And then I wrote....

I survived. I've been home, recooperating since about noon on Tuesday, from my knee surgery. I have watched some DVDs I have wanted to see for a while - Rocky Balboa, The Waterboy, Live Free or Die Hard, and Spider-Man 3 - so that was nice. Plus, on TNT, they have two back-to-back episodes of ER.

In other news http://prowrestling.about.com/od/watchingwrestling/a/liveeventsched.htm indicates the upcoming pro wrestling schedule. Traditionally, WWE comes to Cedar Rapids about once a year. Well, this year, they are skipping CR in favor of Des Moines, and, probably, the new Wells Fargo Arena, although the page doesn't explicitly state that is where the Smackdown/ECW tapings are occurring. On the WWE's trek across the midwest, it is not stopping in Cedar Rapids, where it has stopped umpteen times before.

This indicates the subject of the Cedar Rapids' Gazette has struck again - Cedar Rapids cannot draw events to the area because of its outdated facility called the US Cellular Center. Which brings me to something I wanted to write about - the sad state of concerts in Cedar Rapids. The US Cellular Center, according to the article, is an aging building that cannot compete with the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines and the iWireless Center in Moline, IL. The article described the possibility of building a new outdoor amphitheater to draw larger concerts. The thought is that a band going through some outdoor arena shows would stop in Cedar Rapids if this new amphitheater existed. The article also mentioned that Coralville is considering building a new arena that, hypothetically, could be used for live bands. So... here's where I see a problem.

The problem is that, despite the hundreds (thousands?) of people that commute from CR to Iowa City or from Iowa City to CR, these two communities act as different worlds. If Iowa City would look up the street, they'd see Carver Hawkeye Arena - which has hosted several big name concerts over the years, including U2, Metallica, and Bob Dylan. If they make a left towards the hospital, they will come face to face with Kinnick Stadium which, amazingly, is going to host its first outdoor concert - ever - in April when Kelly Clarkson plays.

Why does CR need their own venue? It's obvious why they need it. They have a large crowd base that, at one time, drew large concerts to the area. CR is a large enough metropolis that they sell out whatever concerts come to the area - take Green Day a couple of years ago. So there's a big draw there. The problem is, though, the concerts that come through the "technology corridor" have to choose between CR or Iowa City.

What should happen, instead, is a joint project between IC and CR should be to build a state of the art facility. This facility would be close enough to IC to draw Iowa City fans to a concert and Cedar Rapids fans to a concert. The place to build this state of the art facility?

North Liberty. It really makes the most sense. A smart person with a lot of money would look at the land near the I-380 interchange and invest in a huge building. They would build a large parking lot so there would be no parking issues, as there are with Kinnick. The facility would draw businesses to the thriving community and, most importantly, establish the city of North Liberty as the true Technology Corridor haven for bands that are driving across Iowa. If the band plays in Omaha on Monday and don't play in Chicago until Friday, playing this hypothetical new place in North Liberty on Wednesday becomes a no-brainer. It also would act as yet another step towards the eventual union of these two cities. My belief is that Cedar Rapids and Iowa City will someday be like Chicago or the Twin Cities where yes, there are different cities, but the area is a regional area. A new arena in Cedar Rapids or a new arena in Coralville is short-sighted.

Building a new facility in North Liberty is what should happen. Forget the new facility in Cedar Rapids and the US Cellular Center - though I have seen umpteen excellent concerts there - and a new facility in Coralville. Carver Hawkeye Arena has had the opportunity as has Kinnick to draw big concerts to the area for as long as they've existed and, consistently, they have either not won the bid or not actively attempted to draw these concerts to the area. Therefore, in my opinion, it is only reasonable to me to build a new regional facility in North Liberty, near the I-380 interchange, to draw big concerts to the area.