A state-of-the-art facility when opened in 1956, the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum and Auditorium has featured concerts, sporting events and Broadway productions; however, the final curtain call is near.
While Lubbock residents have decided it has served its purpose after voting to abandon the facilities, an emotional connection to the coliseum and auditorium is too strong for some to part with.
Courtesy of the Lubbock City Council
Proposition A signaled monetary priorities over historical value to some Lubbock residents, Jerome Chavez, a junior journalism major from Midland, Texas, said.
“I think that those structures should stay, those are like classic structures,” Chavez said. “Whenever you look at the shape of the building from the highway, you know you’re in Lubbock. Everyone knows that Texas Tech is right there.”
The building has hosted a vast array of famous musicians over the years, he said. Elvis Presley, ZZ Top, Willie Nelson and Robert Plant are just a few performers to have graced the stage of the Lubbock landmark.
The letter of the ordinance states:
“(T)he City Council of the City of Lubbock has determined that it would be in the best interest of the citizens of the City of Lubbock to conduct a special election for the purpose of voting for or against the authorization to abandon the Lubbock Municipal Auditorium-Coliseum pursuant to Article II, Section 25 of the City of Lubbock Charter…”
The vote for Proposition A took place on May 5 with 52 percent voting for, while 48 percent voted against – a margin of 526 votes made the difference. The Lubbock City Council estimated that the facilities maintenance costs $700,000 annually and would require an investment of between $15 to 25 million to renovate.
The council gave Lubbock citizens an opportunity to go in a different direction, Jeff Griffith, Lubbock City Council member representing District 3, said. With the construction of the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences underway, Proposition A opened the door for a new multi-purpose dirt arena to open.
“The structure was designed and built for basketball. It was never really built for the rodeo,” Griffith, a life-long native of Lubbock, said. “There’s not enough parking space for trailers and not enough pen space. So, we’ve pigeon-holed rodeo events in there for decades, and its been okay.”
Courtesy of the Lubbock City Council
Lubbock County will be putting a new measure on the ballot regarding a potential solution that may interest residents. In November, citizens will get to weigh in on whether funds from the Hotel Occupancy Tax will be used to construct the proposed dirt arena, Griffith said.
This measure would make it so taxpayers from Lubbock are not the ones footing the bill for city council’s plans, he said. The marketability of the facilities has drastically decreased since the opening of the United Supermarkets Arena, originally named the United Spirit Arena, in 1999.
“We knew that there was a need and a desire here in this part of West Texas to have a true rodeo arena,” Griffith said. “I had to look at it from a city council standpoint. If we don’t need it, let’s put it up to vote on. Plus, the Tech Administration could then use that land and better utilize it.”
To some, the city council was only addressing part of the problem when it created Proposition A. What the administration would do in the meantime while the rodeo and concert events are still ongoing is also a concern to some, Dan Jackson, general manager of KCBD Newschannel 11, said.
Jackson, a vocal critic of the council’s plans, said the vote to turn ownership of the property over to Tech should only have taken place after Holly Hall and the proposed dirt arena are already constructed.
Also troubling are the complications that may arise if the demolition project is to take place concurrently with already scheduled events, Jackson said. A deal was struck to continue the coliseum’s tradition of hosting the rodeo until 2019, but much of the coliseum’s mechanical components are located under the auditorium.
Currently, the coliseum’s air condition units need to be repaired and are only operating at 20 percent of their capacity, Griffith said. Patrons will have to make do with the facilities as they are until 2019.
This does not indicate a seamless transition on the part of city council, Jackson said. Not to mention plans for the proposed dirt arena are not ironclad yet.
“We knew a vote on the coliseum would come eventually, but it did not need to come the way it did and when it did,” he said. “Some organizations might be left out in the cold whenever Tech does decide to tear those facilities down and build whatever it is they want there.”
About Reece Nations: Undergraduate Managing Editor
