When The Hockey Arena Gets Old

Sitting atop a massive heap of rubble in downtown Allentown, King Edwin wants construction on the NIZ arena to begin NOW! Full speed ahead. Drop those pesky challenges. Who cares about the Constitutution anyway?

OK, so what happens ten or twenty years from now, when the Phantoms decide to move somewhere else? What happens to the arena?

This is a question municipal officials are asking about once heralded Astrodome, which is now falling apart. It's a question that should be asked before any sports venue, with the possible exception of a baseball stadium, is built.

According to Governing, they become white elephants, a drain n the local economy. Here are a few examples.

Houston's Astrodome once housed the Oilers National Football League team and the Astros Major League Baseball team. Today, the Astrodome doesn't have an occupancy permit and has been condemned by the city's fire marshall.

The Citrus Bowl in Orlando underwent a $10 million renovation in 2010, and eventually, another $165 million will be put into the city-owned stadium primarily known for hosting three college football games each year.

In 2010, officials in Lee County, Fla, voted to fund a new, $81 million spring training home for the Red Sox, even though the existing stadium, City of Palms Park, isn't even 20 years old. Local leaders don't know what to do with it, but they're considering turning it into a venue for swimming contests.

San Antonio's $186 million Alamodome opened in 1993 in a failed attempt at landing an NFL franchise. For years, its only regularly-scheduled, large-scale event was a college football bowl game. This year, it got new life, serving as home of University of Texas-San Antonio's new football team.

Demolition of the old Tiger Stadium in Detroit didn't begin until 2008 -- eight years after the baseball team moved to a new ballpark -- once it became clear that redevelopment wasn't going to happen.

In a controversial move, the state-appointed emergency manager of Pontiac, Mich. sold the 80,000-seat Silverdome, once home to the NFL’s Detroit Lions, for just $583,000 in 2009. He said the facility “had been sapping the lifeblood of the city for many years."

Homestead, Fla. built a spring training stadium for the Cleveland Indians, but a hurricane damaged it in 1992 before the first game. It was quickly rebuilt, but by then the team had a new home. After languishing for years, the stadium may have new life, after a sports media company agreed to spend $1.7 million on renovations.

Professional football left RFK Stadium after the 1996 season, and baseball left after 2007. Today, the stadium's main draw is the D.C. United soccer team -- and they're angling for a new facility.