The owners of F.C. Dallas are seeking a major expansion of their stadium in Frisco, and Dallas Business Journal has all the details:
The May 28 filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation calls for a 130,000-square-foot expansion “of premium product including clubs and suites” as well as new broadcast and press areas, to meet Major League Soccer guidelines. New canopy lighting could also be added.
A source close to FC Dallas, who asked not to be named, called the filing a first step toward a potentially bigger project announcement but declined to elaborate…
The TLDR filing listed an estimated cost of $130 million for the project. It indicated construction could begin in January and be completed in August 2027.
Okay, so maybe not all the details. Who actually submitted the paperwork to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation? Who would pay the $130 million cost? Let’s go to the actual filing and find out:
- The form was filed by Kimberly Goss, who is president of an accessible architectural design firm in Dallas. The filing doesn’t state whether Goss was acting on behalf of the city or of team owner Dan Hunt.
- Under “Type of Funds,” the form lists: “This project involves public funds, public land, or is a Federally funded roadway project.”
- Under “Are the private funds provided by the tenant?” the filing says: “No.”
This is hardly definitive, especially since the filing form can contain errors. (This one lists the stadium owner as “Frisco Stadium LLC,” which is the team, though the building is in fact owned by the city; and it lists the tenant as “Not Assigned.”) But it sure looks like the city of Frisco is about to be asked to spend $130 million on its 19-year-old soccer stadium that was just renovated in 2018, all to create new clubs and luxury suites to increase profits for the team’s private owners. The city issued a statement that Toyota Stadium and FC Dallas represent “important” pieces of “Frisco’s tourism and entertainment economy,” which certainly sounds like preparations to justify spending public money.
It’s always possible, of course, that the plan is for the FC Dallas owners to pay for the new stadium expansion, either directly or through rent payments or revenue sharing down the road. After all, the 2018 renovation cost $55 million and the team kicked in, let’s see … $1 million a year in rent, which is the equivalent of about $15 million total. So, yeah, expect that taxpayers would cover most of the $130 million price tag — which would be more than half the entire annual Frisco city budget, and more than the city spends each year on police, fire, and EMS workers combined, but truly, who can put a price on “premium product including clubs and suites”?
Wondering who John Wagner is and what is his role listed under owner name Frisco Stadium LLC on the TDLR report?
“John is currently the Vice President of Operations for Unity Hunt, Inc and serves as a liaison between FC Dallas and the Hunt family office.”
https://images.mlssoccer.com/image/upload/v1648052156/assets/dal/2022_FC_Dallas_Media_Guide_nxnuzd.pdf
Frisco’s self-selected “brand” is that of being “Sports City USA,” so if Lamar Hunt, Inc, is asking for $130 million, I expect the City and/or school district to start the bidding at $175 million to insure the satisfaction of their valued private partner and keep their realtor Mayor on Hunt’s speed dial. The same realtor Mayor, in a totally unrelated development, whose brokerage was coincidentally selected by nearby PGA of America as their Official Real Estate Partner for selling “some of the most expensive homes in North Texas. The developers expect construction of homes costing up to $15 million to start in fall 2024” (Source: Dallas Morning News, 4/18/2023) after Hizzonor handed over to PGA a 9-figure check from the City’s well-worn book of Big Ceremonial Checks.
Meanwhile, just down the Tollway, Jerry Jones is no doubt taking inventory of the burned out light bulbs, places where the paint is starting to chip and fade, and how dated the carpet is now in the luxury suites of his own city-owned 6-year-old practice dome.
Seems like a soccer team should take over the old Rangers stadium instead
Or merge with the X-USFL II/III…
I do not understand what Fox was thinking when they merged with Johnson’s exXFL… literally the only thing they had to sell was Feb-Jun football and a bit of nostalgia. Now both the schedule and most of the nostalgia (4 of the 8 teams) are gone.
QU: When did the Hunt family become so enamoured with socialism?
It’s early days in the Apple TV deal, but does anyone have any info on what it has done for/to overall league viewership?
Apple is paying a significant amount of money for this property, but at least where I live their deal has pretty much meant no MLS availability.
One of the issues with going to a sole tv partner is that you tend to lop off the casual fans and those who mainly tune in for the playoffs completely. You might make more money off the hardcore ones than you will lose from the others, but over the long term it tends not have the intended effect (IE: that everybody will cave in and buy Apple TV because they can’t live without MLS…)
The Hunt family’s plans to improve the ‘game experience’ (which at Frisco was always pretty bad in the summer) – with someone else’s money – makes me wonder if the timing has more to do with tv viewing/availability leading to decline in fan interest (possibly including in stadium attendance)?
The point is to avoid the current mess the other leagues are in with cord-cutters, dying RSNs, hated blackouts, etc.
They want to get on the ground floor with an all-in-one service. Besides, a lot of the RSNs that were carrying MLS were not promoting it very much. Apple is promoting it, at least while Messi is involved.
Apple can also market MLS internationally. There are fans who want to see the players they’ve heard of, especially Messi.
And there is some number of hardcore overseas fans who watch MLS just because it is on in the summer when their domestic league isn’t playing.
That may be their intention, but it is unlikely to succeed. Cord Cutters and people generally abandoning RSNs (and their own bundled services/teams you have no interest in but have to take to get the ones you do…) aren’t limited to traditional media.
Apple is really nothing more than MLS’ own ‘super RSN’ in this context.
I don’t doubt your claim that the intention is to market MLS globally, or that there are ‘some’ people who want to watch when the European leagues aren’t playing (which, for anyone who has read the Athletic article on fixture congestion and it’s ever greater impact on the modern game, isn’t very often given all the add on competitions major clubs now have).
But MLS isn’t those fans only option for ‘summer’ football, and for the most part they are unlikely to be watching MLS prime time games live.
I also would say those fans are really very few in number. Could they expand? Sure. Is it likely to get to the point where people are abandoning summer tour coverage, world cups, euros, club world cups etc so they can watch MLS league games?
Not in my opinion it isn’t.
Individual clubs might still be getting more money from Apple than they were from MLS previous partners on an annual basis. However, this is a long term deal. I wonder how beneficial it will look as it nears the contract’s end date?
“Apple is paying a significant amount of money for this property, but at least where I live their deal has pretty much meant no MLS availability.”
$99 (or maybe less if discounted), and an Apple TV app on your iPad, iPhone, various TV’s, or even on Android via the web, will get you plenty of MLS coverage in your household.house