Now that the new SF is halfway to completion, I wonder what the chances were with reopening discussions with Arlington heights for a stadium. Now I realize this is probably unlikely but what if we gave it another shot. Daley is having his stadium built regardless of the Fire playing there or not. When the Fire was holding discussions with AH, the city was simultaneously pushing through the bond sale and proposal for the new SF. As I recall Daley had a bit of a hard time pushing it through for just 8 dates a year. He used the Fire as leverage to help float the bond sale. With SF getting built Daley may be more open to allowing such a move by the Fire this time around. With the race track industry also doing worse now than it did last year Ah may be more open to that extra income. I am sure they may have been considered but I thought I would throw it out there regardless. What are your opinions?
I was actually thinking the exact same thing. It was suggested in another thread that Hala knew something more about the situation than what is generally known by the public. Hala?
I'm sure the mayor will be delighted to lose a stream of revenue that he'll have to replace in some other way.
The length of the term was allegedly the biggest sticking point in that deal, so two things need to have changed for Arlington to be back in play: 1) The Churchill Downs people have to be committed to the racetrack itself for more than five years. 2) Those same Churchill Downs people have to be convinced that the league will be around for more than five years. At least that's what it looks like to me, although I may be confusing #1 with speculation on Sportsman's Park. I haven't heard Arlington Heights come up as an option lately, but I haven't really been talking to anyone about a stadium, either. Then there's the whole Clear Channel (nee SFX) vs. Jam vs. ConcertsWest angle. Just on principle, I'd want to see them align with Jam, but CC most likely has more clout. Later, COZ
I am sure he wouldn't pleased with it but politically he got the job done. He may be able to chalk up the fire leaving as the price of a capitalistic market. He has an out and he could spin it as such. I think that AH should be considered again. As for Sportsmans Park I have no idea about our site. I just wanted to see if AH was still do able now that some of the roadblocks may have been lifted.