackson a 3rd world country is dramatic. I would imagine Jackson will continue to be pretty much what it is right now.

 

[Bulldogg31]

Jackson should borrow the playbook from Greenville, SC. What that city has done over the last 25 years is unbelievable.

 

[engie]

You can act like murders happen all over the city with regularity.

I don't have to act like anything -- WLBT has a nice interactive map for that.

To each his own. Jackson proper is the worst place in Mississippi and one of the worst in the country by most actual evidence which go well beyond the ronpolk "I've survived it for 8 years" metric. "The metro area" is an entirely different topic. If Jackson itself is pretty good as you say, I wonder why much more of this crime doesn't spill over into all of those different suburbs, all of which are infinitely better than Jackson proper?

Here's the murder map for the last 5 years in the "best" part of Jackson.
View attachment 14877.

 

[ronpolk]

I don't have to act like anything -- WLBT has a nice interactive map for that.

To each his own. Jackson proper is the worst place in Mississippi and one of the worst in the country by most actual evidence which go well beyond the ronpolk "I've survived it for 8 years" metric. "The metro area" is an entirely different topic. If Jackson itself is pretty good as you say, I wonder why much more of this crime doesn't spill over into all of those different suburbs, all of which are infinitely better than Jackson proper?

Here's the murder map for the last 5 years in the "best" part of Jackson.
View attachment 14877.

That map pretty much proves what I’m saying. The majority of murders happen in a concentrated area in west Jackson. No one considers that the “best” of Jackson. It’s not often that a murder happens in fondren, belhaven or east over.

But again, my point in even posting in this is pushing back that Jackson is a third world country. Seriously, would you rather live in Kenya or Jackson, MS? I’m not saying Jackson does not have crime. I’m not even saying Jackson is a great place. I’m simply saying it’s not a third world country.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

I'd planned on attending the Dixie National Rodeo in Feb...Is that unsafe too? I assumed most would be heavily armed that week!

No, you will be fine.

 

[engie]

And I'm simply saying Jackson proper is among the most dangerous places in this country of ours. Nobody really said it was Kenya. I guess if 9 murders every 5 years within less than a mile of your boundary(all around your nearest convenience and grocery stores) is what you'd call safe, I'll just agree to disagree. Without a bunch of research, I'd think that "safest spot in Jackson" still presents as high a likelihood of being murdered as any other square mile in the state of Mississippi outside of Jackson proper.

The point being -- Jackson has A LOT of stuff to work on before anyone needs to consider the thread title.

 

[paindonthurt_]

Create demand.
Small, nice, ability to add on, multi functional.
Concerts
Basketball
Conventions
Etc

 

[BiscuitEater]

Had the 3rd highest per capita murder rate in the country last year and will match it again this year. Double Memphis' rate and triple Chicago's. Pretty nice compared to where?

Like to see 'where' these stats come from. 3x Chicago rate would be huge number. So far, in 2019, Chicago has had 493 murders. The year ain't over.

 

[Palos verdes]

Jackson had the same number of homicides as New Orleans by the first week of July in 2019. For a city roughly 1/3rd the size of another notoriously violent city, that is a damn impressive rate of killin'

 

[paindonthurt_]

“More than likely be ok”!!! We’ve set the bar high in our states capital!

 

[Shmuley]

Bro, do you even per capita?

 

[Hugh's Burner Phone]

Jackson had the same number of homicides as New Orleans by the first week of July in 2019. For a city roughly 1/3rd the size of another notoriously violent city, that is a damn impressive rate of killin'

Jackson thugs...it just means more.

 

[Shmuley]

DNR is safe.

 

[The Situation]

No. The demand doesn’t exist.

Disagree here. 600K in the metro, and it's the business center for nearly all of central MS. Plus, they've had events there for years. I think the problem is the lack of facilities with proper management. Just watch, this new convention center in Flowood will stay booked, while the Jackson Convention Center sits empty.

As far as the Coliseum, I think they'd rather use if for rodeos and things like that.

 

[The Situation]

Had the 3rd highest per capita murder rate in the country last year and will match it again this year. Double Memphis' rate and triple Chicago's. Pretty nice compared to where?

If I'm walking through West Jackson, Orange Mound or Chicago's southside, the last time I'm worried about is a number. All 3 are dangerous.

 

[The Situation]

Some of you guys are dramatic. Jackson is by no means an awesome place but it’s certainly not a 4th world country. The Jackson metro area is a pretty nice place to live.

Just have to let them get it out of their system I guess. Thread was about the whole Jackson metro area, but yet some of the illiterate ones take it to mean an arena in West Jackson.