The buzz around the interwebs the last couple of days is that the City of Arlington is expected to announce their plans to help finance a new retractable-roof stadium for the Texas Rangers. The Rangers currently play at Globe Life Park, which is barely 20 years old and cost about $190 million in 1994. Their proposed new facility would cost nearly 5 times that amount and is speculated to open before their current lease is up following the 2023 season. Arlington's share of the cost would come via dedicated sales tax, which would be on top of the one that already exists for JerryWorld across the street. Taxpayers largely footed the bill for the current facility as well.
Am I excited that there will be another new park that I get to go see? Of course I am. I'm sure Erik and I will be there in its opening season like we always are. But I think that any remotely intelligent person also understands how terrible of a deal it is when municipalities subsidize sports venues. The thought of not having a major league team is so ghastly that cities and their citizens, almost without fail, are willing to just throw bags of money at teams lest they threaten to leave. The Rangers are not the first team to use this tactic and certainly won't be the last. The Braves successfully did the same thing a few years ago, and there was a story at the beginning of the year about how the D-backs already want out of Chase Field. And I honestly can't say that I blame any of these teams - I mean, baseball is a business after all, and who wouldn't want for a free stadium if they knew they could get one? The issue is much deeper than that and speaks to the whole concept that sports teams somehow provide financial benefit and social enrichment to a city, so much so that if one were to leave, it would be devastating. The Supersonics left Seattle about 10 years ago and the city did not crumble to the ground or experience a mass exodus of people. Having a sports team, while awesome, is largely a perceived value that does not organically spur economic development, unless that too is subsidized as in the case of many ballpark villages around the country. Milwaukee went through this with the Miller Park 20 years ago (which we are still paying for), and they are going through it again now with the NBA Bucks. The Brewers promised that the area surrounding the stadium would boom, and pretty much all we have to show for it is more parking lots and a new Target. The Bucks have the whole state convinced that their new arena will create thousands of jobs and create a whole new entertainment district, and a state budget that was already in the red bonded the project with little opposition.
It may seem like that I am opposed to teams building new stadiums, but I am not. If the Rangers honestly believe their current ballpark is already outdated after 22 years, then they have every right to do what is best for their business. And however intangible, there is definitely something about having a major league sports team that puts a city on a different level. But it is one thing to finance a project yourself like a normal developer or business would, and another thing to put it on somebody else's tab. The practice of blackmailing municipalities for new ballparks is a dangerous trend that is only getting worse. Many of these stadiums are putting cities into holes of debt that they can't climb out of. Stadiums are getting more expensive and becoming obsolete at a faster pace than ever before, and until there is a fundamental shift in the way we think of the value of a sports franchise, the only losers will be taxpayers like you and me. Rangers fans owe the team absolutely nothing, and the Rangers will do just fine financially if they play at Globe Life Park for the rest of its useful life.
UPDATE: Shortly after this post more specifics were announced. Expected to top $1 billion with a 50/50 city-team split and anticipated opening by the 2021 season. Would be located just to the south of the existing park in the same complex. The new lease would run through January 1st, 2054.
STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 05.20:
Brewers 18-23, -11.0 (3 @ Mets, 3 @ Braves, 3 v. Reds, 3 v. Cardinals)
Reds 15-26, -14.0 (3 v. Mariners, 3 @ Dodgers, 3 @ Brewers, 4 @ Rockies)
Twins 10-30, -14.5 (4 v. Blue Jays, 3 v. Royals, 3 @ Mariners, 3 @ Athletics)
2016 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 8 (+2 worked)
Peter - 14
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.