Truman wrote:BCD suggests that Wyco would prove to be a suitable home for the Chiefs. Oh really. How they gonna pay for it – with dog track revenues? :roll: Wyco has the smallest tax base in the Five County area, and Speedway development revenues are still a good 10 years out (s’up TIF’s). Sounds like Kansas might have to kick in some serious cayshe from the state coffer (read: JoCo) to make this non-starter viable.
Same argument that was used prior to WyCo getting NASCAR... didn't seem to stop them from getting the track... and now, if you're an investor, you'd be stupid to ignore the supporting growth around the speedway and how it will sustain itself for years to come. All those shopping dollars from Lawrence, Leavenworth, Lansing, western KCK, that would normally go through to Overland Park or The Plaza, are now being intercepted before they can even cross I-435. Take a ride out there and see the development if you haven't been there before. It's way more than just Cabela's and Nebraska Furniture Mart now. And it will grow the WyCo tax base in leaps and bounds. Keep in mind that WyCo doesn't need as big a tax base as KCMO when it doesn't have to maintain as much infrastructure as KCMO. And have you really taken a close look at KCMO infrastructure? You think the inner city KCMO vote is going to say yes to a stadium renovation when the city can't even stop the storm sewers from backing up into their living rooms?
WyCo is in the catbird seat, whether you care to admit it or not.
But the question remains: What kinda town do we want to be? I posed this question the other night to the area’s resident rightwing melt-job over on 980. Our professional teams distinguish Kansas City from the other towns in the region. But like it or not, this characterization comes with a price tag. Now, if we want to be Omaha… Well, then so be it.
Major League Sports only mean something to a community if you're a major league sports fan. However, there are plenty of people that I know, who are politically connected in the metro area, who couldn't give a shit what the Chiefs do on Sundays, or what a day at The K means to the Average Joe... but they control the pursestrings. That's why this thing needs to be turned into an overall economic plan... a plan that includes supporting businesses, retail and service, around the stadium facilities, and how they can benefit each other during the season and during the off-season. It could be something as simple as the restaurant that is built into the side of the Triple-A stadium in Oklahoma City's Bricktown... it's open all year long and looks out over the playing field... yeah, no game to watch, but the mystique is sure there, even at a minor league field. Bricktown works for Oklahoma City... it would work tenfold better if the concept was brought to Kansas City. You can't build a "Bricktown" at the Truman Sports Complex, however. For all of the "quality" of the original Truman Sports Complex's construction, it suffered from poor locational planning, and that's proven out over time. For Sunday football games, it's fine - the majority of fans aren't trying to figure out how they're going to get to a game right after work on a Sunday. In the case of baseball, however, it's tough to keep people flocking out there for 81 games per season... season tickets are a tough sell unless you're fielding a 95+ game winner. They need to create an experience that makes tickets sell like hotcakes, even when the Royals suck. That's the only way to guarantee that you'll keep Major League Baseball in Kansas City.
“What’s wrong with Omaha?” the Talking Head retorted. “They have a better zoo and a nice baseball stadium…” Yes they do. Paid for at tax-payers’ expense. They also have the CWS and have tossed their hat in the ring to host the Big XII basketball championship – an event this region would have lost permanently had Kansas City not voted to build the Sprint Center.
Which the majority of taxpayers were on board with from the start. The City of Omaha did an excellent job of presenting the package, as well as executing after the vote gave the City the OK to proceed. KCMO can't say the same about their historical performances where tax money allocations are concerned.
Oh, but I guess Brush Creek sure looks nice... : meds :
I am old enough to remember when Kansas City had visionaries. Thirty-five years ago, the people of Jackson County – my county – had the temerity to build a state-of-the-art major sports complex that became the standard for almost every big league city in the country, and sounded the death knell for multi-purpose municipal cookie cutter stadiums. St. Louis nuked the last of these dinosaurs last month.
THERE YOU GO! Kansas City HAD visionaries. Those people are now either dead or too old to give a shit, and the people currently running things in KCMO are there to promote their own personal agendas. That's why, when issues such as the stadiums come up, they half-ass the plans to deal with them, and the voters have had enough of the half-assed results. If only those positions of power were not appointed positions, or were subject to performance reviews... as those idiots would have been sent packing long ago. If you want it done right, it's time to clean house.
But what has happened to our can-do spirit? We’ve seen our largest convention depart for bigger and better facilities in Memphis. We’ve seen the NCAA bolt Overland Park for Indianapolis, taking with it our tradition of hosting Final Fours. And now the Royals teeter on the edge of retraction, while the Chiefs eye the second-largest media market in the country.
Our (the voters) can-do spirit has been dampened because of so many half-baked plans by politicians with agendas. We (the voters) are immediately skeptical of things like Bi-State II, which was whipped up quickly, and clouded with ambiguity insofar as the plan's creators could not answer the public's questions about it in a way that gave the voters the idea that they could trust what they were hearing.
Again I ask: What kind of town do we want to be? If we’re gonna do it, then let’s do it right.
Amen.
Did it occur to anybody that Wednesday’s announcement just raised the Chiefs price tag for Arrowhead improvements to $500 million?! What the hell are we talkin’ about here?! Retrofit a 30-year-old stadium and dome it with a slideable tornado magnet?
Nice... I hadn't thought about the tornado issue with that sliding roof... and that's another example of how the JCSCA isn't thinking, either.
You want pie in the sky? Nuke Kauffman, send the Royals downtown (or to Omaha for that matter), and build New Arrowhead out of the rubble next door. Not only do we host the Super Bowl and other events that by-pass this city due to inadequate facilities – we rejoin the rotation as a host-city for the Final Four.
Rack that paragraph... except, I don't think it's necessarily "pie-in-the-sky". Yes, it will be more expensive... but it will keep both teams here for many more years to come, and the economic benefits have been proven out by many cities that have dones this before us... as long as it's DONE RIGHT.
