Field of Schemes: Spanning the globe

December 07, 2004

Spanning the globe

Slow news days of late, unless you count baseball players shooting up with fertility drugs or getting caught pulling a Hugh Grant. A few items that piled up in the interim:

Remember that new stadium cost estimate that D.C. council chair Linda Cropp called for last week? D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi now says it could take five months to complete. Since a measure approved by the council last week requires the city to find a cheaper stadium site if the total bill is more than $630 million, this means land acquisition couldn't even begin before then - which could make for a tight timeline to finish the stadium by the April 2008 date demanded by MLB. And as everyone should know by now, tight deadlines lead to rush charges, which are a prime cause of cost overruns.
The D.C. stadium bill still needs to clear a second council vote next Tuesday, of course, and at least one dissident councilmember is hopeful that that won't happen. "I think at least two of those abstentions [out of three in the original 6-4-3 vote] are no votes, and that's a split, and the deal fails, and then we negotiate a real deal while Major League Baseball plays at RFK for at least three years," Adrian Fenty told a local TV station. That would require Linda Cropp, the third abstainee, to abstain again next week, which seems unlikely given that she's promised her support for the deal; though Bud Selig's refusal to negotiate the terms of the deal could yet cause her to change her mind. Again.
The Newark Star-Ledger, of all places, has run a long profile of the impact of new sports facilities in Cleveland, recent winner of the Census Bureau's designation as poorest city in America. Writes reporter George Jordan:
Today, the main streets in and around the Gateway are marked by empty office towers, vacant department stores and storefronts with "For Lease" signs. After spending $700 million to build the nation's most extensive sports infrastructure, this city finds itself in a familiar place: trying to fix a downtown abandoned by businesses and the middle class, with neighborhoods gripped by despair.
The latest idea by Cleveland's civic leaders to spark a "renaissance": Casino gambling. For more on what the morning-after looks like for stadium deals, Jordan's piece is well worth reading, if you like tragedies.

There are rumors that a Brooklyn Nets arena Memorandum of Understanding could be on its way, perhaps as soon as this week. Until then, I'll be enjoying the respite.

COMMENTS

Keep up the good work. Any time politicians say that either casino gambling or a sports arena can save a decrepit town, the residents should vote them out! If these municipalities can raise monies for stadiums, they'd be better off raising the money for libraries, meaningful before- and after-school programs, job training, and the important things that help a society. I like sports, but only in their proper perspective. Keep fighting the good fight!
Posted by: SportsProf at December 8, 2004 08:38 AM

I hope the Maloof apologists on the local sports show in Sacramento read this. They are spouting about how Cleveland has been a great success story.
Posted by: Michael Kim at December 8, 2004 04:18 PM