As @kgilbert78 points out, maybe the fact that this is more than two decades in the future means no one really cares that much right now. Plus, if this is in response to an article by Bill Bush, it's really not worth our time to discuss.
They won't be leaving, both because of the Modell law and the contract they signed for LDC. They currently get all the revenue from LDC and only pay $10 (yes, that's 10 dollars) a year in rent so buying out the stadium won't save them rent payments. Only scenario I see them exercising their right to buy would be if they need a new stadium and want it built elsewhere in the metro area. Then they might want the current LDC site for commercial real estate development. Maybe.
Wow I'm learning that there are parking ingress and egress issues at HCS for the first time. https://www.dispatch.com/story/ente...ffing/65417833007/?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot
In (probably) non-news, the company known as Lower.com had to recently downsize. They're blaming the raising of interest rates by the Federal Reserve. Naturally, the Crew FO refused comment. And then we have how much Nationwide and Huntington paid for their naming rights, but oddly enough, no comparison to other MLS stadia. It seems a better comparison to "similar deals" might be to other MLS stadia. https://abc6onyourside.com/news/loc...y-layoffs-huntington-bank-nationwide-columbus
I saw that, too. I don’t see why the Crew would have anything to say about the subject. Anyway, lower.com had fewer than 300 employees in 2000. Under 900 in 2021. And this have, what, over 1400 now? I mean, there’s job cuts and there’s job cuts (Columbus Business First reported that the job cuts were modest; I’ll see if I can find the number). The company seems to be doing pretty well, all in all. Edit: found it. While the company didn’t announce the number of job cuts, if it had been more than 50, it would have had to be reported to the state Dept of Job and Family Services. So fewer than 50 jobs were cut. The company had 1600 employees in August, 40 more than in January. So, basically, they have as many employees now as they had in January, and about 1300 - and over 400% - more than they had in 2020.
The Fed's increase in interest rates has driven up mortgage rates. That's led to fewer home sales which no doubts impacts Lower.com's business. I doubt it will affect their sponsorship for 2023 and the market expects rates to decrease once inflation subsides. Opinions differ over when that will be, of course but LDC doesn't need to make a decision on their sponsorship soon.
Thought this was cool and finishes with Columbus! 31 Cities. 10,000+ video submissions. 100,000+ voices. Captured by you, at every show across the North American Tour. After many hours of editing time I give you……. WISE MEN SAY :) pic.twitter.com/F9FkMpSent— Jacob Collier (@jacobcollier) October 12, 2022
And now, LDC has helped inspire the new NFL stadium being built in Buffalo. The Buffalo Bills' new stadium design is inspired by some newer @MLS stadiums (@ColumbusCrew) & London's @SpursStadium: canopy, stacked levels, slightly open exterior.It's also reminiscent of old Buffalo: Aud, Rockpile, Kleinhans.via @TheBuffaloNews: https://t.co/270Nq7aEc1— Tim O'Shei (@timoshei) October 27, 2022
Interestingly, both the new Titans and Bills stads will feature 10k fewer seats than their current digs
There's a trend here. Younger folks aren't into the season ticket thing as much. Even games at Ohio Stadium do not sell out like they used to. I also think the thought is to make the event more exclusive--which lets you raise prices. Baseball went to smaller stadia decades before, start9ng with Camden Yards.
I think it comes down to the price of tickets plus concessions vs sitting in front of a 65" flat screen in HD or 4K with all the cheap food and beer in your fridge and a comfy recliner.
That's certainly part of it. We watched the tPOSU-PSU game at a retreat house that had one of those, and the attraction is easy to see (and so was the game). But I also think it's a change in the culture to more spontaneity.
Nothing beats the in-stadium atmosphere, but the $500 for two tickets can buy a pretty decent TV anymore.
Not that I have data to support it, but I've been saying sports is pricing itself out of customers for a decade now. More and more of the higher end seats have been geared to corporate sales. Teams need to make their money somewhere, I don't begrudge that. But your average person can't afford to go to sporting events regularly anymore. My guess is that has much more to do with it than some sort of generational thing. Though, it's certainly possible, that as you price people out that younger people may be the first to be priced out and then the idea of season tickets may cease to be something they aspire to. also, those luxury boxes take up a lot of space. Look at old Ohio Stadium and then the expanded new part of Ohio stadium. That was a big difference. Yet, they only added 8000 seats because so much of the space went to boxes and media
Considering the nature of that stretch of highway, perhaps that's not a bad thing. I never caught more than a fleeting glimpse of the stadium, anyway. When I really should have been watching the road.