No, not Jeff Vinik this time....it's the Orlando Magic building year-round retail and entertainment to compliment its downtown Orlando arena. Although sports arenas are considered "retail" too, this further illustrates how owners are ready to foot the majority of the bill when its a profitable development...and not so much when its a stadium that ultimately costs more revenue than it creates.
That's why all those folks hoping Vinik and the Lightning get into the MLB stadium game shouldn't hold their breath...he stands to make a lot more money rebuilding Channelside Bay Plaza into a great entertainment venue rather than anything that would compete with hockey.
"Yah but!", wouldn't "Vinik" (or any other developer) "stand to make more money" if a ballpark was drawing 25k people 81+ days a year around their businesses?
ReplyDeletePlus, as far as "cost more revenue than it creates", isn't 100-200 million invested almost always takes a long time til' making more then invested money happens? Ask developers of condos, restaurants, hotels, etc. how long positive revenue takes. Because a ballpark in Tampa should be around for many decades to come, give or take a hurricane or something that would deter such progress...
And again, it's not "competing" against each other, it's more of a Lebron teaming w/ D.Wade kind of thing then the it won't work because of less shot opportunities for them...
A developer's retail complexes might make more money...if the developer didn't have to foot a giant mortgage to pay for a stadium. But busy traffic also scares a lot of people away from an area (see RNC '12), so it can sometimes hurt retail.
DeleteNevertheless, if Vinik can fill an entertainment complex without baseball, he likely doesn't need to spend hundreds of millions more to attract visitors there.
I'm sorry Noah, any intelligent progressive would believe the same that you just seem to never get the BIG picture! Which is a bad quality for a "report". Besides, ask how does the traffic scare people going to the Florida fair, concerts, etc.?
DeleteIf one doesn't believe traffic scares people away from big events, then one shouldn't believe Tropicana Field is too far for baseball fans from Tampa to drive.
DeleteLOL, what a stretch to try to make your opinion right! I mean how many people have you ever heard say "I'm not going to the game because of a lil' bit of traffic"? I guess in your own mind, if there was a million roads to choose from to get to a MLB stadium the average would go from "30,514" to 35k, huh? lol
DeleteNO'ah, we can talk about this, and debate that, but the Rays are moving to Channelside, Hillsborough co. will invest in the project, and there is nothing you or I can do about it!
Is B. real?
ReplyDelete