Texas Rangers Stadium in Arlington

[tamtagon]

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/arlingto ... /336558226

David Goins, WFAA October 17, 2016

...The poll found 42 percent of voters are in support of, and 42 oppose the public-private partnership proposal between the Rangers and the city of Arlington for a stadium to open in 2020. Another 16-percent said they were unsure how they would vote on the ballot measure.

Stadium price tag is $1.2 billion, $500 from Arlington.

[dukemeredith]

So, what happens if Arlington voters vote "no?" Does Dallas become a legitimate contender, or will the Rangers be lured by Frisco or Plano?

Obviously, they'd have a good deal of time to think about it, since their current lease doesn't expire until 2024.

[The_Overdog]

Does Dallas become a legitimate contender, or will the Rangers be lured by Frisco or Plano?

Plano/Allen/Richardson doesn't have the space without bulldozing a neighborhood. Frisco/The Colony, Grand Prairie or Irving seem like the outsider choices with Dallas or Ft Worth being the lead choices.

However, any plans any of these places have for luring The Rangers are seriously back-room kinda stuff. None have announced anything even sort of legitimate.

[rantanamo]

Richardson has plenty of space

[The_Overdog]

For a suburban-esque stadium with parking? Where? Only about 4% of the land in the city is empty, and much of it has already been spoken for.

[dukemeredith]

First I've seen FW mentioned as a dark horse. That would be... somethin'

[electricron]

I fail to see what is so wrong with the existing ballpark requiring a brand new one to fix it?

[gpnupe]

Their biggest reason for building a new stadium is for the retractable roof so it can be cooled during hottest games of the season.

[cowboyeagle05]

Their biggest reason for building a new stadium is for the retractable roof so it can be cooled during hottest games of the season.

Also because they want to lure events to the facility as is the baseball stadium can't do with its current configuration. A retractable roof means they can also design things so the field can be removed/covered for private events like concerts etc. Think of it this way if another Super Bowl were to come our way the Rangers stadium would mostly likely be the site of some of the events that were in Dallas this time around. The Rangers want to make money when games aren't happening and the existing stadium doesn't permit that.

[rantanamo]

They could do all of those things with their current facility. They don't want to. The Braves made them...................brave.

[tamtagon]

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/arlingto ... -landslide

[url]Texas Rangers stadium vote passes in landslide[/url]
Written by Jeff Mosier Loyd Brumfield

...An Arlington proposition to help fund at least half of the new ballpark passed easily with the opposition conceding early in the evening. The deal will keep the Rangers in their original hometown through the team’s 82nd season, which would come in 2053.

Now, the Dallas Citizens Council can more productively focus efforts on bringing a new team to the Convention Center area of downtown! ha

I doubt Arlington will have the will or money to situate passenger rail stations in this promising expanded tourist zone, but that will remain on the wish list.

[muncien]

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/arlington/2016/11/08/texas-rangers-stadium-vote-passes-landslide

[url]Texas Rangers stadium vote passes in landslide[/url]
Written by Jeff Mosier Loyd Brumfield

...An Arlington proposition to help fund at least half of the new ballpark passed easily with the opposition conceding early in the evening. The deal will keep the Rangers in their original hometown through the team’s 82nd season, which would come in 2053.

Now, the Dallas Citizens Council can more productively focus efforts on bringing a new team to the Convention Center area of downtown! ha

I doubt Arlington will have the will or money to situate passenger rail stations in this promising expanded tourist zone, but that will remain on the wish list.

Due to the fact that the financing for this project revolves around parking taxes, it pretty much eliminates any chance of transit around here. One would contradict the other. I wouldn't be surprised to see a new tax applied to Uber/Lyft drops within a certain distance of the stadium as well... if they can find a way to do it.

[tamtagon]

^I believe you're right! ...well, for regular passenger trains that is, commuter or light rail; but if we're talking High Speed Rail between Fort Worth and Dallas then it's all good!

[electricron]

^I believe you're right! ...well, for regular passenger trains that is, commuter or light rail; but if we're talking High Speed Rail between Fort Worth and Dallas then it's all good!

Arlington is never going to see a HSR train station as long as it doesn't have any type of public transit - including buses. Arlington would be far beeper served by public transit than by a HSR line. Just check out the passenger data from LA, Chicago, and NYC downtown stations served by Amtrak (which I'll admit isn't a true HSR service). Let's compare commuter traffic with intercity traffic.
NYC Pennsylvania Station
Amtrak passengers 27,900 daily
NJT passengers 92,300 daily
LIRR passengers 231,100 daily
Chicago Union Station
Amtrak passengers 9,000 daily
METRA passengers 108,000 daily
LA Union Station
Amtrak passengers 5,200 daily
Metrolink passengers 27,900 daily

Note: I did not include any buses, subways or light rail trains ridership at these stations, which make the local commuter rail ridership data look small. Never-the-less, commuter rail ridership far exceeds intercity rail ridership everywhere.

I know most will respond that's what happens in liberal land, blue states, and doesn't or shouldn't reflect what occurs in Texas. So, to keep the data local, here's the data from Dallas' Union Station.
Amtrak 123 daily
TRE 2,800*
DART 3,200*
*Note: West End Station has DART's highest ridership at 8,700 back in 2006. DART and TRE data very old and before Green and Orange lines opening for service.
Never-the-less, intercity ridership is far, far below local ridership.

Which is why, if we're going to spend a $Billon of public finances on a rail line connecting Dallas to Fort Worth, I much prefer spending it on a local, regional type train than an intercity train, no matter how fast it goes.

[gshelton91]

I would still love to see Dallas build a Minor league size stadium downtown. It could be used for DISD games as well as a minor league like the one in Grand Prairie not affiliated with Pro Baseball.

I went to an Stars game last night (Tuesday) and it's a pain during the week - no way i am driving out to Arlington but i might be willing to drive downtown to watch baseball.

I really wish Dallas had played a little hard ball with the Rangers and floated building a Minor league stadium downtown a year ago when we found out they were interested in building a new stadium. Incentive taxes are ultimately less useful than competition that could jeopardize the fundamentals of your business pro forma.

[tamtagon]

I remember some of the forum's Fair Park imaginings put a MLB stadium there, but I've always preferred a convention center attached MLB stadium. gshelton, what about a Fair Park for DISD and Texas League baseball?

I'm officially glad the Rangers stayed in Arlington, and I continue the head-scratching free money sweet-heart stadium deals still being gifted to such a profitable league. Nevertheless, the baseball stadium in Arlington really should be similarly bad-ass as Cowboys Stadium. I can wait for new-to-the-region MLB team to settle in Dallas, and considering how fast North Texas is growing, that may not be such a pipe dream. Marketing and promotion and loads of money, connections and influence made Dallas, and that's the disposition that will encourage a second MLB team in North Texas.

[quote=electricron]Arlington is never going to see a HSR train station[/quote]

I couldn't agree more, hopefully the Arlington booster clubs wont be too disappointed. Piling more community cash into the stadiums and finally inventing ancillary entertainment destinations might stick this time and turn Arlington into a more thorough place to check out.

[Tnexster]

So I think this stadium is under way. They have fenced off the parking lot directly west of the Ballpark and the parking lot is almost gone. On the other hand, they also fenced off the property where Texas LIVE is "supposed" to be located but there is still no activity taking place there even months after it was fenced off and signs erected.