Dillon (Andy)--first off thanks so much for founding this awesome group of supporters that love the "beautiful game" and also the City of Brotherly love. Hats off to you and Brian and anyone else I'm forgetting. Re: "Philly Live." I think the concept is good because it leverages our reputation as a Sports Town. Not that this and the stadium deal are related, but perhaps if anything this will give more fuel to our supporters in Harrisburg who want to see the Chester deal pass through.
I don't see this being built. That's killing off a bunch of parking spaces (and a lot of coin for the stadium authority). People go to Franklin Mills to shop and to the Airport Hilton for their accomodations anyway. You'd frankly have to widen the entire I-95 corridor to five lanes each way through that stretch to take on the traffic, which is bad enough as it is. The SSS will be in Chester. Philadelphia Athletic will be founded. Don Garber will be happy. And there will be plenty of happy SOBs everywhere!
That's the company that is "building" ballpark village in downtown St. Louis for us. Maybe yours will actually be built. Ours has been nothing but fancy concept renderings and a hole in the ground for 3 years.
Spectacor has had some absolutely spectacular business failures the last two decades. The handling of Eric Lindros, the mismanagement of Ticketron, the dissolution of the Spectrum Showcase sporting goods stores, you name it. It's a pretty picture, but it ain't gonna be built. The first emotional NFC East loss, the entire structure under that canopy is going to be trashed worse than the Camden riots in 1968.
I hope they don't tear down the Spectrum for this....it's superior to CoreStates (I'm dating myself) for any event. A little grubby but just a better sporting experience all around.
uh, buh-bye spectrum ... http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=19223231&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=618959&rfi=6 http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2008/01/21/daily18.html http://wfmz.com/view/?id=211093
I think it's a great idea and really hope it comes to fruition. The sports complex sorely needs something to encourage more than tailgating. This would also fill in the empty space just outside of the BSL station nicely. It's a shame the Spectrum will probably be demolished because I refuse to pay to see the Flyers so the Phantoms are a nice alternative. It's a shame they don't see the value in putting in a smaller rink (7000 seats maybe) that could be used for the events the Spectrum now holds. Is there room at the Chester site for a small ice arena? Move the Phantoms there and now you've upped the site usage by tons.
Spectacor/Comcast-Spectacor has had the development option on that land ever since they got the JFK site. If the stadium authority was counting any revenue from that area as anything other than a bonus, that's their own fault.
i really don't like this plan at all...no one will go there unless its game day, the plan looks too generic (Disneyworld for adults), and they are tearing down another Philadelphia sports landmark to do it...just a bad idea all around