And so we have reached the end of another programming week, one mercifully without Jerry Reinsdorf’s stadium subsidy demands going up yet again. That’s just about the only thing that didn’t happen this week, though, so let’s hit the news recap:
- NYC F.C.‘s $780 million soccer stadium plan cleared another hurdle this week, getting the okay of the City Planning Commission, the last stop before a final city council vote. It also got some fresh renderings depicting how fans would enter the stadium through a giant cube-shaped entryway (dubbed The Cube, this team has a way with words) that would be covered in a giant video board that display the names of all five New York boroughs, in case you forget where you live. (The stadium is depicted bearing the name Naming Rights Sponsor Stadium, while the entryway in one image says “New York City FC” while in another it’s “Cube Entrance Sponsor,” pick a lane, guys.) Still up in the air: how the affordable housing component would work, where fans will park if Mets owner Steve Cohen refuses to let the soccer team use his parking lots across the street unless he gets a state casino license, and, oh yeah, how the whole thing would be paid for, someone should really look into that.
- The Oakland A’s “spherical armadillo” stadium in Las Vegas would have “the highest number of suites, clubs and other high-end seating products” relative to size of any MLB stadium, according to Venues Now, which spoke to A’s president Dave Kaval on the subject. In addition to hardly any affordable tickets, Kaval promised that the air-conditioning would blow out from under people’s seats, something that’s used at the Sacramento Kings arena and in some Middle East soccer stadiums, and which the site reported Kaval said he’s “working with Henderson Engineers to find a way to make it work in MLB.” Also a work in progress: The A’s are playing an exhibition game in Las Vegas tonight, and plenty of good seats are still available.
- The Virginia legislature has officially passed a budget without money for an Alexandria arena for the Washington Wizards and Capitals, though Gov. Glenn Youngkin could still try for an amendment or a special session. State senate finance chair Louise Lucas, who has the power to kill budget bills by denying them hearings in her committee, doesn’t seem real amenable to that, though. One Alexandria restaurant owner tells D.C. News Now that he’s upset not because he wants arena traffic for his businesses, but because spending over $1 billion in public money on an arena would “alleviate some of the tax burden from the residents,” somebody’s been reading too many clown documents!
- Two members of the Jackson County legislature will be holding a public hearing this Monday at 3 pm on the Kansas City Royals‘ $2 billion stadium plan and $1 billion public subsidy plan. While attendance at these things is never representative of the public as a whole — it’s almost guaranteed there will be a throng of construction workers bussed in to cheer the project on, for example — it will at least give us some hint of the public mood as we approach the April 2 deadline for voting on the 0.375% sales-tax surcharge extension that would fund the first chunk of the project. (The Kansas City Star editorial board is a no, at least until Royals owner John Sherman explains more about how the money, lease, and provisions for relocating businesses would work.)
- The Chicago Bears owners are reportedly “close to” announcing a lakefront stadium in Chicago and are also still haggling with suburban cities over property tax breaks for a stadium there, never take seriously rumors that are spread by team execs themselves, just don’t.
- Maricopa County and the city of Phoenix are considering a “partnership” to address the Arizona Diamondbacks owners’ stadium demands, which would … do something? Also this was just a letter that the county sent to the city council last August, and the council never replied, guess the Arizona Republic was having a real slow news day.
- Would a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium increase the team’s attendance? Yes at first, then no after the honeymoon wears off in a few years. This report is not remotely new news, but it comes with lots of stats and charts! Guess the Tampa Bay Times opinion section was having a slow news day.
- Sure, New York taxpayers are spending over $1 billion on a new Buffalo Bills stadium, but who can put a price on 16-foot-tall bison statues? ESPN reports that “there was some disappointment on social media among fans” that the statues aren’t bigger, since the “World’s Largest Buffalo Monument” in North Dakota is 26 feet tall, that does it, time to tear down the new stadium and build one with state-of-the-art bison.
- New Mexico United‘s new stadium “costs the city nothing,” according to team president Ron Patel; KOAT-TV checked, and it’s actually nearly $29 million in public money, about half the total cost. Never take seriously cost estimates that are put forward by team execs, just don’t.
- The Hawaii legislature is set to consider a bill to scrap a $350 million plan to rebuild Aloha Stadium so that the money can be used for wildfire recovery and housing instead. Rep. Gene Ward said he opposes the bill because “it’s not going to get anybody to come to the football games, regardless of how bad you are as a football player,” no, I don’t know what he meant by that either.
- Finally, back on the A’s front, I was on this week’s Rickeyblog podcast, where we talked about all aspects of the team’s stadium situation, not least why fans in the Vegas stadium renderings are waving the flag of Gaddafi’s Libya and what that could mean for tourism. Give it a listen, you’ve got all weekend!
We’ve been hearing for years that a main reason for the Rays’ low attendance despite interesting and good teams is the location, the stadium is too hard to get to for most people in the area.
And now they’re going to build the new stadium right where the old one was.
Ex-Tampanian here. Yes, they have always been on the wrong side of the Bay, and Hillsborough County folks are simply not that interested in crossing to Pinellas, even when the team wins.
A stadium on the other side would help. A new stadium on the current side will likely help a bit, but nothing addresses the real problem which is that people don’t care enough to deal with it. (Tampa proper is a baseball hotbed, but for playing, not watching. And the Rays have done themselves no favors by completely ignoring how supply and demand work with absolutely stupid ticket prices.)
In the latest Coyotes pile of dirt news.
Arizona Coyotes eying land worth $68.5M for new arena. Why does it cost so much?
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2024/03/08/state-says-land-arizona-coyotes-eying-for-new-arena-is-worth-68-5m/72887801007/
The azcentral.com article links to a video of Xavier Gutierrez from last fall, so how up to date this material is questionable. The first question is will the Arizona State Trust Land Department place their most valuable piece of land in all of Arizona up for auction at this time, or wait until more development has occurred on already private land along the 101 corridor and land becomes far more valuable. The next question is can the Coyotes win the auction against developers who are on much better speaking terms with the City of Phoenix.
That brings up the next problem, the owner of the Footprint Center has currently zoned the parcel mentioned in the azcentral.com article as single family residential. It is highly doubtful if Phoenix will approve a competing arena, not only against the Footprint Center, but also against Downtown Phoenix and City North/Desert Ridge, where Phoenix already has a huge investment. Hundreds of millions in public investments will be needed, upgrades to Scottsdale Road, the interchange between Scottsdale Road and Loop 101, the completion of the 64th Street interchange and a variety of other roads. Then add utilities, public safety and will Phoenix be willing to foot the bill, or demand the Coyotes pay the bill? Then other businesses and residents near the already congested Scottsdale/ 101 interchange, and Scottsdale will probably complain and sue to stop the development of an arena and entertainment district. Add in X billion dollars needed, and this should easily be finished next week. As in March 2074.
So you’re saying there’s a chance?
Even if Muruelo is successful in acquiring the land, his goal is to keep it off the tax rolls for as long as possible, since he needs a TIF (or something similar) to pay for the arena and associated amenities. It’s hard to imagine Phoenix or Scottsdale seeing this as a good deal, but stranger things have happened. Politicians get all starry-eyed about sports arenas, for reasons not known to me.
How does he use a TIF if it’s off the tax rolls, since a TIF requires diverting tax revenues? Or are you just saying he would use the money saved on not paying taxes to pay off his arena debt?
It appears the only plan Leonsis and Youngkin had for getting state funding for their stadium was to cram it quickly through Virginia’s brief legislative session before anyone had time to learn how bad the details are. So while the stadium’s not dead yet, time is not on their side.
Meanwhile, Sen. Lucas is killing it on social media.
https://twitter.com/SenLouiseLucas/status/1765816635414180060
https://twitter.com/SenLouiseLucas/status/1765821177266671761
https://twitter.com/SenLouiseLucas/status/1765555820584894754
Memo to NYCFC ownership:
If it doesn’t look like an Armadillo, it ain’t worth buying a ticket.
Lead, follow, or just curl up into a ball and pretend you don’t even exist.
What will be finished first, the Coyotes arena in the East Valley, or the A’s Tropicana site stadium? Maybe the next total eclipse over most of the US in 2045 and the 2099 eclipse over the Great lakes and Northeast will both occur first.
I believe The Cube entrance of the NYFC “Stadium” will be the next stop for U2 after they finish The Sphere part of their tour in Las Vegas.
So…. it’s been several days and nobody has made the joke about the A’s organization blowing from the ground up???
It’s a little unfair to the players and those on the bottom end of the franchise’s admin and ops payroll as they can only do so much.
But nothing could better describe the abomination of a business (an entertainment one at that!) that Fisher and Kaval are sailing straight to the bottom of the professional sports ocean.
Seems like the Coyotes players are learning from their owner, too, on not paying bills.
Arizona Coyotes’ Dylan Guenther has water turned off after he doesn’t pay utility bill
https://arizonasports.com/story/3544188/arizona-coyotes-dylan-guenther-has-water-turned-off-after-he-doesnt-pay-utility-bill/