Why Suburban Cities are Scared of Stadiums

[Bill Archer]

Eastlake got suckered into Classic Park and now they're footing a bill they can ill afford.

It's not just that various "City Fathers" aren't all that keen on soccer; it's that these things sometimes turn out to be disasters.


http://www.cleveland.com/lake/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/lake/1139909542214190.xml&coll=2

[TheOtherBastard]

A bit scary that.

I've driven by that stadium I believe and its actually quite nice from the outside.

[Paul Schmidt]

That thing draws to 85% of listed capacity (almost 6,000 fans per game last year)... and the city is losing money?

That's called getting suckered into a bad business deal... or some serious lying about attendance numbers. Maybe add a dollop of sponsors preferring to stick with the Indians.

You could argue that Bill's right, only because suburban leaders aren't smart enough to assess the fine print of a contract. It "shouldn't" be a reason suburbs shy away from building stadia... though it could be slightly more of a reason if you're building a ballpark in a suburb of an MLB town. A soccer stadium would theoretically be a different animal.

[ClevelandMark]

Eastlake paid for the entire stadium, built the stadium and lured the team from another town.

The developers approached Northfield/Macedonia, have an ample amount of funding in place for the stadium and are including a retail complex around the stadium.

I think there is a big difference between Eastlake and Northfield/Macedonia.