Yeah, the language he uses throughout makes it seem somewhat of a political hit piece rather than investigative journalism. For myself, as soon as I believe a writer has his thumbs on the scale like this guy does, I become alot less persuadable.
Aside from this, the money Chester kicked in came from casino revenues that, as I understand, could only be used for a development project like PPL Park. I do not think the Union or it's parent company are trying to screw Chester deliberately. It's going to be tough to build something in a distressed area as it is. The real estate market collapsing just adds to the difficulty. We also do not have any context around the missed payment.
I dunno, they sure are bending over backwards for the new proposed NBA arena.. Of course, the outlay that Hanson is getting from the city/county is significantly smaller than the outlay that Schultz and Bennett wanted for the Key Arena remodel and the Hansen arena is supposed to be paid via user fees compared to an extension of the existing stadium tax on hotels, rental cars, etc for the KeyArena remodel.
Wasn't there already a 12-13k stadium there along with all the nearby infrastructure? That could keep costs down pretty nicely.
Are the Union doing anything for the local Chester community ex. soccer camps, free tickets, community gatherings. Perhaps if they did, maybe there would be a better working relationship.
LOL WUT ? Community MVP, Hometown Hero, or this little section from their website: http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/foundation That took all of two seconds to check on their website. Perhaps if you did things like that before posting like you have you wouldn't seem so ignorant.
A stadium isn't about turning a profit, it's about the benefit to the surrounding areas and community. If they run a profit then all the better, but I've always been irked by people who use this argument as a reason why not to build a stadium.
My favorite stadium deals are when the NFL owners threaten to move the team unless the county builds them a new stadium, funded by raising taxes on everyone. Like the Glazers did in Tampa, lol. They even made Tampa pay operating expenses while they (Glazers) keep the money. In my opinion, stadium deals sometimes seem like a too good to be true deal, where everyone but well connected cronies and owners actually profit. It's lame.
and they almost NEVER do. this is no surprise, back when RSL was fighting tooth and nail for the financing to build their stadium there were a number of articles/studies brought up from previous stadium projects (from MLB, NBA and NFL projects), pretty much none of the stadium projects had any sort of economic impact on the neighborhoods and cities they were built in. this was a pretty big sticking point for the cities/county/state RSL was trying to get money from as the team was trying to sell the idea of developing its proposed stadium site into a large district. i cant remember who did the studies, but there were a few of them. using public funds for a stadium project is almost universally a bad idea/money loser.
Harrison is getting much better, finally you see one building complete, something in front of stadium going up and a huge building being demolished, that will be called the Harrison station, so there is movement, who knows if rentals and retail space will be sold but it's moving, 5 years of a miserable looking neighborhood with a stadium in middle now showing signs of life.
City of Toronto owns BMO Field.......MLSE manages it.......split stadium net operating profits 50/50......i believe the City has received a cheques each year thus far. It was a convenient, complicated and not very controversial financing deal......but it seems to have been pretty successful.