"The Three Trails redevelopment can turn area around" By John Sharp http://www.kansascity.com/273/story/394635.html
FCD makes some pretty decent coin renting the fields at PHP to local youth and adult teams. FCD practices on Field 1, which is right next to the north entrance of the stadium.
I agree with that. The league derives some advantages from keeping its teams in their markets, but certainly if there's no light at the end of the tunnel, you have to cut your losses at some point. I don't happen to believe the situation is particularly close to that point yet. KC's payroll is high almost solely because of Eddie Johnson, though. The league has the choice not to use their option to extend his contract. And I'd note that when they first signed it, they did so more for league reasons (the belief he'd fetch a nice fee at some point) than for team ones. I would read that as very good news. If a Councilman is willing to keep stumping for the project after the mayor has already opposed it, I would think that means they'll keep pushing it forward.
The mayor isn't opposing the project, he's in favor of it, he's questioning one of the TIF funding components.
Well, let me rephrase, because the most important thing being said here is that the Councilman's words seem to be by way of explanation for actions he's about to take; which is to say it looks like he's willing to push this TIF will the Mayor or nil he.
Yeah, you'll get the state championships, since the St. Louis club will be playing in Illinois. The alternatives of shopping/stores/restaurants is huge for those who want to just go home, because the more people who stay a while, the lighter the traffic will be getting out of there, because they won't all be leaving at the same time.
And, as Jefe alluded to with the Dallas fields, the coin that comes with the state championships. Question regarding the 12 fields. I recall either the Olathe or Overland Park plan had tournament fields as well (perhaps both) and one of the lines given by the opponents of the plan was, 'well we can build the fields without building the team a stadium'. Are they still planning on doing that? Would they feel a hit based on the fact that these fields will be so close to those or will there be no competition since those fields would be in Kansas while these will be in MO?
there are plenty of fields in the Overland Park and Olathe parts of town. whereas southern Kansas City, Mo doesn't have the parks and rec that other suburban areas of the metro do. the Hickman Mills community would greatly benefit from having the Three Trails development include the tournament fields. hopefully allowing urban, african-american youth to start playing soccer at an early age like their suburban peers do.
Colorado also practices on a field adjacent to the stadium. The team headquarters, weight room, etc. are part of the stadium.
no, you missed the joke of one of the classic threads of bigsoccer, thanks to jade and her google image search that "proved" that Philadelphia kids played soccer in the street. when in fact it looks like they're playing dodge ball...
Wait, African-American youth? In Kansas City? That's impossible! Jade has constantly implied that Kansas City is lillywhite and she wouldn't ever post out of her ass, would she?
I think the most important quote from the article is this: "A proposal to redevelop the Bannister Mall area with a project anchored by a Wizards soccer stadium was endorsed today following a compromise that won support from Mayor Mark Funkhouser." Getting the mayor's approval was the biggest hurdle, since he publicly stated he was not going to approve the project's financing in it's current state. As long as he is true to his word and approves the committee's recommendation, I think we are golden. Stay tuned for the final council vote tomorrow....we may have to have a party!
the mayor does have a say, but as the article mentions, the mayor has dropped the objections he had last week.
Has the proposed state financial assistance already been approved contingent on the city authorizing super TIF, or is that a later step? If so, does anyone know when that would be taken up? Anyway, it sounds very promising; congratulations!