And away we go with another weekly round of micro-news that shouldn’t be allowed to slip through the cracks:
- Notwithstanding the Rhode Island state legislature’s stated disinterest, a bill to provide the Pawtucket Red Sox with $38 million in stadium subsidies was introduced in the state senate this week, with possible hearings set for the fall. I still haven’t visited 75-year-old McCoy Stadium yet (#1 of 19 things to do in Pawtucket, according to Tripadvisor!), but I’ll probably make an effort to get there this summer, just in case.
- Yes, the Oakland A’s really do appear to be focusing on that 13-acre Peralta Community College site next to I-880 that Matier & Ross reported on and then I boggled at last week because it’s so teeny-tiny. I’m actually kind of intrigued to see how they’d fit a stadium in there, since site constraints can actually make for interesting designs (see both AT&T Park and Fenway Park, for examples). But the mockups by one commenter here don’t look too promising.
- “Philips Arena overhaul details, new visuals revealed: Amenities will include a bounty of options for Atlantans who want to attend basketball games and do anything but watch basketball” may be my favorite headline of the month.
- If you want to watch 14 minutes of video of a guy in a hard hat walking around mostly the periphery of the Milwaukee Bucks arena construction site, Fox6 News has got you covered. Also be sure to read the accompanying article, which features such memorable quotes as “An example of our installation of our escalator. There are 10 escalators in the project,” and “It’s like giving birth. I mean, you can’t really feel it or understand it until it is actually coming out of the ground,” accompanied by pictures of tarpaulins. This pivoting to video thing just gets better and better!
“It’s like giving birth. I mean, you can’t really feel it or understand it until it is actually coming out of the ground…”
That one made me laugh out loud. I’m assuming it was a little less painful for the guy (who WAS wearing a hard hat) than a real live birth-giving mother. And the co-mingling of births with things coming out of the ground itself sounds like something out of a Sam Raimi flick.
I suspect that the A’s as well as the Islanders and some of the smaller projects ( like in Rhode Island) are going to go through because there is a realization that people are tired of funding such projects, and if shovels are not in the ground soon, they are not happening.
People have been tired of funding such projects for 30 years. Elected officials, less so.
I agree with you on that. But two things that are different are the fact that few pro teams desire new ( or even upgraded facilities), so passing bills after the horse left the barn becomes easier. Not to mention”Cord Cutters” who are showing sports is not as much of a necessity as people felt before. Besides the Islanders and A’s you have the Rays, the trio in Arizona ( Coyotes, Diamondbacks and Suns), and a few soccer stadiums ( none of which cost as much as a new Islanders Arena). Even Key Arena and Kings bridge Armory may break ground this year. You will still have Colleges doing the spending ( for example: Penn State has an extensive”Master Plan” for sports facilities). But when 2020 comes around, teams ( with the possible exception of the Rays) will either be in new ( or upgraded) facilities, or be ready to move into one.