The ballpark will be heated (playing field, concourses, and possibly the seats themselves) so I think they got that covered.
Still, better to risk some questionable weather than to play indoors permanently. Baseball just ain't meant for that.
MLB stadiums
- Thread starter wamdue
- Start date
The ballpark will be heated (playing field, concourses, and possibly the seats themselves) so I think they got that covered.
Still, better to risk some questionable weather than to play indoors permanently. Baseball just ain't meant for that.
We didn't say billion, we said billion, and even if it's only a half billion it doesn't matter, it's still a waste.
Okaaaaaaaaay... 
And like I said: Given that Tropicana Field obviously sucks, no replacement for it can EVER be a waste.
It's not as if the Trop is a historical building by any means. It's simply a piece of crap. It needs to go. It is objectively, obviously, indisputably useless, and the Rays shouldn't have to play there any longer than absolutely necessary to get a new place built.
August when it's 100F and 90% humidity isn't much fun either.
This is why most Rangers fans probably don't miss Arlington Stadium.
Yankee Stadium will be hosting a football bowl game. The Yankees' diagram of how the football field will fit doesn't make sense; there's a fan-produced graph in that post that shows how a football field will fit that matches with the way football was played in the original Yankee Stadium.
I can't wait to see a bowl game in cold weather on natural grass..
Plus it's just a piece of shit in general. Especially after the Raiders basically forced them to add that ass-ugly Mount Davis. The stadium didn't look that bad before that, but now...
Cisco Field looks really cool. I hope they can get it built. As for the Raiders? Let them have the Coliseum if they want - they made it that way.
BUT IT CREASES JOBS!
The best buildings in this country were built when this country was in the shit during the 30s.
^That's what we've been trying to say in Portland, Oregon to get a new Triple A ballpark, but so far everyone tries to say we are stealing lunch money from the schoolkids. A Triple A ballpark can be built for $50M, and the team owner will put up some of the money and pay the overages. He will also sell bonds to his rich buddies, but the locals won't have it.
^ I've heard talk that Portland could get the A's, if Oakland won't build a new stadium.
If they can't make it work in Oakland, the A's will probably end up in San Jose (AFAIK, that's where Lew Wolff wants to move to) assuming they can get the Giants off their backs.
According to the Census Bureau, the metropolitan area called Portland/Vancouver is in the top 25 for population. The problem with getting this group of people to make a decision is seriously compounded by the fact that the people live in two different states and five different counties.
We would LOVE to get the A's!!! But it will never happen.
First of all, MLB is pissed at us. Portland went outlaw in 1903, breaking from the sanctioned NWL to join the California League and create the first Pacific Coast League. A baseball war was declared, and we won the battle. In 1904, the PCL was granted a special status that they retained up until the MLB violated the agreement in 1956 by moving the Dodgers into PCL territory. Next came the Giants, and by 1962 the PCL became a Triple A league that was assimilated into the MLB farm system. They have used us more than once in negotiations with teams like the A's, the Marlins, or the Expos to force other cities to build stadiums. Our state legislature has already OK'd many of the funds needed for an MLB stadium, you see. So we will always be a bridesmaid, but never a bride.
Secondly, there's the political situation I mentioned. We have the population, but it is spread over two states and five counties, so it requires cooperation, which is quite rare. For one thing, the two cities of Portland and Vancouver are split along party lines and the current vitriolic environment is stronger here than in many other places. 'nuff said?
And thirdly, there are only two mega-corporations in our part of the Northwest. Seattle has more, with Boeing, Microsoft, and all that shipping industry, but we've just got Nike, mainly, and they are involved in sports on an international level, having only a little to spare for local teams. They do provide uniforms for our Triple A team, but any bowling alley could do that. (Do I sound bitter?)
Fourth, back to politics, is that the people of Portland are confused. They think sports are bad because competing is hostile, or something. It is very irritating talking to some of them. When you mention baseball, all they can do is talk about A-Rod's pay and ask if anyone deserves that much money for swinging a bat. It's beyond the pale, really. They wouldn't ask if U2 deserved their pay, or if Peter Jackson deserved his royalties, but for some reason they can't accept the amount that Seattle will pay Ichiro Suzuki. And then they throw in how we are stealing from the babies, as if the school budgets are going to be smaller because we build a stadium! It's nuts. They can't grasp that schools are paid from property taxes and stadiums are built with bonds. They just keep saying it's all money from taxes and to them that means it is all the same money. Bonds are bought by rich people from municiplaities and paid back with interest over a 20 year period. It's the paying back that they think means it is their money, even though an MLB team brings taxable income into the state. It is useless trying to explain it. And when you mention quality of life, they say if you have to build a stadium with my kids lunch money then you have a sad defnition of the word quality.
So anyway... The A's would totally rock! Connie Mack once owned our PCL team. He bought it because he wanted one of the players and the baseball treaty I mentioned from 1904 made it so the only way he could get that guy's contract was to buy the team, so he did.
Anyhow, I know a ton of local baseball history, as you can tell, here in Portland.
I'm a Mariners fan, by the way.
We would LOVE to get the A's!!! But it will never happen.
First of all, MLB is pissed at us. Portland went outlaw in 1903, breaking from the sanctioned NWL to join the California League and create the first Pacific Coast League. A baseball war was declared, and we won the battle. In 1904, the PCL was granted a special status that they retained up until the MLB violated the agreement in 1956 by moving the Dodgers into PCL territory. Next came the Giants, and by 1962 the PCL became a Triple A league that was assimilated into the MLB farm system. They have used us more than once in negotiations with teams like the A's, the Marlins, or the Expos to force other cities to build stadiums. Our state legislature has already OK'd many of the funds needed for an MLB stadium, you see. So we will always be a bridesmaid, but never a bride.
Secondly, there's the political situation I mentioned. We have the population, but it is spread over two states and five counties, so it requires cooperation, which is quite rare. For one thing, the two cities of Portland and Vancouver are split along party lines and the current vitriolic environment is stronger here than in many other places. 'nuff said?
And thirdly, there are only two mega-corporations in our part of the Northwest. Seattle has more, with Boeing, Microsoft, and all that shipping industry, but we've just got Nike, mainly, and they are involved in sports on an international level, having only a little to spare for local teams. They do provide uniforms for our Triple A team, but any bowling alley could do that. (Do I sound bitter?)
Fourth, back to politics, is that the people of Portland are confused. They think sports are bad because competing is hostile, or something. It is very irritating talking to some of them. When you mention baseball, all they can do is talk about A-Rod's pay and ask if anyone deserves that much money for swinging a bat. It's beyond the pale, really. They wouldn't ask if U2 deserved their pay, or if Peter Jackson deserved his royalties, but for some reason they can't accept the amount that Seattle will pay Ichiro Suzuki. And then they throw in how we are stealing from the babies, as if the school budgets are going to be smaller because we build a stadium! It's nuts. They can't grasp that schools are paid from property taxes and stadiums are built with bonds. They just keep saying it's all money from taxes and to them that means it is all the same money. Bonds are bought by rich people from municiplaities and paid back with interest over a 20 year period. It's the paying back that they think means it is their money, even though an MLB team brings taxable income into the state. It is useless trying to explain it. And when you mention quality of life, they say if you have to build a stadium with my kids lunch money then you have a sad defnition of the word quality.
So anyway... The A's would totally rock! Connie Mack once owned our PCL team. He bought it because he wanted one of the players and the baseball treaty I mentioned from 1904 made it so the only way he could get that guy's contract was to buy the team, so he did.
Anyhow, I know a ton of local baseball history, as you can tell, here in Portland.
I'm a Mariners fan, by the way.
Those are old proposals. The Post Office doesn't want to move, the School Board has already declined giving up the Blanchard property or Lincoln High School and PGE Park is in the process of being converted into a soccer-only facility. Hell, Portland can't even find a place to site a Triple-A ballpark after months of trying. Looks like the city is about to lose its third baseball team in the last two decades.
