This was a light posting week, as I was traveling and the airline mayhem as the result of the government shutdown … didn’t actually affect me at all, my flight was uneventful and actually landed ahead of schedule. The cab ride from the airport hit a lot of traffic, though!
Stadium and arena news was light as well, presumably everyone was distracted by one scandal or another, but there’s still plenty to chew on:
- The Tampa Bay Rays confirmed that they’ll return to Tropicana Field next spring after roof repairs are done, along with “an expanded main videoboard, new video displays behind home plate and along both foul poles, a new sound system and updated suite interiors.” The city is, as required in the team’s lease, paying for $59.7 million in repairs ($7.65 million has been covered by insurance); the team owners are paying for upgrades, though they haven’t revealed how much they’re spending, and determining things like whether replacing the interior of a flooded luxury suite with a nicer interior is a repair or an upgrade could get dicey, hopefully someone either in city government or in the local media is keeping an eye on that, please?
- “Can Soccer Stadiums Revitalize American Cities?” asks the New York Times, with the big reveal being: Nope. “Mixed-use development components, particularly ones that include housing, are often delayed or, to date, are incomplete,” reports the Times. “And those projects, experts say, don’t always bring in the revenue and economic activity that are promised.” Ian Betteridge is shocked, shocked.
- The owner of the Des Moines Menace is seeking state money for a $95 million soccer stadium for that minor-league USL team as well as a yet-to-be-created women’s pro soccer team, and the Des Moines Register is asking if it will revitalize Des Moines like soccer stadiums have other cities, guess they couldn’t get past the Times paywall. (Psst, use archive.ph.)
- The Los Angeles City Council officially voted to oppose the Dodger Stadium gondola project, with one councilmember calling it “an insult to our communities, and the process has been an insult to our collective intelligence,” yup, that tracks. The ultimate decision is up to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which wrapped up its public comment period on the proposal yesterday.
- The Philadelphia 76ers arena plan for the edge of Chinatown is dead, but the controversy over how the site will be “revitalized” lives on, with Sixers owner Josh Harris planning to start demolitions soon and neighborhood advocates saying that’s only “going to make the situation worse with no real guarantees that it will get better.” But blight is good for getting development projects approved, so it could end up being better for Harris, why doesn’t anyone ever think of the poor little rich boy?
WWE is going to have what-used-to-be-called-a-pay-per-view event at United Center. The first such event in Chicago in more than 30 years. They normally use the arena in Rosemont, IL. The press release specifies:
“in partnership with Choose Chicago, whose work continues to solidify the city’s position as a world-class sports and entertainment destination.”
I wonder how much money is being paid to WWE to make this move.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/2025/11/13/wwe-returns-to-chicago-in-2026
Vegas paid WWE $5M to host Wrestlemania 41 earlier this year. I would guess lesser PPV’s would be in the $2-3M range each.
I would hope nothing. It’s not like it will have much economic impact on Chicago. I’m guessing the move is because the United Center has about 3000 more seats and far more luxury boxes than Allstate Arena. And if it’s like the UFC event, they can charge $70 for parking. But little to no money gets spent beyond the UC property. There’s also a prestige factor in being in the city at the more modern arena. You just don’t get that in Rosemont.
I would go as far as to posit that if you need a soccer stadium (or really any new sports stadium) to “revitalize” your city, then it has way deeper problems that a new venue and team won’t have a prayer of resolving on their own.
Probably.
The same can be said of casinos.
What is with another gondola proposal popping up? Is Dave Kaval’s consulting career quietly going much better than anticipated?
Hm? This is the same Frank McCourt one from years ago, it just won’t die.
Look like Denver Summit FC missed the cut. You might want to look more into that fiasco Neil as it seems like the Broncos done destroyed their plans for an Inner City NWSL stadium besides them asking a financially struggling city for $90mil. Yikes!!!