As the Columbus Crew makes history yet again by breaking ground on MLS' first second soccer-specific stadium, let's use this thread to share all of the new and updates we can find regarding the design, financing and construction of our new home. And whatever rumors we can get our hands on, too.
Below is that I posted erroneously in the Austin thread this morning. If someone with the necessary authority could delete it from that thread, I'd appreciate it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Not ideal timing that an article like this comes out the week of the groundbreaking, but in the end it's not going to matter: https://www.dispatch.com/news/20191...us-nearly-double-what-officials-publicly-said I'm sure there's some truth to what's being reported; additional items more directly associated with the stadium project than other development in the area, have been assumed by the city (remediation costs, for example). I'm also sure that the larger implication (that costs to the city have doubled) is not accurate. Look no further than the "pedestrian bridge" that's mentioned throughout the article; funding for it was approved in 2017. That's just a fact. It's not part of the stadium project. Period. It's also true that there's $1 billion+ of development going on in this area, not including the mixed-use Confluence Village development (which will amount to a few hundred million more). So, no, it's not hard to believe that burying powerlines might be associated with the $100M Chipotle project. I have no idea. Thing is, writing an expose about the Chipotle project isn't as compelling as a "publicly-funded" stadium. Some of those items (relocating a cell tower) could legitimately be argued as being costs that the team could have shouldered. Again, I lack a broader perspective on this. But building a new city park? Why would the team pay for that? Indeed, much of what's referred to in the article seems to be broader infrastructural improvements that'll benefit the city and residents year-round, and aren't limited to the stadium. The park is irrelevant to the stadium, but certainly spruces up the neighborhood. You've got to dig down fairly deep to read that 1/2 of the reported "new" cost is for a parking garage that will generate revenue for the city: Will the team benefit from having a 600 car garage nearby? Certainly, about 20 days a year. But so will every other business in the area, 365 days a year. So a doubling of cost, $50M more in public funds. Except the $25M garage, which Schoeny states has been planned for years, is seen, eventually, as being revenue generating for the city; The $3M bridge was approved in 2017; The park (cost unknown) isn't part of the stadium project at all. So the $50M is down to, what, maybe $20M? Hard to say. Anyway, I look forward to seeing everyone at the groundbreaking on Thursday. If only we'd not saved the club, the city wouldn't have had to kick in funds and, instead, could still boast of an ugly, post-industrial site in a prime location downtown and a rusting hulk of a stadium off of I-71, and wouldn't have the headache of what to do about hundreds of millions of dollars in new private investment downtown.
So, I said as much on Jacob Myer's Facebook post, but I really hope that he - or really anyone else at the Dispatch - writes a counterpoint to this hit piece. There is so much misinformation coming out of the Dispatch and it would be nice if just one "reporter" on staff there would write something that casts the stadium project - and the nearly $1B investment that comes with it - in a positive light. I could go off on a tangent here about how the Crew isn't OSU football, or how bad news gets more clicks, but I won't. I honestly think that in this case the people writing for the Dispatch just don't care enough to learn the details and tell the real story. I'll call it Hanlon's Dispatch Razor.
What's even dumber is that the $25M gift to billionaires, in all likelihood (if it exists at all) has far more to do with the mixed use Confluence Village development than the effing stadium. I mean, sure, having access to a 600 car garage on game days will be nice, and all. But it's a 20K seat stadium, in an area with 15K other parking spaces. I fail to see how those extra 600 spaces were all that vital to the stadium project. But the several hundred million dollar mixed use project, that I'm sure will call for additional parking. As will the many hundreds of millions of dollars of other downtown development going on in the area. In any event, it wouldn't shock me at all if the city agreed to build a $25M garage as part of the larger CV project.
Was the groundbreaking of the original Crew stadium a public event? I remember Sirk reminiscing about that day, but I do not recall the details.
Sadly, I didn't live in Ohio when that took place. I do remember hearing - all the way in Eastern Kentucky - that the Crew were planning to build a stadium of their own, though.
But there were already enough onsite parking spots in the plans for those groups along with the suite owners.
Our owners have an unfathomable amount of money so I think the scrutiny is fair. But an accurate accounting on the front page is also warranted.
This thread sums it up pretty well: Back in mid August I got a records request which also indicated how development projects get done. Departments make choices about what they want to fund. Sometimes it’s even things they had planned to do no matter what was done in that location. Definitely not a sexy headline tho— Keith Naas, xpeaker of the houxe (@knaas) October 6, 2019
Right. After watching our lazy, bumbling performance yesterday, I'm fresh out of excitement for this team at the moment and am rather looking forward to a real off-season for a change. But I suppose the club could have in mind several days of build-up for the groundbreaking. Or something.
The bottom line is that something was going to be built on that lot sooner or later - a casino, a hotel, a shopping center or an office building - and the city was always going to have to pay for basic infrastructure. Some 27 year old dimwit writer for the local cage liner wants to make a scandal out of it. Ho hum.
Bush doesn't have the excuse of inexperience. I've seen links to articles he's written for the Dispatch going back to at least 2005.
What better way to get free pub for the Dispatch than to get Crew fans to start feuding with NIMBY a-holes? It's hang-level trolling.
The surest way to get lots of people wound up is to feed into an already-raging controversy. Lots of people are convinced that every stadium or arena project is chock-full of waste and fraud, and the privately-owned teams always steal from the cities or counties that have anything to do with them. Those people are damned mad about it, and this will fit right into this paradigm. Details like how much of the money is for stuff that was planned before there was any stadium proposal, will get lost in the shuffle. We can only hope nothing but more simmering anger comes from it. See you all Thursday. Any plans after the groundbreaking?
It's the front page, above the fold main story in the local newspaper. Ad hominem attacks don't change that. It's a very bad look for the team when they need as much public goodwill as possible.
I have no control over what the Dispatch puts above the fold. And you can use terms like ad hominem if you think it proves something if you like, but I'm willing to bet that my Latin is way way better than yours and I still can't figure out why calling a reporter a hack somehow disqualifies my opinion on his article. As for how the team "looks", again, the Dispatch chose to make the city government look bad when a somewhat more intelligent look at the facts might have shown otherwise. Either way, "the team" didn't do anything wrong here. Furthermore, it will change nothing. They can lump whatever they like in this piece of trash article but it won't change a thing, for the team, for the stadium or for the last-gasp dying of one of the worst newspapers in America. Damnant quod non intellegunt.
I mean obviously the stadium is still gonna go up. Obviously we still have a team. In that sense nothing will change. But this board has harped on for years about how public sentiment is so important for the team. At various points in the past year there has even been statements about how public sentiment and the momentum around Save The Crew would increase the Crew's visibility in the city and media, and lead to a string of sellouts in 2019. Shockingly (or not), these dream like visions did not come to reality. More people are likely to have their opinions about the Crew and the stadium shaped by local media than by a smug big soccer poster dismissing the story or by a smug twitter thread. If public sentiment still matters the story is significant no matter what anyone's opinion of the author or the paper is.