Birmingham will get a domed stadium in the next few years whether the public wants one or not. That was the message shared by Gene Hallman, CEO of the Bruno Event Team and Executive Director of the Alabama Sports Foundation at a Birmingham CREW luncheon on Tuesday.

"We don't need public support," Hallman said. "I don't mean to be arrogant, but we aren't running a campaign like we did in 1998 where we need a vote-- we are looking to fund the stadium using existing funds from the city, county or state. The best thing we can do is just get it done and then tell people why it's a good thing we're doing it."

Birmingham needs to stop seeing "dome" as a four-letter word, Hallman said.

"What could Birmingham do to take our efforts to the next level in terms of hosting events? It's a four letter word that we've been talking about it since 1995. It's the dome."

Many residents think of a stadium as being fit only for sporting events, but they're forgetting about the revenue that would be gained from conventions and trade shows, he said.

"Right now we are turning down a number of conventions and trade shows because we have nowhere for them to go," Hallman said. "It's shocking the number of associations that exist out there that need a place for their convention or trade show. They need to be able to make Birmingham their destination."

The BJCC does currently have to turn away potential business due to commitments to other meetings and events, confirmed Tad Snider, Executive Director and CEO of the BJCC in an e-mail message to AL.com.

"That is the case for many convention and meeting facilities," Snider said.

Conventions and trade shows would generate incremental sales tax revenue for the city, Hallman said.

"It's an investment that we will get a return on."

Hallman said that if Birmingham were to get a domed stadium, it would be located right beside the BJCC, where the parking lot is now across from the Uptown district. He said that the BJCC already owns several acres of land in that area and that location would be ideal.

Snider wouldn't confirm interest in that exact location, but said that the BJCC Board of Directors has spent the last several years evaluating and studying the concept of a Multi-Purpose Facility as a potential expansion opportunity.

"Consistent with the master plan of the Authority, property has been strategically acquired in the past with that objective in mind," he said.

As for funding, Hallman said the city only needs to come up with approximately 60% of the cost for the stadium-- the other 40% is covered since the BJCC already owns the land. Also, a portion of every concession sold at the BJCC goes into an account that will be used to fund the domed stadium.

"Every time you go to BJCC and you buy a soft drink, you don't pay tax. You pay a fee in lieu of tax for the purpose of funding a dome."

The commitment of Birmingham Mayor William Bell to build the dome is also a driving force in bringing the project to fruition, he said.

"William Bell is committed to finding that money and making a domed stadium a reality. He believes that this stadium is his legacy."

Birmingham has already established itself as a city that knows how to play host to sporting events, Hallman said, but there's still a long way to go.

"If you look around the Southeast, many our sister cities have opted to be a host to a national sports franchise," he said, referencing Charlotte, Nashville, Atlanta and New Orleans. "Birmingham, for whatever reason, was close every year but never got a professional sports franchise."

If Birmingham did seek out a professional franchise, the city would be wise to go after an NFL team, he said, because the NFL splits its profits evenly among teams across the nation, no matter the size of the city.

"The NFL shares its revenue equally among all 31 teams. That means if you sell a Dallas Cowboy's t-shirt, every team gets 1/31 of those profits. Because of this, the teams in smaller cities have the ability to buy the players they need to go compete. Since we would be a smaller market, our greatest chance to compete with a professional sports team would be with the NFL," he said.

When and if Birmingham builds its dome, Hallman said he would advise building something that will "stand the test of time." He referenced the Memphis pyramid and the Georgia Dome as structures that turned obsolete too quickly.

"A lot of mistakes some cities have made is not thinking long-term. If you only use a facility like this for 15 years, the payoff just isn't there," he said.

As for details on the stadium, Hallman said it's just too early to talk about specifics like seating capacity, but that floorspace-- not number of seats-- is what's most important as the project moves forward.

"In my mind, we can debate all day about the number of seats. What we really need is the football field floor space," he said. "The foundation of the facility is the real expense. When you look at total budget, there's not that much difference in the cost of a facility with 40,000-50,000 seats and one with 50,000 to 60,000 seats."

No matter what the dome looks like, Birmingham will always have something that sets it apart from other cities, Hallman said.

"We are good at southern hospitality. Our guests are treated differently when they come here," he said. "There are 20 million people who live within a three-and-a-half hour drive of Birmingham, and they're all going to find that warm welcome."