August 09, 2009
Cowboys Stadium brings flood of ... something
A month away from opening day of football, the Dallas Morning News is already ready to declare the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington a smashing success for the economy:
The Dallas Cowboys have yet to play a down in Arlington, but the impact of the team's new stadium is already being felt in the local economy.
At least 80 percent of Arlington's hotel rooms were filled for the Cowboys Stadium debut concert with George Strait in June, and the municipal airport was packed with private planes. Tourism officials said the 4,000-room nights booked for that weekend were comparable to Arlington's largest conventions.
"It would have been hard to find a hotel room the night of the George Strait concert," said Jay Burress, president and CEO of the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Items not covered in the article:
- How many hotel rooms are filled on a typical weekend in June.
- How it could be "hard to find a hotel room" when there was a 20% vacancy rate.
- What the economic activity (and hotel vacancies) were like in nearby Irving, where the Cowboys played until this year, and where any local stadium concerts would have gone had it not been for the new stadium.
The Morning News did mention that the manager of a nearby shopping center reported that "people were so fearful of traffic jams that north Arlington became a ghost town during the Strait concert" — though traffic jams didn't materialize, so she hoped shopping would pick up during future events.
And it would seem no mention of "See taxpayers...it was the right thing to do in subsidizing billionaire Jerry Jones's desire for a new stadium! Aren't you going to sleep well tonight?! Your dividend checks are in the mail!"
Posted by Daniel M on August 10, 2009 09:36 AM
As the writer of the story you mentioned, I would disagree somewhat with your summary. The story mentions that the stadium has had a significant tourism impact so far, but it also says that these numbers are preliminary.
I'm not declaring anything.
Also, this story mentions just one piece of the economic puzzle. I wrote another story not long ago about the lack of economic development around the stadium, and the fact that not much is likely to be built before the 2011 Super Bowl.
On items not covered, I didn't have the typical June weekend occupancy level.
I probably should have included more clarification of Burress's quote. He was talking about the difficult of finding a room anywhere near the stadium.
We probably will write a story at some point looking at the economic impact of the Cowboys' departure on Irving. It makes more sense to write that later after the season has started.
Being from Arlington, I don't care what the negative economic impact for Irving is. They didn't vote for the stadium. We did. There loss is our gain.
Posted by Joshua Grimmett on August 11, 2009 08:44 AM