Liberty First Credit Union Arena (Ralston Arena)

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 9:06 pm

I agree that it will be a better fit, I think it is going to be interesting to see what happens to the Civic though. Â There will be no major tenant there in a building with a declining lifespan as well.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 10:18 pm

skinzfan23 wrote:I agree that it will be a better fit, I think it is going to be interesting to see what happens to the Civic though. There will be no major tenant there in a building with a declining lifespan as well.

Well, its all part of the master plan for the Civic to go bye-bye. So, maybe this will be the last push.

JPenny · Post by **JPenny** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:28 am

this is above ground now with iron going up!

Post by **Brad** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:18 pm

Photo Update:

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:23 am

Roof supports are going up.

Post by **Coyote** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 10:23 pm

Post by **Brad** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 1:02 pm

Is that roof even high enough for the Beef to play football in there?

Post by **Coyote** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 9:16 pm

Does anyone have the plans for this, or know if the same building for the hockey rink could be converted to football or would there be a different building to house football? I thought there were plans posted but do not see it now.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 10:04 pm

Coyote wrote:Does anyone have the plans for this, or know if the same building for the hockey rink could be converted to football or would there be a different building to house football? I thought there were plans posted but do not see it now.

I don't have the plans, but I currently live in Cedar Rapids, IA and their ice arena is almost identical in size. Due to the US Cellular Center being renovated, their new team, the Cedar Rapids Titans, who will play in the same league as the Omaha Beef, are planning to play their first season in the ice arena. So it stands to reason that the Beef would just play in the same part of the arena that the Lancer hockey and UNO basketball will play. Â It does seem that the clearance would be an issue for kickoffs or punts.

Here is a picture of the Cedar Rapids arena:

makeitso · Post by **makeitso** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 1:40 pm

Ice level will be 12' below grade. Â It appears there will be about 55' from ice to beam at the center - which is the almost equal to the stated heights at Omaha Civic and MAC.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:05 am

New Ralston Arena Making Progress

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/New_ ... 51628.html

www.wowt.com wrote:The beams are up and the future of sports and entertainment look bright in Ralston as the newest arena takes shape in the metro. WOWT Channel 6 News got an exclusive tour inside the arena on Wednesday.

The Ralston Sports & Event Center has been under construction for 6 months, and the progress is evident. The 3,500 seat arena is taking shape not only outside but inside as structures for the seating are starting to get in place. All three areas are being constructed. They include the main arena, office space, and a 2nd ice rink. Mayor Don Groesser says the progress has been great.

www.wowt.com wrote:"I'm talking to retail developers everyday. We have somebody calling us and asking us, what's this piece of ground? What's available here? Do you have a restaurant, do you have a hotel?" Mayor Groesser described.

www.wowt.com wrote:Mayor Groesser says he hopes to get a few hotels here, one of which may be connected to the arena.

Bugeater · Post by **Bugeater** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 5:16 pm

Brad wrote:Is that roof even high enough for the Beef to play football in there?

I'd be curious to look over that foundation wall, the arena floor is probably sunk into the ground.

(Edit: I see that's been mentioned already)

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sat Jan 14, 2012 3:26 pm

Here is a rendering of the setup for UNO basketball:

There is also a video "fly-through" as well:
http://www.omavs.com/sports/2011/10/12/ ... ath=mbball

Post by **BRoss** » Sat Jan 14, 2012 3:44 pm

Here's a few more:

From the video, it appears the scoreboard you see directly in the middle of image three is a giant video scoreboard. And the thing under the banners on the sides is a marquee.

Looks pretty cool.

Post by **Brad** » Sat Jan 14, 2012 5:30 pm

That looks Great!

Welcome to the forum OSILayer8Support !

twiztid1 · Post by **twiztid1** » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:49 pm

It'll be a nice little arena, perfect for Lancers hockey and UNO basketball. Â The company who designed it is the same company that designed Scheels Arena in Fargo, and there are definitely some similarities in the two arenas.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fargomoorh ... otostream/

Bugeater · Post by **Bugeater** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:46 pm

BTW, someone mentioned the Beef earlier, has it been confirmed that they will play there?

Post by **Coyote** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:08 pm

Bugeater wrote:BTW, someone mentioned the Beef earlier, has it been confirmed that they will play there?

Omaha Beef to Play at New Ralston Arena in 2013

Bugeater · Post by **Bugeater** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:35 pm

Ah, thanks Coyote. I know it seemed like a forgone conclusion but I had yet to see any real announcement regarding the move.

TLGJames · Post by **TLGJames** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 7:00 pm

Does anyone know if it is going to be open for ice skating for the rest of the time?

JPenny · Post by **JPenny** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:32 am

I think there is a community rink that is connected to the arena that will be open year round but I am not sure about the arena itself being open for skating[/quote]

Post by **BRoss** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 8:57 am

One Ton Steel Beam To Be Raised At New Ralston Arena

To date over 677 tons of iron has been installed, 1,500 cubic yards of footings, 1,314 cubic yards of cast in place walls, 25,141 square feet of slab on grade and 132,000 square feet of parking.

windsor · Post by **windsor** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:56 am

This is going to be a great little arena for Omaha. Â It will really fill a void in the small arena market. Â They also have a website up and running http://www.ralstonarena.com. Â I can't wait to catch a few games this fall.

Post by **Brad** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:52 pm

Lancers added a bunch of new photos on their facebook page:

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Wed May 09, 2012 10:08 pm

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed May 09, 2012 10:11 pm

Thanks!

Looking pretty good.

twiztid1 · Post by **twiztid1** » Tue May 15, 2012 8:27 pm

I heard Maria's is supposed to operate one of the concession stands at the Ralston arena. Â It's another good piece to this project. Â A lot of new facilities have pretty average food though I love what Levy does at TD Park.

cp jay 07 · Post by **cp jay 07** » Wed May 16, 2012 9:45 am

twiztid1 wrote:I heard Maria's is supposed to operate one of the concession stands at the Ralston arena. It's another good piece to this project. A lot of new facilities have pretty average food though I love what Levy does at TD Park.

I might just buy season tickets to a team there just so I can get Marias tacos during games. Their Marias shell taco is one of the best tacos in the Metro IMO.

RockHarbor · Post by **RockHarbor** » Thu May 24, 2012 12:10 am

That sounds cool. I'm looking foward to that small area of land finally filling all in completely between Ralston/La Vista/Papillion and Bellevue. If you look on an Omaha map, just filling in that area (as well as the area between Ralston/LaVista/Papillion and Sapp Brothers out west) will make such a difference on how big Omaha looks. And, it really is not that much land to fill-in. For so long, I-80 passed through the southern side of Omaha, with some stringy areas of development even more south of it (S. 84th St, and Bellevue). But, with it filling all in all north of the Cornhusker Highway, I-80 would meander through more the center of town, making its way towards downtown -- with downtown (and Council Bluffs across the river from it) sitting slightly more in the northern half of the city (on a north-south standpoint).

twiztid1 · Post by **twiztid1** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:00 pm

The arena has selected Pepsi for its non-alcoholic pouring rights.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:28 pm

twiztid1 wrote:The arena has selected Pepsi for its non-alcoholic pouring rights.

That good news to my ears. Â I am moving into the Oaks at Lakeview apartments there and I hope to get to go to a few games this fall.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:53 pm

twiztid1 wrote:The arena has selected Pepsi for its non-alcoholic pouring rights.

Not surprising, Pepsi has a stranglehold on the state it seems.

twiztid1 · Post by **twiztid1** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:35 am

iamjacobm wrote:
twiztid1 wrote:The arena has selected Pepsi for its non-alcoholic pouring rights.
Not surprising, Pepsi has a stranglehold on the state it seems.

Yeah, glad I prefer Pepsi. Â According to this article, it doesn't sound like Coke was very aggressive.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120509/N ... -for-arena

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 10:14 am

Pepsi sure does seem to be aggressive in this field. Â I wonder if they are willing to take bigger hits on the profits because their overall market share is slipping? Â Kind of like the American car companies used to do on selling to rental car companies.

Greg

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:48 pm

Omaha has always been a Pepsi town. Especially with the bottling plant.

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 2:51 pm

jessep28 wrote:Omaha has always been a Pepsi town.

My wife and I noticed this when we moved here two years ago. After being used to Coke everywhere in Illinois, we got a lot of "Sorry, we only have Pepsi" responses at restaurants here. I think my wife might actually prefer Diet Pepsi now, lol!

l-dude · Post by **l-dude** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:34 pm

"Omaha has always been a Pepsi town" ... while this sounds authoritative, is definitely not true. Â During my 20 plus years in Omaha (late 50's through early 70's), Coke had as large if not larger presence in town with their bottling plant on north 30th (between Lake or Sprague Sts. ?, close to the old? Kennedy or Druid Hill schools (sorry, I don't know if either school is still in existence, maybe someone "older than dirt" on this forum remembers)...the building was on the west side of 30th (long before there was a North Freeway). Â In my day (see the "older than dirt" comment), Â Pepsi was not a name I/We were very familiar with, north of the Missouri (State of), Kansas border area.

Uffda · Post by **Uffda** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:39 pm

Coca Cola addict here -- there are a few fast food places around town that are still coke. And some of them have these machines 100+ flavors

http://www.coca-colafreestyle.com/

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:52 pm

Uffda wrote:Coca Cola addict here -- there are a few fast food places around town that are still coke. And some of them have these machines 100+ flavors

http://www.coca-colafreestyle.com/

They have one of those at Firehouse Subs at Metro Crossing - major pain in the wazus, because you invariably end up with the family of five that takes 10 minutes to decide what flavor everyone is going to have and who's going to share what with who so everyone can try more than one.....

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:14 pm

icejammer wrote:
They have one of those at Firehouse Subs at Metro Crossing - major pain in the wazus, because you invariably end up with the family of five that takes 10 minutes to decide what flavor everyone is going to have and who's going to share what with who so everyone can try more than one.....

Yeah, that's one thing I don't like about the Coke Freestyle machines. I'm sure Coke makes a lot more money with those things because the syrup concentrate basically comes in ink cartridges, which I bet are proprietary.

I first saw one live at BK a little more than a month ago. I was eating my meal and one of the employees tried reloading one of the cartridges. They were having a heck of a time trying to get the computer to recognize it. It cracked me up seeing a soda fountain machine go all PC LOAD LETTER on them.