Please forgive if this is already posted.... Poll ranks transit center first-More than half of respondents opposed building soccer stadium Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Its stuff like this that always gets me involved in Politics. I tell ya some day I will be a senator or something and just because I am irritated at a bunch of idiots that wont act on anything. I feel sorry for Rochester. just build something, anything
Great article. Covered each of the alternatives well. I figure I'd support mass transit over a soccer stadium myself. Sachin
Rhinos remain on MLS radar Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Hunt getting involved in Rochester, it seems
I just love how 609 registered voters are supposed to represent an accurate cross-section of the people. Polling and generalizing is so inaccurate and unfair. This system needs to change.
Polling can be inaccurate, but sample sizes are pretty straightforward - That let's you know the confidence one can have in a survey. The more important part is how the questions are worded.
http://www.rhinossoccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1287 The Rhinos expect to be able to break ground later this month.
how many seats will the stadium housed? I heard some figure from a few weeks ago about the fact that it will be 10-15 for A-league and 20-25 for MLS. Which model will the stadium base on? Oh, I remember now...The stadium will be built in stages. If it got MLS approval, it will expand to accomodate MLS seating. Please Correct me if I am wrong.
The current plan is to have 13,500 permanent seats and 4000 additional temporary bleacher seats next year for a total seating capacity of 17,500. Word is that they could expand the stadium to as much as 30,000 seats if that much seating is deemed neccessary in the future and they have the capital to do the expansion.
http://www.rhinossoccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1287&whichpage=2 Per Funke [edit: Local TV Sports anchor]: The Empire Development Corp approved the $15 million transfer today. Rhinos will hold a press conference next week to outline the conctruction schedule.
Soccer stadium grant awarded http://www.democratandchronicle.com/news/0822JB1J6FD_nb22_news.shtml (August 22, 2003) — The state on Thursday approved passing a $5 million state grant to the city for the construction of a soccer stadium downtown, one of the final steps to get the project started. On Tuesday, the Rochester Urban Renewal Agency is expected to agree to serve as an agency for the $15 million grant so the money can go to the Rochester Rhinos for the stadium’s construction. Also on Tuesday, City Council plans to approve the creation of an Erie Canal Urban Renewal District at the stadium site near Frontier Field, and abandon a portion of Oak Street for the facility to be built. Rhinos owner Frank DuRoss and city officials refused to comment on a redesign of the $23 million stadium. DuRoss said the team plans a news conference Wednesday to unveil the changes. Construction of the 13,000-seat stadium is to begin this fall and finish in time for the Rhinos season opener next spring.
It sounds like you guys are a week or so away from wrapping up all the stadium prelimininaries. Good luck!
Frank DuRoss held a mini press conference at halftime tonight. He said all the financing is in place, only paper work remains to be finalized. But still no groundbreaking date.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/sports/rhinos/0824571JLC1_rhnot24_rhinos.shtml Stadium statement Rhinos president Frank DuRoss issued a statement regarding the financial stability of the team's proposed stadium. It read, in part: "The state has asked for ours and my personal financial guarantee as it relates to any cost overruns. ... They've reviewed my personal financial statements, tax returns and those of co-owners Steve Donner and Chris Economides) and made the determination that there are sufficient assets to handle any possible ... operating deficits if that case arises.'' The team expects to break ground on the stadium this fall. http://wroctv.com/news/story.asp?id=9944 The Rochester Rhinos long-anticipated soccer stadium will not be ready for the start of the 2004 season, team officials said Saturday. Instead, it will be ready by mid-season. Team owner Frank DuRoss says the delays have nothing to do with the team's ability to raise the necessary funds. He also told News 8 that he never intended for the stadium to be ready by the first game of 2004. "We have a few more details to tie up. They're not financing related," said DuRoss. "We are confident we will get there." News 8 Now was first to report the team scaled back its most recent stadium design by a few million dollars. It will lease a building nearby for locker rooms and offices. The price tag is now about $20 million dollars, according to Rhinos CEO Steve Donner, who spoke to News 8 earlier in the week. The state is contributing $15 million to the project. The team hopes to be in its new home by the middle of next season. It will have 17,000 seats. The Empire State Development Corporation has approved the state grant last week. It still needs approval from another state board. That will likely happen next month. The Rhinos hope to break ground soon afterwards.
It does make me question whether the Rhino brass can afford MLS. OTOH, there is the possibility that the change is related as much or more to the time required for construction than it does the cost.
The talk around Rochester is that a current MLS team that is drawing poor crowds where they are currently located (think SJ or Colorado) moving to Rochester is much more likely than Rochester being an expansion site. Rhinos ownership feels like they have a stable organization that has a proven fan base. Once they get the stadium built they look at it like MLS needs them more than they need MLS. So why pay a big expansion fee? And the whole locker room/team store/admin offices location is only 40 feet away from where they had planned to build them. So why spend a couple of million to build a new building that is only 40 feet closer when you can use a building that is already there? I think that part is a non-issue. The question I have is whether or not the money saved there will be put towards improving other parts of the stadium or whether it will just simply come off the bottom line.
Here's follow up to the Saturday's article: http://democratandchronicle.com/news/0826421K7DJ_soccer26_news.shtml My reaction to Saturday's article is that it's David Gantt playing the crumudgeon. He's just ornery and even more ornery because he hasn't found a way to kill the project or skim off of it. He likes having people dependent on him. Anyhow, the project continues to move forward with some interesting twists and turns. FYI, the 12.6K crowd the other night was a great morale booster. The Rhinos have battling bad weather, a bad economy and some schedule/calendar quirks with their attendance.
Jim Bob, FYI, Colorado is 2nd in the league in avg. attendance: 17,659. The 'Quakes on the other hand....
The issue in Colorado may not be attendance as much as it is the lease. All I know is that Colorado and SJ are the two teams most often associated with talks of relocating a current MLS franchise to Rochester. Plus, the rumor mill had the Dallas Burn close to coming to Rochester a year ago before deals to play at Dragon Stadium and to build the SSS in Frisco were complete. If PTP were up and running a year ago the Burn may not have stayed in the Dallas area.