Raleigh Stadium/Arena/Sports Discussions

The Pub
41

Steve,

With NBA and NFL in Charlotte, those can be marked off as ‘never going to happen’ for Raleigh. Baseball and MLS are a little more realistic as the city continues to grow.

I’m not sure how many of you have spent time in a small market baseball city , but I have (KC). It’s not like going to Yankee games (which I also did growing up in NJ). It’s a completely different environment with a completely different demographic.

For the small market teams, a night at the ballpark isn’t about sitting in the seats and watching every pitch, painting y our face and rooting as loud as you can for a win. Some may do that , sure, but that fan (as you mentioned) is dying off.

What is emerging, however, is the fan who brings his/her kids and spends 2 or 3 innings with them in the play area. Or the group of friends who sit in the bleachers, gets dinner at the ballpark (most parks now have tons of local options) and a few beers (also mostly local) at the ballpark and chat during some of the game. It’s becomjng an alternative to going downtown to grab a dinner and drinks.

Small market baseball is working, and it’s working because ticket prices are cheap, food isn’t THAT crazy expensive and beers are reasonable $6 - $7.

Atlanta is also doing monthly subscription ticketing which was doing really well with young professionals last I heard

The sport is reaching out to a younger generation and is currently gaining traction. They had a rough few months to start the season (likely weather related) but are rebounding pretty well.

Here is a must-read for all the “Baseball is dying” believers…

MLB has also put a lot of resources into their digital experience and deep-stat transparency (Statcast). Raleigh’s tech demo would play well with MLB. Young professionals who appreciate analytics, beer, and good food (and have money to spend).

Add that to the fact that we have great weather for baseball and Raleigh is desperately searching for a true draw downtown thats not restaurant/bar related.

So, to me, there really no good reason Raleigh shouldn’t be pushing for MLB just as hard as they are pushing for MLS right now.

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42

Let me add one more thing. I’m not the only one who sees this area as ‘can’t miss’ for MLB expansion. In 2016 a baseball economist was approached by an MLB executive about cities to key on for expansion. His choices were Raleigh and Montreal.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/major-league-baseball-future-expansion-cities-san-juan-menges-aai/

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43

Right. So there’s a middle ground between “the sport is dying” and “everything is great”. The author is doing his best to ignore the bigger picture by focusing purely on attendance figures. I personally don’t buy the bad weather argument because tv ratings are down too. With the exception of the 2016 Cubs World Series, ratings for the WS have been trending downward for over a decade, as well. And that says nothing about the qualitative points I raised earlier.

I know baseball fans can get pretty defensive about the sport, but ignoring the issues is a pretty bad idea.

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Ratings have been down because the Historic teams haven’t been that good recently. However, since the Cubs, Yankees and Red Sox have been playing great ball, MLB rating have been on a up turn. It is hard to have good ratings with teams that don’t have the history, or fan base. I dread to see the ratings of a Marlins world series if they were to ever make it again. But if there was a Cubs/Yankees WS, oh boy, WS ratings would be the highest in history.

45

Right, so this is getting pretty far off topic (my fault). Needless to say, this is the kind of thing I’d enjoy talking about over beers, but maybe not on this forum. I could probably argue this for hours, to be honest.

46

I may have created a monster with my post. :wink:

That said, I think it’s really awesome that so many people in this community (both our online community here and in Raleigh generally) care so much about the game. I think long-term the future of the sport is very healthy indeed.

As for the Raleigh-specific stuff, I think folks here make some great points. The passion for college sports in this area (plus the existence of franchises in Charlotte) means that the NBA and NFL are never going to come here, and that’s fine. I think MLB is probably going to come to Charlotte or Raleigh, but most definitely not both, at some point in the medium-term future. I think Charlotte is the more likely of the two, but it’s certainly possible that some quirk of fate could make MLB look our way instead.

Also, I am totally on board with @Steve’s suggestion to discuss this all in person over beers some time. :smiley:

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And there’s this bizarre element of history. A cynic would say the Twins were never serious about Greensboro… a mere ploy to get the new stadium they wanted (and eventually got).

48

I’m old enough that I remember that whole episode quite well. The Twins were never really involved in the effort to get voters in Greensboro to pay for a stadium to be constructed there. Instead, they had an agreement in place to sell the team to Don Beaver, who was then going to move the team to the Triad. As noted in the story, the deal fell through when the voters rejected the effort resoundingly, and I’m glad they did–putting an MLB team in Greensboro would have been a terrible idea.

FWIW, the Twins ownership group was 100 percent serious about selling the team. And while they ultimately did get that new stadium, it wasn’t until long, long after the proposed move to Greensboro was irrevocably dead.

49

I Love Sports…I love Football…Basketball…Hockey…and Baseball. Not a big Soccer fan, and I get it I live in a College town that loves college sports. the Only college sport that I actually been to was college football other than that I go to the Sports Bars watching my Hometown team…NYG/NYJ giants/jets. and I’m sure that I’am not the only one here. If you took a POLL of how many die hard sports fans here in the Triangle…you can truly fill up a “STADIUM” hint…hint !! My Guess is that if there was a stadium or a stadium being built in or near the Downtown area…growth will surely explode in the downtown core and outward. But who am I to say…Raleigh doesn’t want a stadium…or do they ?

50

The Malik MLS stadium and commercial district would be a huge improvement over the current situation and we’d definitely get a few more sports bars. Not a huge soccer fan but I do enjoy outdoor drinking.

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51

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I would Love to see this Stadium become a reality here in DTR…But the reality is that they will be no stadium in DTR …Why ? Because of our Current status…Not enough support from EVERYONE…lack of Transit…I could go on. Please prove me wrong, and call me a liar, Unless we make a 200% effort investment in DTR and make the Stadium a reality then we have truly made our DTR a place to enjoy and not just be satisfied with what we have now.

52

Convert the Malik idea into a Hockey Stadium, and move the Canes DT. Just like the Preds.

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53

12 posts were merged into an existing topic: Politics Topics on this Forum?

54

The Paramount was post dot-com crash with pre-sales starting in 2003 and closings in late 2005, so was The Dawson. The Hudson was also in this time period between dot-com crash and the great recession.
the pre dot com crash projects included The Cotton Mill, Park Devereaux, and 510 Glenwood,
222 Glenwood, West, The Hue (which converted to apartments from their condo presales), PNC “Plaza” condos, Palladium Condos, and the Marriott were coming online during the crash years of 2007-2008.
A TON of private investment was happening in DT Raleigh before the 2010 elections. In fact, the only things stopping development in the first decade of the Millennium were major recessions.
From the public funding perspective, the convention center, Fayetteville St renaissance, and the RedHat amphitheater were all completed pre 2010. The convention center’s opening was unfortunately timed to the very month of the economic collapse.

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(I’m still catching up on this thread)… but I agree with you on this. I’m not diminishing the challenges, but the State is a large organization that can make things happen quickly if leadership champions the cause.

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I would really like to see West connected going north from Peace, past Wade, to at least Wake Forest and maybe Atlantic. There was an opportunity to make the connection north of Wade with the Wade Ave. Bridge replacement, but the City chose a cheaper option. This allows Capital to become the freeway it already is along that corridor (at least in one direction) and might reduce speeds on Wake Forest between Capital and Whitaker Mill because a light exists at the north end of West Street.

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57

And I would have thought that having John Kane as one of the champions of this project would have helped move it forward…politics and all! :thinking:

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https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article216791810.html

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Key Highlights:

:black_small_square: Renovate and expand the Raleigh Convention Center to include more space and a “headquarters hotel” with at least 400 rooms.

:black_small_square: Figure out how to grow the area’s reputation around esports — usually video game competitions — and host gaming tournaments.

:black_small_square: Increasing the number of “signature events and festivals” plus traveling or permanent exhibits at area museums and cultural institutions.

:black_small_square: Increase international tourism with people visiting from Canada, parts of Europe, China and India.

:black_small_square: Add design elements and “unique visitor experiences” to projects within the county including Dix Park. These projects shouldn’t just be for the residents who live in the area, but a venue that an draw visitors.

Basically every we’ve discuss on this board.

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60

Also, develop Blue Ridge Rd into a new destination. I’d love to see Blue Ridge developed into something urban (though I doubt anything taller than 3-4 stories would be built). The Art Museum has over 150 acres of greenspace and is connected to greenways. It could be the centerpiece of a very nice urban neighborhood if done properly.

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