How much additional stadium news was there this week? So much so that I skipped posting anything yesterday, just so I could start on the bullet points for this roundup. That’s just how much I care about you, the readers of this site. (Also I couldn’t bear to write entire posts for any of these, they were all either too silly or too depressing or both.)
On with the news:
- There were rumors that Oakland A’s management was going to force fans to also buy Sacramento River Cats season tickets if they wanted A’s season tickets in Sacramento next year, but it turns out that’s not true. What is true: A’s fans wanting season tickets will have to commit to buying them for the “duration” of the team’s stay in Sacramento, and tickets will run between $185 and $250 per seat per game. (UPDATE: The Sacramento Bee reports that that’s only for “premium” season tickets; it’s unclear if there will be non-premium season plans, or if so what they will cost.) At least A’s players won’t have to suddenly acclimate themselves to playing in front of crowds bigger than the intimate affairs they’ve grown used to since owner John Fisher alienated all his fans in the Bay Area.
- Washington, D.C. is exploring building a new Commanders stadium by agreed to pay $565,000 for a feasibility study to ASM Global, which Fox5DC describes as “a company with extensive experience managing NFL stadiums,” but which is more accurately described as a subsidiary of Legends Entertainment, which is co-owned by the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys. Surely they will deliver an unbiased and comprehensively researched cost-benefit analysis of building an NFL stadium in D.C., why would you ever think otherwise?
- Not only is the city of St. Petersburg forcing its top employees to pay back $250,000 in bonus checks it sent out for overtime work on the new Tampa Bay Rays stadium project, now city administrator Rob Gerdes has suspended city HR director Christopher Guella for a week as punishment, despite Mayor Ken Welch having defended the bonuses as “within budget and my administrative authority.” Gerdes says this is because the bonuses actually turned out to be illegal; Welch insists it’s just because he wanted to avoid a bad look, though if so he really should have checked first with Barbra Streisand about how well that works.
- Illinois labor leaders are pushing for the state to fund sports stadiums for the Chicago Bears and White Sox and Red Stars, because “unions want to build,” according to AFL-CIO president Tim Drea. And they don’t like building the things that won’t get built if the state saves a few billion dollars by not building stadiums? Somebody get them on the phone with the Nevada teachers union, they have a lot to talk about.
- Two Cleveland city councilmembers walked around the Browns stadium during an exhibition game and asked more than 3,000 fans if they’d rather the team stay at the lakefront or move to Brook Park, and most said they prefer the lakefront. Of course, since these were people at a game at the lakefront, you’d expect them to skew more toward wanting to see games there, since people who skip going to games because they’re at the lakefront wouldn’t be at a game at the lakefront. Anyway, what did the fans say about how much they want the city government to spend on a new or renovated Browns stadium? Oh, they didn’t ask about that? Opening day is two weeks from Sunday, plenty of time for the councilmembers to plan a new round of canvassing.
- The Dome at America’s Center, former home of the St. Louis Rams, needs $150 million in upgrades, according to the stadium authority that runs it and surely would never lie about something just to get a nicer space to rent out at public expense. The dome is currently rented out for “assemblies for large conventions, Metallica and Beyoncé concerts, and even some lower-level professional football games,” which surely will make it easy to earn back $150 million, so long as Metallica never stops touring.
- Saskatoon needs to come up with $400 million in public money toward a $1.22 billion development to include a new arena for the Saskatoon Blades, and it plans on raising the money via a long list of uhhhh, we’ll get back to you: maybe hotel taxes, maybe TIF property tax kickbacks, maybe money from the province, who knows? “What would the city look like without SaskTel Center or without TCU Place?” asked Saskatoon director of technical services Dan Willems. “Would we be able to attract newcomers and help major employers attract talent to our city without these types of amenities?” Shh, don’t tell him.
Saskatoon???
Is that the frozen wasteland 400 miles northwest of Minot, North Dakota? Is a $1,220,000,000 arena going to attract anyone to go SO far off the beaten track? Hint: take a look at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City sitting empty for 10 years before you dream of getting NHL hockey.
It’s a $632m arena that’s part of a $1.22B development, and I haven’t heard anyone say they expect an NHL team. But otherwise, yes.
Nearly happened:
https://www.stlouisgametime.com/2009/4/5/823172/the-saskatoon-blues-the-story
I remember that well. But even the amateurish 1980s NHL owners knew that ‘toon Town was too small. They vetoed the sale and took over the Blues themselves.
The Blades currently play in an arena that can seat around 14,000 and is really quite nice by WHL/OHL standards even though it is about 40 years old (it has undergone renovations fairly recently).
And here’s their attendance:
https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=7897
Yeah, doesn’t sound like they “need” a new building at all.
Well, Saskatchewan, regardless what happens in Saskatoon, you’ll always have Moose Jaw.
Anybody remember the Richfield Coliseum. They already had a team for it and it was a disaster.
Saskatoon A’s?
If Fisher still has the team for another 10 years, I think even Yellowknife will have the budget to bring them to town.
I wonder how the STL Dome’s balance sheet looks now without a football team. They don’t seem to book many events, but when the Rams were there, they blacked out about 5 months worth of dates, so they didn’t book many events then either. And the Rams only paid $500,000 a year in rent. $150 million in upgrades is about one tenth of what it would have cost to upgrade it for the Rams. It seems like a domed stadium without an NFL team is a far smaller sink hole than a dome with an NFL team.
Just like the “arena management contract” in Glendale. The Coyotes expected to be paid to play in Glendale, and Westgate is doing better than ever without them. Now Salt Lake City is going to add a .5% sales tax because a homeless hockey team came to town. Arizona is just under Utah, does news move that slowly or are Erin Mendenhall and Spencer Cox that slow?
Yeah, I remember visiting Westgate when it was new and thinking it was laid out so well. You had to go through the outdoor mall, restaurant area to get between the arena and the parking garages. But I guess 40 dates with a losing hockey team didn’t generate the foot traffic that other events could.
The number of conventions that require an NFL-sized meeting space are pretty much none, so it’s sitting about as empty as it would otherwise.
Actually there are events that require this sort of space, it is just that Vegas has a corner on the market and why would anyone go elsewhere when Vegas has all the infrastructure already built in (Hotels, convention center space, ….?
STL’s dome is literally a convention center and stadium. The building isn’t just sitting empty. Of course there’s a hole in the budget from the Rams departure, but it’s not your regular white elephant.
My understanding is that they already paid off the construction debt. So $150 million renovation to keep getting a few events a year isn’t horrible. If it brings events you wouldn’t otherwise get, thats a positive. Sure you may not be able to show an ROI on a spread sheet but its an amenity. Its no different than any other quality of life expenditure would be.
People would never complain if money was spent on expanding a museum so that it can host traveling exhibits.
A $150m renovation is going to cost around $10m a year to pay off. So if it can attract enough events to bring in $10m a year in new revenue — and not just shift spending that would otherwise go to other concert venues in town — then sure, it could be worth it. Given the limited number of touring acts that can sell out stadiums, I’m not super-hopeful, but if the stadium authority wants to make a case, they’re welcome to.
Lets say it gets a few concerts, tractor pulls, and a few other events every year. Maybe a college game every couple of years. Isn’t that a quality of life investment? You don’t look for an ROI on a park do you?
John Fisher is just the gift that keeps on giving for comedians…
Good Luck Vegas! (I’m joking of course, he’ll never get anything built there unless contractors and suppliers are ok with a ‘general promise to be paid, someday, when the proverbial ship comes in’.)
Now I’m thinking that the reason he won’t put “Sacramento” on the team’s uniforms isn’t because it’s a smaller MSA and would only be (ha!) temporary, but because he can’t afford new uniforms…
Maybe they can do a few years SLC after the Sacramento thing finishes, and then to Nashville or some other city in the central time zone after that. Would make the A’s the first franchise to play home slates in all four time zones.
All that’s missing now is the Mountain Time Zone, they did the East while in Philly and Central as the KC A’s. I don’t suppose Boise, Casper or Helena have a few billion to throw around
Smith Ballpark will be empty next year, or maybe 2026. Larry H Miller Group seems really eager to develop the Power District, includinga permanent MLB stadium. MLB would have to force Fisher to sell first.
Earlier this month the Bears held focus groups with season-ticket holders about a new stadium. When they were told that the preferred option was the Chicago lakefront, “the enthusiasm among many invitees reportedly began to drift away.”
https://www.dailyherald.com/20240821/chicago-bears/odonnell-bears-focus-groups-spark-ire-and-dismay/
The Athletics never intended to move to Vegas, they are staying in the Capital City at Grocery Field. BTW, Grocery Field is going to be expended to 30,000. If Vegas wants baseball, they better contact the White Sox or Angels.