No more Scottrade Center

[Da Coach]

The Scottrade Center will no longer exist.
After 12 years as The Scottrade Center, the name will be changed to The Enterprise Center.-

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/blues-scottrade-center-getting-new-name-enterprise-center/article_8a06d8c0-1b07-5b0b-8f30-5530bbb78bcf.html

Enterprise Holdings purchased the naming rights for the next 15 years. They operate Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Alamo Rent a Car and National Car Rental and are headquartered in suburban Clayton, MO.
Scottrade Financial Services actually doesn't exist any more. They were purchased by TD Ameritrade last year.
The Scottrade name started coming down today.



What it will look like the next time Bradley plays there-

[tornado]

I like the arena, but for the life of me I cannot figure out why nothing of any significance exists or seems able to survive anywhere within a mile of the arena...

- Joe Bucks was pretty close but they died and do not exist...
- Union Station used to have a lot of decent restaurants & places & was a fun place to hang out - Bradley even used to have their pre-game parties at one of the restaurants there - but only a couple places are still there now...
- beyond that you have to walk all the way down to Busch Stadium to find spots to eat or meet before the games.
- there's nothing at all even similar to Wrigleyville, which is too bad - maybe St. Louis folks just don't care to hang out near the arena..

[molar50]

St Louis is very different than Chicago. Most people who work downtown leave to the burbs after work. The city leaders have tried for years to get people to live in the city with limited success. There are some interesting areas of the city to live, Soulard, Central West End, Lafayette, etc, but downtown has not developed for residential. I believe some of this is due to history of segregation, but there have also been economic and geographical interests competing for self interest instead of for the benefit of the city.

[tornado]

I have seen it get worse in the past 20 years....
but at least a few years ago the Union Station area was 10 times better - now it's nearly abandoned....and getting worse.

Also used to be that when we stayed in the team hotel, we could walk a very short, safe distance to the Riverfront...
the area was and still is called Laclede's Landing and there were gobs of really nice, unique, fun restaurants and other places that the fans really enjoyed and looked forward every year to returning to!
It is just north of the Arch...

then a couple years ago - the establishments all just disappeared!!!
A couple years ago we walked down there to find a place to eat and there wasn't a single place in sight that was still open...
You can go south towards Busch Stadium and there are a few nice restaurants and other establishments - and if you look long & hard enough there are a few hidden gems but they are not well known or easy to find....but all the roads are always under construction, closed or detoured and this past March it was a danged nightmare just getting to & from the Hotel!

This past MARCH, we were there, willing to spend our $$ and looking for some nice place to do so, and we still basically struck out, and went back to the team hotel and just had a burger there at the corner cafe attached to the Embassy.

I have to admit, there's likewise no place close to the United Center or White Sox park...but anywhere on the north side, it's 100% different. Lots of nice places near Wrigley - and when we went to Loyola last January - we had a blast and I am looking forward to doing it again next year.



addendum--
that brings me to another topic...
for all the years the MVC Tournament has been held in St. Louis - about 30 years
it's only been the last couple years that the fans were offered a "Pre-Game Party" that consisted of just standing at the Hotel & cheering our team as they got on the bus, then if they wanted they could go to Ballpark Village which is really an open meeting area for ALL MVC teams...

Prior to the past 2-3 years, the pregame parties were events that were arranged and UNIQUE just for Bradley's fans...
I recall numerous different places they were held - at Joe Bucks, at the Bradley team hotels, and they were at a couple different restaurants in Union Station...etc..
but they were exclusive for the Bradley people to meet & greet each other, have a blast, watch video highlights, the cheerleaders/band/some staff/players' parents were there and of course - wherever they were - was GOOD FOOD & drink.

I politely request that whoever is in charge at Bradley - go back to the old format of having the Pre-Game Party somewhere in a restaurant within walking distance and not in the big mess of MVC fans at Ballpark Village. Just a thought....does anyone else remember some of the raucous, loud great pregame parties of old??

[ACBL]

The Scottrade Center will no longer exist
the name will be changed to The Enterprise Center.

Although forever known at ISU as "Gateway to the NIT"

[Da Coach]

Prior to the past 2-3 years, the pregame parties were events that were arranged and UNIQUE just for Bradley's fans...
I recall numerous different places they were held - at Joe Bucks, at the Bradley team hotels, and they were at a couple different restaurants in Union Station...etc..

You have to almost be an old-timer to remember those days. For many years through the 1990's and into the early 2000's (the MVC Tournament started in St. Louis in 1991) Ron Ferguson & Ken Kavanagh always arranged pregame parties before every game in the tournament, usually at the hotels that the team stayed at (yes, there were also a couple that were at restaurants in Union Station). The hotels, for those old enough to remember, included the old downtown Marriott Pavilion Hotel at the corner of Broadway & Market (it is now the Hilton). After that, Bradley was assigned to other hotels like the old Millennium Hotel (now closed), the old Embassy Suites (down by the casino- now the HoteLumiere at the Arch), the Hyatt Regency, the Renaissance Grand Hotel for many years, and now for the last few years at the new Embassy Suites on Washington Ave.
Those pregame parties were a lot fun and very well attended. The players and team would usually stop by at the parties before heading to the arena. But even the Bradley pregame parties at Joe Bucks (and previously at the Sheraton at Clark & 14th) were enjoyable and Joe Bucks served pretty good food.
I hope eventually the St. Louis downtown comes back to life like most bigger cities have experienced. But so far, there is no evidence that it is.

[KillerB]

A short answer for some of this is in fact BallPark Village. It has killed off a number of downtown restaurants and bars. Laclede's Landing was also hurt badly by the Arch grounds construction. Washington Avenue still has some interesting places.

[Da Coach]

A short answer for some of this is in fact BallPark Village. It has killed off a number of downtown restaurants and bars. Laclede's Landing was also hurt badly by the Arch grounds construction. Washington Avenue still has some interesting places.

Yes, you are right. The last 2 or 3 years there have been a number of new restaurants open along Washington Ave. Maybe that is a sign of some gentrification happening. There are also a couple old buildings being renovated into condos and lofts in that area. So maybe there is hope for further improvement in the ST. Louis downtown.

[tornado]

...Ron Ferguson & Ken Kavanagh always arranged pregame parties before every game in the tournament....

just to beat a dead horse again, I am reminded over and over how great of a job Ken Kavanagh did as AD, and yet oddly the President hired in 2007 seemed jealous of the accolades he was getting so she ran him out of town - then the PJS did a smear piece on him with anonymous quotes from a disgruntled employee that had been fired years earlier!

..and also UNDERAPPRECIATED was the recruiting ability of Jim Les - who landed or developed no less than 30 players who went on to professional careers and more than a dozen who had some All-MVC mention (pre- or post-season).


BTW- trivia time...
In 2013, 2016, and 2017 FGCU won the A-Sun Men's Basketball Tournament Trophy...
WHO IS THEIR CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP trophy named after?
.
.
.
Answer.............it is named after a former Bradley basketball coach & is called the Bob Vanatta Trophy - the original Commissioner of the A-Sun Conference

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/91396ef81b3454b9b1725c39dff956d23e031ea4/c=245-0-4073-2878&r=x408&c=540x405/local/-/media/2017/03/05/Naples/Naples/636243355261368869-NDN-0305-FGCU-MBB-Final-004.JPG

[Chico]

May be beating a dead horse, but it was a time that ruined Bradley basketball as we knew it.