February 04, 2011
ORLANDO, Fla.,None — WFTV got a sneak preview of the items from the old Amway Arena that will soon be up for auction (see them). In just about a week, the Orlando Magic will auction off things like seats, lockers, autographed pictures, and even the giant scoreboard.
It’s time to say goodbye to the old O-rena, the home of Orlando’s first pro sports team, and everything must go, from lockers to sports memorabilia on the walls. You can actually buy everything out of Stan Van Gundy’s office; every chair, desk, table, lamp, all of it will go to one person. The biggest thing to go is the giant JumboTron and scoreboard, but everything is going, all the way down to the smallest chair. “You’ve got arena seats for sale. You’ve got lockers from the players. You’ve got chairs, players’ and coaches’ chairs that are here,” said Bruce Costello, Heritage Global Partners VP.
A California company is handling the big sell-off, and the money will go to help pay the tab for the new arena. Even food service equipment, bar stools and big screens, will go to the highest bidders. The auctioneers expect a huge crowd both inside the arena and online (auction website). “It’s a live webcast, so you can bid here in the arena or you can go online and bid with the live auction call and bid through your computer,” Costello said. When all the stuff is gone, there will be another auction for anyone who might be, say, building their own arena. “Our second auction for Amway and the arena here will be more of an industrial type of sale, where we’re selling the compressors and the generators and the overhead lights and the catwalk,” Costello said. So, it won’t be long before the fan memories will be scattered to bidders. Even the giant banners from the downtown high-rises have to go.
The auction is Saturday, February 12 and organizers expect a packed house.