DaveBrett
04 Mar 2004, 03:07 PM
This is a really good column...
Pro soccer, UA football share goal
By David Giffels
Maybe Bert Wolstein is the chocolate and the Akron Zips are the peanut butter. Two great tastes that just don't know how great they'd go together.
Wolstein is the Cleveland-based developer who owns the rights to a Major League Soccer franchise. He's been looking at sites in Summit County for a potential 100-acre stadium complex.
He happens to be doing this at the same time the University of Akron is nearing the end of a feasibility study for a new football stadium to replace the Rubber Bowl.
Which puts them in the same ballpark. And it raises the question: What if the two of them got together?
There are plenty of reasons this could work. The 25,000-seat stadium Wolstein is proposing is in the size range of what UA is considering. And a soccer-specific stadium would work fine for football, which uses a smaller field.
With good planning, everyone could share. Major League Soccer runs from April to mid-October, while UA's football season runs from late August to mid-November. UA's soccer team could even work into the mix, since college soccer schedules don't conflict with football.
But the biggest attraction is money. Pro sports teams have turned public money into a standard line item on their construction budgets; Wolstein has floated a price range of $110 million to $175 million. UA, as a public institution, will definitely use tax dollars if and when it builds a stadium.
So building one stadium instead of two looks pretty good to those of us who've been scribbling away on our 1040s.
There are plenty of examples of these kinds of partnerships. Check out Pittsburgh, where the Steelers and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers share Heinz Field.
Both Wolstein and UA Athletic Director Mike Thomas said they like the idea of sharing a facility, and both have given it some thought.
But Wolstein, who met this week with Summit County officials to discuss potential sites, sees one big problem. Location. This is a case where distance does not make the heart grow fonder.
``I don't think we're compatible,'' Wolstein said. ``They want to be where they want to be; we have to be where we have to be.''
Where UA wants to be is on campus, and for plenty of good reasons. Where Wolstein says he needs to be is in northern Summit County, where he can draw more traffic from Cleveland, and where there'd be more room for hotels and restaurants, which translates into profits.
While bringing the stadium onto campus is a key priority of the athletic department's study, ``I don't think we'd leave any stone unturned,'' Thomas said. He didn't want to specifically address the idea of moving the stadium to northern Summit County, and UA President Dr. Luis Proenza declined to comment, saying this is ``speculation on speculation.''
The rest of the column is at:
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/local/8102280.htm
Pro soccer, UA football share goal
By David Giffels
Maybe Bert Wolstein is the chocolate and the Akron Zips are the peanut butter. Two great tastes that just don't know how great they'd go together.
Wolstein is the Cleveland-based developer who owns the rights to a Major League Soccer franchise. He's been looking at sites in Summit County for a potential 100-acre stadium complex.
He happens to be doing this at the same time the University of Akron is nearing the end of a feasibility study for a new football stadium to replace the Rubber Bowl.
Which puts them in the same ballpark. And it raises the question: What if the two of them got together?
There are plenty of reasons this could work. The 25,000-seat stadium Wolstein is proposing is in the size range of what UA is considering. And a soccer-specific stadium would work fine for football, which uses a smaller field.
With good planning, everyone could share. Major League Soccer runs from April to mid-October, while UA's football season runs from late August to mid-November. UA's soccer team could even work into the mix, since college soccer schedules don't conflict with football.
But the biggest attraction is money. Pro sports teams have turned public money into a standard line item on their construction budgets; Wolstein has floated a price range of $110 million to $175 million. UA, as a public institution, will definitely use tax dollars if and when it builds a stadium.
So building one stadium instead of two looks pretty good to those of us who've been scribbling away on our 1040s.
There are plenty of examples of these kinds of partnerships. Check out Pittsburgh, where the Steelers and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers share Heinz Field.
Both Wolstein and UA Athletic Director Mike Thomas said they like the idea of sharing a facility, and both have given it some thought.
But Wolstein, who met this week with Summit County officials to discuss potential sites, sees one big problem. Location. This is a case where distance does not make the heart grow fonder.
``I don't think we're compatible,'' Wolstein said. ``They want to be where they want to be; we have to be where we have to be.''
Where UA wants to be is on campus, and for plenty of good reasons. Where Wolstein says he needs to be is in northern Summit County, where he can draw more traffic from Cleveland, and where there'd be more room for hotels and restaurants, which translates into profits.
While bringing the stadium onto campus is a key priority of the athletic department's study, ``I don't think we'd leave any stone unturned,'' Thomas said. He didn't want to specifically address the idea of moving the stadium to northern Summit County, and UA President Dr. Luis Proenza declined to comment, saying this is ``speculation on speculation.''
The rest of the column is at:
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/local/8102280.htm