Did anyone see this already? Or has EVERYONE seen this and I'm just late... http://www.rochesterdandc.com/sports/bills/0726story1_bills.shtml Sound to me like the local pol process is holding up a significant opportunity for the Rhino community to get something done; does this mean MLS possibilities?
Yes, you are right. It is the local political process, not the state process. Last I heard (having not read your link) the city was debating how big a stadium should be.
This is nice to see. Actually, I'm a little surprised that Pataki would have this info in his head. I mean, that $15 million was voted a year or two ago. Then again, I'm not local, so I have no idea how big an issue this is for upstate NY. Anyway, it's nice because it reaffirms what we all thought (hoped) was the case; namely that that $15 million wasn't going anywhere. Plus, it puts a bit of pressure on the dimwitted local politicos who've been holding up this deal for so very long.
I thought the issue was location. The orignal plan called for a downtown stadium. Some local politicians, who hated the idea of the stadium, called for numerous financial studies of the idea. Eventually, they came to the conclusion that there wasn't enough financing to built it downtown. I've heard that a suburban site (Gates) is being considered now. The size, as I understand it, is about 20,000.
As it stands now the stadium will hold appx. 20,000 and it will be in downtown. If it gets any smaller, or changes location PaeTec has the option of withdrawing the naming rights. When this idea was presented Monroe County created the 'Sports Authority' which is supposed to represent the people. This whole process with the locan government and the SA is making this whole process rediculously long and needlessly wrecking some chances of Rochester going into the MLS.
Well I would suspect that Rochester is on a short list of expansion cities if this stadium is built. With an established fan base and a SSS you got to believe that the MLS is intersted. The question is whether investors will step up and pay the fees to join the MLS.
My "read between the lines" understanding of this: City of Rochester is playing CYA. Frontier Field will look like a joke without the Rhinos, because the baseball team doesn't do well enough to offset CITY expenses (city, as opposed to team). Therefore, holding the state money hostage for some sort of break or keeping the Rhinos and keeping them at Frontier becomes their preferred course of action. The only known counter is to give enough support to the Rhinos AND to a sponsor with enough pull in the city to make life hell if the effort fails. Not easy, but not impossible.
With a stadium and average attendance for the A-League team aroun 10,000, it should be no problem to find an investor. GREAT GREAT NEWS, though.
this really afects the rochester situation??? i don't think so... my opinion is the same that some people have... no seeing no believing!!!!
You are far more confident than I am. MLS has had virtually no luck in attracting new investors over the past 7 years. Hopefully, there's someone in Rochester just itching to buy into the Rhinos and MLS. We'll see. By the way, check out the boards on the Rhino's website to keep abreast of this issue. The whole thing seems very much up in the air to me. Sounds like Frank DuRoss would love to have the stadium downtown, but the money just isn't there at present.
Rochester Saw a Rochester game( Major League Lacrosse) on tv this weekend. All i know if the Lacrosse team is gonna play at this potential new stadium and chew up the field as bad as their current one looks, MLS should run as far and as fast as they can. The field was disgusting and unsightly. Naperville field looked like a gem compared to this place. It looked like a heard of elephants wearings 3 inch spikes ran through there.... Nate
Re: Rochester I don't recall ever hearing about lacrosse being played at Pae Tec Park, but I could be wrong. Regardless, don't over-react on this one. They've been known to play lacrosse at Crew Stadium (as well as the occassional pointy ball game) and, last I checked, it had a pretty decent playing surface for soccer. Frontier Stadium is shared by three sports: minor league baseball, A-League soccer and lacrosse. The playing surface really takes a beating. Don't assume that Pae Tec Park, with a grounds crew dedicated to making the place top-flight for soccer, wouldn't be able to handle a sizeable number of non-soccer events.