Stadia mania

FedEx Field
Originally uploaded by kmccarthy27.

(This is how a football stadium looks most of the time: EMPTY!)

While I am still not happy about Marc Fisher's column a few weeks ago about a historic preservation matter in Mount Pleasant, last week (in "A New Engine, But No Machine ") and this week ("Next 2 D.C. Stadium Deals Might Smell a Bit Sweeter") he wrote supra-hard hitting columns about DC issues.

Yesterday's column reminds me of the line "There's a cold wind coming in" from the movie Terminator, knowing what would happen down the road. That column looks at upcoming stadium efforts.

We know about the Soccer Stadium. The new owners of the team have made no bones about the fact that it's a real estate play far more than a sports play. Certainly, David Beckham's going to the LA Galaxy has to do with increasing average attendance at games, which averages 8,000 across the League! See "Another savior," from the Washington Times. (It sure makes little sense to provide government subsidies for such paltry attendance figures.)

But Fisher also disclosed that Dan Snyder is talking about relocating the Redskins to the RFK Stadium area.

I didn't get involved in the baseball stadium anti-advocacy because I figured it was a done deal and if done properly (not that I fully expect that it will) a district can be created in the stadium area so that there is more than a modicum of benefit.

Football stadiums are a total waste. They are used maybe 20 days/year. 8 days for sure for games. (Although many ticket holders tailgate without spending money on local stores.) Maybe a couple more games if the team makes the playoff, and a few mega-concert dates.

That leaves 345 days EMPTY! A scar on the earth. Last fall, a few students at UMD's GIS Class in the Planning program did their class project on the impact of the FedEx stadium, finding a positive impact (although arguable) in but a small portion of the area impacted by the stadium. (The analysis looked at the area in three bands, near, middle, and outside the beltway.)

According to the PG County Executive's Office, the FedEx Stadium generates $5 million in tax revenues. (See my November blog entry on this, "Municipal economic development.") The issue is how could the land be better used to generate the same or greater impact.

FURTHERMORE, if you want to do a revitalization plan for that area, do one, and don't develop it around football. How would 20 days of events generate much in the way of rooming nights or conference facility usage? Just produce and execute a great plan, without sports.

Remember, because of the tailgating demand, football teams like lots of parking lots around the stadium, rather than mixed use structures including parking.

Let Snyder spend his time figuring out how to fix Six Flags Amusement Parks, and let DC figure out how to best make money from the land in and around RFK Stadium. (See "Six Flags sees 2006 loss, but 2007 starts strong.")

Also see these debacles, I mean articles, from the San Francisco Chronicle:, which discuss how the San Francisco 49ers are leaving San Francisco for Santa Clara, and how the Oakland A's are leaving Oakland for Fremont, because the teams believe that they can make more money, in part through ancillary real estate development, in the other places.

This Chronicle article, "49ers, A's look south," puts it best:

FROM A regional perspective, the newly unveiled plans of the Oakland A's to move to Fremont and the San Francisco 49ers to Santa Clara make little sense. Then again, owners of professional sports teams rarely show much regard for what is best for a region. "What's in it for me?" seems to be the guiding mantra.

But these are good too:
-- SANTA CLARA - 49ers set 'principles' for new stadium - Team to meet with Santa Clara officials, but Migden bill throws wrench into potential move
-- League's stadium fund about dry
-- Public coffers, not lawsuits, often end stadium disputes
-- 49ERS ON THE MOVE? - Economics - Football-only stadiums rarely pay off for cities, experts say
-- Tale of two stadiums
-- KEEPING UP WITH JONESES - The 49ers and the NFL want a new stadium soon
-- Why talks on 49ers stadium fell apart City and team misunderstood each other's positions

and in the baseball realm
-- A's ready to move to Fremont - Team expected to announce plan next week to get rights to land for a baseball-only stadium -- Cisco likely to be big sponsor
-- You can't spell antsy without A's
-- A's announce plan to buy land, move to Fremont
-- Name the subsidy (about both baseball and football)
-- Oakland hopes to gain from A's move - City already looking at ways for Coliseum to make money

You know the line, "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me?"

Shouldn't we know by now that this is about the sports team and its owner(s), not about the city?

Index Keywords: stadiums-arenas