Post Editorial

[PopsKrock]

Here's an editorial ran in the Post today. It was accompanied by a cartoon portraying Cooper as a chicken sitting on a giant soccer ball egg. Not really negative, but it isn't really optimistic.

[Papaya King]

I completely disagree. The Post-Dispatch isn't in the business of banging the tamborine for us on the editorial page. They have to be the hard-ass and they all but said, nice plan but just be careful. I think this was an excellent editorial (and great cartoon) and I clip it below for easy reading.

Cooper's Town



08/24/2007

The proposal by lawyer Jeffrey S. Cooper and his partners to build a $402 million mixed-use development near Collinsville anchored by a new professional soccer stadium has a familiar ring to it: Sports stadium, shops, offices, hotel, residences, developed by a public-private partnership, paid for in part by tax increment financing and opening, perhaps, in 2009.

It's like Ballpark Village East, except that the ball is bigger and neither the stadium nor the team that would play in it exists yet. (snip)

That may be too much to do in too short a time. But St. Louis is a terrific market for soccer. Sooner or later, it you build it, they will come.


MOD NOTE- Read more in the paper or find the link and post it. Can't post full articles here.

http://images.stltoday.com/stltoday/resources/matson082407big.jpg

[PopsKrock]

I completely disagree. The Post-Dispatch isn't in the business of banging the tamborine for us on the editorial page. They have to be the hard-ass and they all but said, nice plan but just be careful. I think this was an excellent editorial (and great cartoon) and I clip it below for easy reading.




I think that might be the first time Post-Dispatch and hard-ass have been used in the same sentance.

[sirfallsalot_2000]

fyi the link didn't work.

"That may be too much to do in too short a time. But St. Louis is a terrific market for soccer. Sooner or later, it you build it, they will come."

So, this guy's whole point was "this is too big of a project for Collinsville to take on this fast." I, obviously, disagree. This has been an 18 month project, more than enough time for either side to back out. And it would benefit the entire St. Louis region. If Chesterfield decided to build would it be too small at 40,000 people? No, because it is in St. Louis....just like Collinsville. And that last sentence totally defeats his purpose. If you want to build it, you need to act now. "This is the finish line, and the starting line," to quote Cooper.

Also from what I gather in the article if we get a "yes" vote on Sept. 10th, then it is up to the MLS to award us a franchise before the building begins. This would leave me to believe we would get the announcement sooner than later if they want the stadium up by 2009. This would help us win the Philly/Seattle/STL expansion race!

[ironhead]

fyi the link didn't work.

"That may be too much to do in too short a time. But St. Louis is a terrific market for soccer. Sooner or later, it you build it, they will come."

So, this guy's whole point was "this is too big of a project for Collinsville to take on this fast." I, obviously, disagree. This has been an 18 month project, more than enough time for either side to back out. And it would benefit the entire St. Louis region. If Chesterfield decided to build would it be too small at 40,000 people? No, because it is in St. Louis....just like Collinsville. And that last sentence totally defeats his purpose. If you want to build it, you need to act now. "This is the finish line, and the starting line," to quote Cooper.

Also from what I gather in the article if we get a "yes" vote on Sept. 10th, then it is up to the MLS to award us a franchise before the building begins. This would leave me to believe we would get the announcement sooner than later if they want the stadium up by 2009. This would help us win the Philly/Seattle/STL expansion race!

I believe the time-frame they were referring to has more to do with the fact that the numbers and cost of the project are less concrete than ideal and that there is less than a month between the presentation and the vote on 9/10/07. IMHO, I believe that this simply underscores the fact that the Collinsville City Council was well acquainted with the project prior the Cooper's official presentation earlier this month.

I don't view this article as negative at all. It's positive about the interest in the sport in STL as well as the project's finer points. From their point of view, they (the Post-Dispatch) want to be neutral and responsible about their treatment of the subject. I think that's exactly what the article did - there was nothing negative about the sport itself, nor of the culture of soccer among St. Louisans. The author simply wanted to balance out some of the financial concerns, which were given fair treatment.

IMHO, this is not the sort of press that we should be worried about. The board members in Collinsville understand that there is no such thing as an ironclad financial guarantee. It's all a matter of acceptable risk, which I think any rational person would agree this project would aptly be characterized as.