Not interested in real football; never understood it. My favorite sports are baseball, American football, and basketball, in that order. However, MLS is good for this city and to pretend there's no real audience for real football is just stupid. I hate the debt-laden stadium deals (although I was for them originally), but I *do* hope the Dynamo somehow net a great facility and remain in Houston for decades to come.
Yeah, that whole Toyota Center thing did nothing in terms of sparking improvements in that part of downtown.
Walk around MMP and see how far out the bubble goes. Its about the distance people walk to their car.
I walk 8 blocks to my car. If we say 8 blocks in two directions, and 2 blocks in the other two directions, that's 100 blocks surrounding MMP. While 100 blocks is probably overstating it, you've inadvertently made a fantastic argument in favor of the difference MMP has made downtown. Couple that with the Toyota Center and improvements in the Theater District as well as to the George R. Brown, and we're beginning to have a good thing going. Bring on the football pitch!
If the dynamo can bring the same class of business that MMP can then I support it. I seriously doubt it can.
Well, first you were trying to shoot down that MMP/TC made much of a difference. Now, you are acknowledging a real benefit to the area--but only a certain class? Pray tell, what is "the same class of business", and what other "classes of business" are you concerned would come? (Perhaps you should just retreat to, "I don't like soccer!!")
What msn said... not everybody parks right next to the stadium. Hell I don't think anybody I know parks absolutely right next to the ballpark. Half the fun is walking around downtown or discvoery green area on your way to the ballpark. I actually don't mind parking down closer to main, catching some food at Live, and then walking the rest of the way up. Nobody should expect any stadium to creat an entire town/city surrounding it. And frankly, the master-planned communities haven't done that well around ballparks and arenas (or in the case of St. Louis, they can't even build it yet... and that's what they based most of the stadium on). What they can expect is decent dining/drinking options, some newer hotels, and some greenspace... but people will still largely be going to a ballpark to go tot he ballpark itself. I'm sure you would much rather prefer the walk that was at the Astrodome... which was basically a few shrubs/bushes as the most "exciting" aspect of near-stadium activity.
Well I disagree about your numbers and MMP park brings in 35K a game and is closer to downtown than the proposed stadium is. same class of business would be Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse.
No I like walking to the park. Its just I am being a bit more realistic about how much of the surrounding area bubble it will really help.
I might since I honestly watch hours of the world cup and saw 0 goals. But honestly you walk 8 blocks? I think I go about 3 blocks down texas to park. Where do you park?
I don't think you realize what was on the east end of downtown before those stadiums were built. It was absolutely dreadful. You also have to realize that this stadium can be used as a decent outdoor venue for concerts and other exhibitions not involving the Dynamo.
2 things in regards to what fmullegun has said... and i agree that the, "i don't like soccer" defense was a better one for him in this case. 1) you said the proposed stadium isn't downtown. from this view, that's pretty much downtown. 2) you stated that you want vic & anthony's type restaurants and high class businesses brought in, but as nick said, these master planned ideas don't generally work. furthermore, if you place these type of establishments around this proposed park you're probably going to have a similar effect that dallas is now seeing with the whole victory area. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/101208dnbusvictoryaac.31d87a5.html
no i did not but nice try (well not really since I never said it) Actually I said that class business would never be drawn.
allow me to rephrase my previous questions. how much closer would you want it? i'd think the location of this site would be negligible towards improvements given the proximity to downtown. this "bubble" effect would be ballooned if we were to have 3 major venues within walking distance. given the article i posted above, and taking in to account that the popularity of these sports (hockey & basketball) cant support the more upscale businesses, why would you only support the stadium if they were to receive these types of establishments?
Because this type of business brings in some serious revenue per sq ft. how much revenue is provided I think even you would admit it is not as much as the public pays. In another words we are somewhat paying for the status of having a team. If anyone has actual figures that show this particular stadium will pay off the debt itself before the lease is up thats awesome but I have a never seen one that claims this. The public is subsidizing a business at that point. As a fan you are part of the public that wants public funds to keep the team, I thinkw e have plenty of teams and putting out more cash in this time of economic downturn is foolish. IF someone can show that building a public park or facility on this land and then giving tax breaks to business surrounding it would not help even more than a stadium I would be surprised.
I'm guessing by hours you mean you watched 2 hours? http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/5060036.stm FTA:
