Did I actually write a couple of days ago that this was looking like a slow news week? The stadium news gods clearly heard me, and when they make it rain news, they make it pour:
- The owners of Sacramento Republic F.C. haven’t just released new stadium renderings, they also have a new term sheet outlining $33 million in city tax breaks and fee waivers they would get to help pay for the thing. This would still be better than a lot of city’s soccer stadium deals, but not nearly as good as the “all privately financed” pledge the city got from them back in 2015.
- According to some guy’s tweet, the Chicago Fire owners are considering buying out the rest of their lease in Bridgeview and moving back to Soldier Field on the Chicago lakefront. Bridgeview has been a disaster for all concerned, most of all Bridgeview, but a buyout could cost as much as $125 million, which seems a steep price to pay; also, the above linked article notes that lame duck Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel is involved in the move plans, which raises the possibility of public money being involved, so let’s all keep a close eye on this.
- Elmont Against the Megamall, the new group formed last summer a New York Islanders arena at Belmont Park, is funded by a Virginia organization called Citizens for Responsible Community Growth, which was only created last August, and in turn is giving most of its money to the Crux Group, a California-based marketing firm that helped build support for the San Francisco 49ers‘ new stadium in Santa Clara. This is definitely a little weird and bears watching, even if the Newsday article about it is opaque beyond belief. (Most of what’s in the above sentence I just researched myself online in two minutes, because Newsday couldn’t be bothered.)
- Anthony LeBlanc, the former Arizona Coyotes owner who wants a CFL stadium built for him in Halifax (or maybe a stadium for a horrific hybrid of football and soccer, based on the renderings), says instead of asking for a bunch of money to help build a pro soccer stadium, how about he asks for a bunch of money for a smaller “community sports” stadium and then uses his own cash to expand it for the CFL? That sounds much better, right? Right?
- The Alliance of American Football folded in the middle of its first season, and the National Gridiron League (arena football) folded before it even began. I don’t think any cities had begun building or renovating venues specifically for these leagues, but it is a useful reminder not to get too excited about minor sports leagues coming to your town, if you needed any more reminding.
- Speaking of which, the Ohio Machine lacrosse franchise folded this week, just two years after the 4,500-person village of Obetz spent $15 million to build them their own stadium.
- Pawtucket is looking to lure a baseball, soccer, or lacrosse team to McCoy Stadium to replace the Triple-A Red Sox when they move to Worcester (in 2021, because the planned ballpark site is currently still a vacant lot), which is a fine enough idea so long as they don’t pay through the nose for it. Also, apparently the Worcester team still controls territorial rights to the city it’s abandoning and can block a replacement affliated minor-league team, which seems like good grounds for an antitrust lawsuit — MLB’s antitrust exemption doesn’t extend to the minors, does it?
- A New York state legislator found $2.3 million in subsidies for “services and expenses related to the retention of professional football in Western New York” hidden in the new state budget, but it turns out that’s actually still the same money the state is spending from the last set of subsidies to keep the Buffalo Bills in town, so don’t worry about it, I guess?
- Tottenham Hotspur hasn’t even played a game yet in its new stadium, and there have already been a couple of articles worrying that it will gentrify the surrounding neighborhood out of existence. Fortunately, there’s little evidence that stadiums have all that much impact on development surrounding them — the Tottenham stadium’s “restaurant run by a Michelin-starred chef” may encourage more fans to eat at the game, but it won’t make anyone open a restaurant across the street — though they can get dollar signs to light up in the eyes of local property owners, which we’re already seeing happen in Cincinnati.
- People living near the former site of the Atlanta Braves‘ Turner Field, now set for redevelopment, are also both looking forward to and afraid of how it will impact their neighborhood, because that’s just how redevelopment works in a world where people with more money can move in and push you out as soon as you have nice things. I wrote a whole book about it!
- The Oklahoma City Thunder owners want to build an “entertainment and dining complex” near their basketball arena; it would be anchored by an “iconic basketball with a mirror finish,” and you better believe there are renderings.
- Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini has declared that “every Italian city” needs a new stadium because he’s “tired of committing thousands and thousands of women and men every Sunday in uniform to check what happens outside stadiums and inside them with old systems, without cameras, without exits or emergency access points.” I would have gone with “buy some security cameras,” but that’s just me.
I don’t see why they are saying there is scant commercial development around Seat Geek stadium. There is a Circle K that opened there thanks to the stadium as well as a parking area for suburban Pace buses. They are now putting the finish touches on what appears to be a hotel and a group of stores that look vacant.
Help us out here, which one is Seat Geek? Usually just city/league is good way to identify these things.
That article does a good job of pointing out problems with the Bridgeview, but it doesn’t really prove that moving back downtown is the solution. Soldier Field was great for fans, (location and public transit) but had problems for the team. Little if any money from concessions, naming rights or parking.
And scheduling conflicts with early season Bears games.
Not sure if 20,000 fans at Soldier Field generate more revenue than 10,000 fans in Bridgview. ($20 to park with no realistic alternative lots or transport is a great revenue start for the team)
Probably banking on 30 to 40 thousand fans as a target. The Soccer Specific Stadium thing was always just a white elephant waiting to happen. The idea came of desperation for league survival in the ’00s, when the league was trying to ‘break even’ drawing 15,000 to 20,000 fans on a $3 million hard cap, but was always shortsighted.
Soccer-specific stadiums are more about having a stadium where the MLS team controls the revenues than anything else.
10,000 at Bridgeview?
I’ve watched a couple of Fire home games (televised) and I would bet there were no more than 4,000 fans in the stadium at any point during either game. The off side (from camera) and behind goal stands combined had a total that would have been in the hundreds, not thousands. The main stand obviously had more people in, but still…
I’ve no idea if this is the case throughout the season (I know attendance is awful in Sept/Oct as well, but maybe it picks up some in summer?), but this is not a sustainable model.
I guess the question is, can the ownership afford the buyout fee in order to get back to the lakefront? Would there be enough revenue at Soldier field to make it worthwhile buying out this lease if they could do so?
“I don’t think any cities had begun building or renovating venues specifically for these leagues”
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No, but reportedly the University of Central Florida let the AAF do a “bill me later” and are now out $1 million. Startup league and they got NOTHING upfront for the stadium rental?! The business ineptitude on all sides of the AAF is just staggering.
Agreed. I’ve no idea what the principals behind the league were thinking… the first item on any prospective “new league” owner/founder’s list has got to be “Do we have enough capital/guaranteed revenue to make it through five seasons even if nobody buys tickets?”
If the answer to that question is no, then you are wasting whatever capital you do have.
I have respect for Polian, so I’m more than a little surprised that he was involved in this. The team names and uniforms looked like they were selected by a grade 3 class. There was not enough money to get through even one season let alone five… and some of the things they did spend money on were not items a ‘new’ league actually needed to have (instant replay etc)
Makes me wonder if the prime motivation for starting this league was that “if we don’t do it now Vince McMahon is going to next year so…”
Very very sad. For the players, the creditors and the tv partners too.
“because that’s just how redevelopment works in a world where people with more money can move in and push you out as soon as you have nice things”
It is just a market. People in high demand areas need to leave for lower demand areas if they cannot afford where they live. There is nothing crazy about that. No one has some particular right to live on some particular piece of land. Particularly if they cannot actually afford it. I never understand why people thing others should be free to choose to live wherever they like.
It is like society owes people a castle if they like! Or a Lamborghini!
“No one has some particular right to live on some particular piece of land.”
Or to put it more accurately: “Whoever has more money to spend gets the right to live on a particular piece of land.”
Juvenal: You might find the people who owned condos where Atlantic Yards now sits or the folks who owned property where the Atlanta Olympic stadium was built or the Angelinos who owned small holding farms in Chavez Ravine take issue with what you say.
In many cases those were owners, not tenants or squatters. They never actually got the new social housing they were promised in the latter two cases. And I’m not sure if the Brooklynites were able to replace what they lost with the money they were paid either.
We aren’t talking about entitlement or free stuff here. We are talking about rich people being able to take the homes of others just because they own politicians and officials.
If they had just bid so much for these lands that the (poor) owners couldn’t say no, that’s business. When the city and state governments are used to evict the homeowners for less than FMV, it’s something entirely different.
And in those cases, “those people” apparently do have some sort of divine right to live on the land that someone else presently owns without paying FMV for it.
Well no one is going to come out for political graft or broken promises. Obviously people making deals should honor them, and politicians shouldn’t be acting against the wishes of their constituents in service of bribes or other benefits.
But yes Neil allocating things like housing according to ability to pay is absolutely the most efficient way we have of doing it. And no more money does not create “a right”. Generally people don’t have to sell if they don’t want to. Happens 10,000 times a day around the country. You are free to turn down more money for your land if you would rather have the land than the money in the vast majority of cases.
Most of the people who complain about gentrification aren’t owners anyway. They are people who are just mad they can’t have whatever increases services the area is experiencing when those devices drive rents up.
Life is tough.
Does the demise of the Ohio Machine mean that the pro lacrosse stadium proposed for somewhere else at some ridiculous cost is more or less likely to ever happen?
Logic would suggest not.
But then, it’s just a matter of time until someone “proves” that the reason the Machine folded is because a $15m stadium is just not enough so taxpayers have to spend at least $200m on lacrosse stadia or they are, you know, just wasting their money…
Different day, same nonsense.
A sale, once thought to be close earlier in the season, as I had been told and reported, is not imminent and there doesn’t seem to be much significant traction.
One positive: there are two legitimate groups interested in purchasing the Coyotes, with a third rumoured to be in the mix. The debt inquired by current owner Andrew Barroway, however, is one major obstacle. The other: A new building. But a new building won’t happen until a new owner/ownership group is on board.
https://www.thefourthperiod.com/pagnotta/busy-off-season-ahead-for-many-teams
Now, there is steam! (or is it really just another desert mirage?)
https://www.thefourthperiod.com/apr-2019/coyotes-expected-sale-gaining-steam