04/20/24
November 09, 2016
SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Whaaat? People in other states get to vote for these things?
--Nevada
posted by tahoemoj at 11:46 AM on November 09, 2016
Like millions of others, I woke up today to a headline I was not emotionally prepared to see.
posted by rcade at 01:43 PM on November 09, 2016
I'm not understanding why the Rangers need a new facility. The one they have now is not that old. Isn't it mid-90's, part of the ballpark renaissance that came on the heels of Camden Yards?
What was the justification for approving the expenditure? Was the team threatening to leave? Are the seats getting slimy?
Arlington has been known for this sort of prioritization and decision making. At one time, it was the largest municipality in the country without a public transit system of any kind. Then they did procure a small fleet of buses, so that claim is no longer valid.
posted by beaverboard at 01:50 PM on November 09, 2016
The Rangers ballpark is 22 years old, which is six less than Arlington Stadium when it was succeeded by that facility.
There's no real need to replace the park unless you think the lack of a retractable roof is an issue. I think this is just another chance to redirect millions in public money to private gain. The Rangers used the scare of the team going to Dallas to help get this approved.
posted by rcade at 02:13 PM on November 09, 2016
In a rare bout of sanity, voters in San Diego rejected the tax which would've paid for the Charger's new stadium.
If the Spanos family hadn't spent the last 15 years vigorously fucking San Diego in the ear, the election might have gone their way. One year of making nice doesn't make up for all that. I don't know if they'll even go to LA now - what for? To be the 2nd banana team in a town that's never cared about you? That's a Donald Sterling move.
posted by LionIndex at 09:49 PM on November 09, 2016
I haven't been following the Chargers closely. Is there much talk about moving them to Mexico?
posted by beaverboard at 11:53 PM on November 09, 2016
Doubtful. The whole thing with moving to LA was to "protect their market", since the owners said 25% of their ticket sales go to people in LA and they didn't want to lose that and any potential market growth to a new team coming in. It was all about money, and they're not going to make more money in Mexico than they do in San Diego.
posted by LionIndex at 08:17 AM on November 10, 2016
In a rare bout of sanity, voters in San Diego rejected the tax which would've paid for the Charger's new stadium. Voters in Texas went the other way and approved the ballot measure for the Rangers new ballpark.