http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/othersports/story/A059144A79AAE0388625725C0012B132?OpenDocument "Collinsville Mayor Stan Schaeffer acknowledged Saturday that Collinsville is the Metro East site that is under consideration as the potential home of a Major League Soccer franchise in the St. Louis area." Paul.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...8.687788,-90.029526&spn=0.035173,0.061798&t=h So here is the location any idea where the 200 acres is located? Open parcels to the SW, NE and SE.
Well, here we go. I always thought the Collinsville plan was to put up a stadium alongside I-55. Maybe I just pulled that out of my ass, but whatever. While I still don't believe Collinsville, or much of the Metro East is a good plan for an MLS franchise in STL, I guess we have to take what we can get, right? Plus, the potential ownership group MUST know something we don't. Cooper is a St. Louisan, and he knows the disparities that exist b/e the city and Metro East. Maybe a study was done that showed people WILL cross the river to watch soccer. Who knows. Just bring a team already.
55, 70, 64 and 255/270 all pass within a couple miles of this proposed Collinville site. You may not get lots of fans from way out west, but if you keep the eastside stadium close to 255 then you should still draw well from north and south county, add the growing areas in southern Illinois and now about 75% of the metro fan base is with 30 mins. The land should be relatively cheap and there's plenty available to develop for the youth fields that nearly every stadium project now involves . . . also easy to develop adjoining commercial interests too such as fast foods, etc . . . doesn't this site make some sense?
There's lots of empty land over there. If they're talking about around the racetrack, it's in that middleground where there's getting to be too much crap around to farm it, but its still pretty wide open. They'd proabbly be able to get a really cheap deal.
Collinsville, investor plan to hire consultant for advice on stadium By Shane Graber ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Thursday, Feb. 15 2007 COLLINSVILLE — A prominent area lawyer and this city plan to hire a consultant to determine whether a 20,000-seat outdoor stadium is a good fit here, officials said Wednesday. Economics Research Associates, an international consulting firm that specializes in the entertainment industry, will look at whether a stadium here can pay for itself. The city and East Alton attorney and investor Jeff Cooper expect to spend $75,000 on the consultant. The two would split the bill. The stadium would host concerts and other special events, and it would be home to a professional soccer team. City officials think the most likely site is at the southwest section of the intersection of Interstate 255 and Horseshoe Lake Road. Officials want a stadium plan that won't cost city taxpayers anything, said Paul Mann, the city's community development director. "We don't want to put the city's coffers at stake," Mann said. He said the city hopes the stadium would pay for itself through concessions, parking and other revenue. "We don't want anything from the general fund to go toward this." Mann said consultants ideally would find new revenue streams officials haven't yet considered. Cooper is working with the city on bringing the stadium to town. Cooper, who wasn't available for comment, recently tried to buy Real Salt Lake, a Major League Soccer team in Salt Lake City, and move it here. Economics Research Associates did consulting work for building a stadium there, too. The firm said it would be a bad public investment and cost taxpayers too much, according to news articles. But the Utah Legislature approved a $35 million financing package that kept the team in Salt Lake City. Still, Cooper has vowed to bring professional soccer to the St. Louis area by next year. Cooper thinks there is enough time to get a stadium built for that season. Major League Soccer has 13 teams and hopes to add three more during the next several seasons. A recent Major League Soccer study determined that the St. Louis area could support a professional team. If the city decides the stadium is feasible, it will put out requests for proposals for other development ideas around the stadium, Mann said.
"Still, Cooper has vowed to bring professional soccer to the St. Louis area by next year. Cooper thinks there is enough time to get a stadium built for that season." How could this possibly happen? This is either bad reporting or ridiculous optimism...
I have to agree. It took the Fire 18 months from the day they broke ground to build Toyota Park. We have 15 months to the start of the 2008 season. We don't even have a stadium plan yet which means we are months away from any ground breaking. Definitely not going to happen "next year".
Busch Stadium wasnt finished when the Cardinals started playing in it, it is definately possible if they want to get it done
Busch Stadium Facts: GroundBreaking: Jan 17, 2004 Field Installed: March 15, 2006 - 26 months later First Game: April 10, 2006 WE DON'T EVEN HAVE A PLAN YET - or a team for that matter. They are just now seeking someone to do a feasibility stuy. They won't break ground for at least 6 months. You cannot build a stadium in less than a year.
And what happens when the results of the study indicate that building a stadium in Collinsville is a bad idea? It's one thing to have a team in place and threaten to sell it to another city's ownership group, but to have no team in a market that already has three major league sports teams, that threat will ring hollow. I can't see the Illinois legislature being cowed into this like Utah's did.
If Cooper's spending over $37,000, I don't think any consultant would return the absolute worst result possible.
Sport Billy, there is no way building a soccer stadium will take nearly as long as Busch did, the soccer stadium would be no where near as big, and it will be easier building it in an open field than in the middle of the city and having to work around old Busch, which is why new Busch took 26 months, the Busch example was just to point out that the stadium who not have to be completely finished when the season started, i also don't see why they would have to wait six months to start building it, Cooper seems like the type of business man who might start building a stadium before getting a team to force the issue
Didn't the Fire start the first month or two on the road? And, the Rams had to play in another stadium before the Dome was ready (ahead of schedule). Although I doubt we get the 2008 team, I don't think it's out of the question. It's pretty much a race between us and San Jose, and I don't see them getting any headlines.
Isn't the point in paying a consultant $37,500 now for the truth so that you don't spend 10's of millions to come to the same conlcusion, albeit much more painfully, later? I wouldn't expect the consultant to return the absolute worst possible result, but my point was that even if the news is fairly unpleasant, that would be sure to delay the start of the construction of a stadium. 2008 seems to be a pipe dream for having an MLS team in St. Louis.
Wait a minute - YOU brought up Busch not me. All I'm saying is you cannot Do feasability study Get government approval Purchase land and build a stadium in 15 months. I'm not saying we won't get a team and that they couldn't play somewhere else. I'm just saying a stadium will not be completed by the start (or even the middle) of the 2008 season. Additionally, why would MLS do it in a rush for 2008 when they can do it right for 2009?
The truth is fine, but if the truth is negative, you better make sure it isn't public. Judging other stadium experiences, municipalities and ownership groups make sure to have a study in such a public manner to show citizens that investing in a stadium will benefit the whole community (or at the very least show them that they aren't getting ripped off). I would hope Cooper would not spend that much money if he weren't confident of a positive report that would be released to the public.
Does anyone else think it's odd that they're using the same consultants that concluded that Salt Lake's stadium was too big a risk for taxpayers? I mean, they got that deal done anyway, but it seems like if anything the Utah study worked against them. Since Cooper has spoken to Checketts about this stuff I wonder if they already figure they've got something going for them that RSL didn't have.
I'm sure they'll just say "Well, in Utah they needed to use tax dollars, but that's because they're mormons who don't drink. You guys can let this thing pay for itself with overpriced beer sales. Just ask the Cardinals."
i guess i just dont see why being unreasonably optimistic is so unreasonable besides my ONLY point was that the stadium WOULD NOT have to be completely finished when the season started, like Busch
It doesn't matter who the consultants are or what the realities of the situation are. In public policy in only matters what they were hired to find out. In Utah they were hired by legislature leaders who were against the stadium. Lo and behold they found out the stadium was a bad idea. Here they are being hire by a town hopeful the stadium is a good idea and the would be owner of the team in that stadium. I am not curious at all what that study will conclude. In the end it doesn't even matter whether the stadium is a good idea or not. That is not what politicians consider when deciding on an issue. It only matters whether those politicians think the issue will help them or hurt them when the next election rolls around. Getting votes is the deciding factor on how every politician votes on every issue.
Let's get our shovels out and drive over there and start digging! Let's get the show on the road! Geez. Anyone have the software to start printing tickets?