Seeking a game plan for Albi

In August 1957, “mob hysteria,” “wild gyrations,” “frenzy,” and “complete disregard for order” – to quote newspaper clippings – filled what is today called Joe Albi Stadium.

Almost 50 years after that Elvis Presley concert, the stadium and its 26,000 seats are home mostly to high school football and soccer crowds of a few thousand or less. Just two years ago, the venue was losing so much money that then-Mayor Jim West considered selling it for less than its assessed value so it could be torn down and houses built in its place.

As City Council considers a plan to build a softball complex, skateboard park and BMX track partly on land that’s used for Albi parking, a new debate is emerging about the long-term sustainability of the city’s largest sports and entertainment venue. The proposal also has sparked concerns that the loss of parking could permanently shrink the capacity for Joe Albi events.

City Councilman Rob Crow, who is running for council president and has led the most recent effort to build the park amenities promised to voters in 1999, says it’s time to consider shrinking the stadium to a more intimate setting – perhaps 6,000 to 10,000 seats. That would lower maintenance costs and, with adequate upgrades, attract events that prefer smaller venues, he said.

Joe Albi currently has more than twice the seating capacity of any sports venue in Spokane County. But it’s been years since the facility has featured a sold-out event.

Eric Sawyer, executive director of the Spokane Regional Sports Commission agrees with Crow’s assessment.

“The day has come and gone for the need in Spokane for a 26,000-seat stadium,” Sawyer said.

College teams have abandoned the stadium for their own fields, and professional or semi-professional teams either need bigger settings or smaller ones, he said. He added that Albi needs new locker rooms, lighting and press boxes to even be considered for holding significant sporting events.

Sports teams just aren’t interested in using Joe Albi, he said.

“We’ve looked. We just can’t find anything out there, at least in the sports world,” Sawyer said.

But others, including a nonprofit group that promotes the stadium, say Joe Albi could once again attract important athletic and community events and be profitable with decent marketing and care. They argue that shrinking Joe Albi would forever take Spokane off the list to host events that need higher capacity.

“If we want a 6,000 seat stadium, we can either use one that some think is too big or we can build another one,” said Paul Hyndman, vice president of Friends of Joe Albi. “It gives us flexibility for the future.”

The field, originally called Spokane Memorial Stadium, opened in 1950 at a cost of about $565,000. It used to host Washington State University football games and, until the last few years, occasional Eastern Washington University matches.

“Structurally speaking, Spokane’s stadium is one of the finest in the country,” then-stadium director J. Fred Bohler told the Spokane Chronicle in September 1950 when the venue held its first event. “It may not be as large as some – but it has the finest appointments.”

These days the stadium doesn’t have a director, and until last week wasn’t even under the leadership of a city department. Park leaders don’t want control of Joe Albi for fear that it will become their cash drain.

In 2006, the stadium brought in $153,000 in revenue, but had $237,000 in expenses. Losses don’t include $290,000 in bond payments for past improvements.

The 2007 budget shows the stadium almost breaking even, but only without considering debt. Bond payments this year decrease to $167,000.

After West suggested selling the stadium, the Spokane and Mead school districts feared they would be forced to spend millions to build high school stadiums. Last year, the school systems agreed to buy a new turf for Joe Albi and signed a contract that guarantees the stadium for school play for a decade.

Officials from both districts say Albi makes financial sense.

“That’s the top priority, to have a good, safe place to play,” said Cal Johnson, Mead’s executive director of secondary education.

Johnson said maintaining the historic nature of the stadium should be a priority. Still, he sees benefit in shrinking the capacity.

“A 6,000 seat stadium would be great. It’s more intimate and it’s all we need,” Johnson said. “Logistically, (Joe Albi is) just more infrastructure to take care of, and it’s a lot more cleaning after the games.”

Hyndman said he supports most of Crow’s plan for the land north of the stadium, but is concerned about that the loss of stadium parking.

He said if there’s a desire for a more intimate setting for high school and other events, capacity could be shrunk temporarily by using tarps to cover some seating. Tearing out portions would permanently stop a large event from coming to Spokane.

“Market trends change,” Hyndman said. “Who thought we’d be playing football in the (Spokane) Arena?”

Crow said that because the proposal includes construction of a parking lot to serve the new fields, there still would be “barely” enough parking for a 26,000 crowd at Joe Albi if his proposal is approved. That would change, he said, if future phases are built on other parts of the property. Some park officials have suggested building a swimming pool over some parking south of the stadium, for instance.

It wasn’t too long ago that the stadium drew large crowds. The EWU game against Montana in 2002 attracted more than 17,000. One night of a 2002 Christian revival featuring Franklin Graham attracted at least 20,000, according to a Spokesman-Review article about the event.

Supporters of shrinking capacity and Friends of Joe Albi agree that the stadium could attract more events.

“It has been underutilized and neglected,” Hyndman said.