Roberts Arena

As Evansville officials consider plans to renovate or replace the 50-year-old Roberts Stadium, a proposed $400 million development in Owensboro, Ky., calls for construction of a 6,000-seat arena.

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Keith Jarboe, president of Evansville's City Council, said he has been watching what is happening in Owensboro as the two arenas would be about 40 miles apart.

"They could get a part of our market," Jarboe said. "Everybody likes to drive a new car."

The city's Roberts Stadium Advisory Board is to meet on Wednesday and resume its review of options for the city-owned arena, which seats about 10,500 people for concerts, but fewer for other events held there, such as University of Evansville basketball games.

Owensboro officials, meanwhile, are looking to replace the Owensboro Sports Center, a 58-year-old, 5,600-seat basketball arena.

Owensboro City Manager Bob Whitmer said that state approval was still needed for the project with developer Gulfstream Enterprises on the new arena, along with a 135,000-square-foot convention center, a 250-room hotel, retail space, apartments and condominiums.

"My guess is, our feasibility study will raise at length the same concerns about Evansville and how a large facility there might reduce attendance numbers in our facility," Whitmer said.

Although the scope of Owensboro's project is significantly larger than anything Evansville might do with Roberts Stadium, consultant Tom Chema said its arena unquestionably would be a competitive threat.

"It's premature to get too horribly worried about how much of an impact it could have because Evansville hasn't decided what to do about Roberts Stadium yet, but it would have an impact, and it would be disingenuous to say it wouldn't," said Chema, president of Cleveland-based Gateway Consultants Group Inc.

Evansville's attractiveness to musical acts could be complicated by the presence of a new arena in Owensboro, Chema said.

"Both buildings could survive, but promoters would play them off against each other, so neither building would thrive," he said.