I agree. Raleigh was not ready for a downtown arena back then. I would rather build a sustainable neighborhood first then add the area, rather than the other way around. I can imagine the crappy build quality and design of stuff around it if it ever materialized around an Downtown arena from this era. Late 90’s early 2000’s —-stucco city crap.
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HAHA I still call it the ESA. The naming rights hadn’t been worked out when I was in school. The NCSU marching band played for a scrimmage basketball game when it first opened. Then we marched across the parking lot and into Carter-Finley for a football game. Glad to say “I was there” when it opened. 
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Looks like Charlotte, USA got themselves an MLS franchise.
Pays to have David Teppers bank account. Its what Malik was missing.
There’s a tunnel that goes under EMR between Wade Park and the arena complex. Beyond that I’m not sure what else they can do without disrupting the traffic flow. It works pretty good on game days and just on other days (the arena/stadium complex is a great car free place to walk run on non-event days)
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They say anecdotal evidence is the strongest, most sound data there is so there’s no way you’re wrong on this.
Almost every (I.e > 90%) independent economist that has looked at whether public stadium finance benefits a municipality has concluded that public financing does not benefit the municipality financially, but you know not to listen to those nerds. Very good. Those nerds never saw people spending REAL money in person.
And besides, the research triangle does not count the educational level of its residents and strong educational institutions as an asset that drives its economy, so spending on that crap can’t possibly benefit anybody but the whiny nerds at the libraries and schools.
Anyway, even if you don’t consider the two as mutually exclusive, giving public money to real estate developers and private businesses with little guaranty of repayment has literally never gone wrong, and is a bet I’d make with my own money. Now if you’ll excuse me, the wallet inspector is knocking and I need to let him in.
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Doesn’t mean Raleigh can’t get an MLS team citing some of there teams like (Cincy and Columbus and the future Sacramento team and San Jose are an hour away) one it just means Malik will need some investors then convince the commissioner and most importantly the board of governor’s (owners) and Tepper (if he’s granted a franchise) joins it that there can be a in-state rivalry and use Ohio and California as proof and say the market is created inequally and attack David Tepper MLS fanbase and support. And the state size. Then us fans just need to rally together.
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Unless there’s an economist who can put a dollar figure on the value of personal experience and civic identity, all studies discussing the monetary return on stadium investment are based on anecdotal evidence.
It’s not the City’s job to make a profit on public investment. The City’s responsibility is safety, health, a healthy business environment and high quality of life.
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I don’t see any owner willing to put the new MLS franchise fees up in Raleigh considering now a team in Charlotte. IMO time to go all in on MLB. Better draw for eastern North Carolina populace anyway.
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Watching ESPN at the gym last night, the reporter was critical of the attendance of both Florida MLB teams & suggested one move to North Carolina. Don’t know any more than that from an unknown announcer.
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I actually just posted something about this topic over at the Bring MLB to Raleigh thread, but the Rays have an ironclad use agreement that binds them to St. Petersburg through 2027, and the Marlins have a lease agreement with Miami that runs significantly longer than that, so this announcer was not super well informed on the topic.
By the way, I don’t know if this always come across clearly, but I love urban environments and I love sports, and so I too enjoy downtown stadiums, and if some enterprising capitalist wants to try build a downtown arena or MLB stadium with their own money rather than public money, I would be perfectly delighted to see that happen.
But I also watch sports because I enjoy watching sports, regardless of whether it’s downtown or out on Wade Avenue or what-have-you, so if somebody brought a MLB team to the Triangle and they put the team out in Apex, I would just drive to Apex and watch the team there, and that would be just fine because I happen to really like baseball.
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While we’re talking hypotheticals for this block, what about a baseball stadium for our future MLB team? Would have to REALLY tight and would make the field have some unique dimensions, but it would make for an amazing skyline view from home plate …
https://mlbraleigh.com/the-southern-gateway/
Shoutout to @wmgadd for the map view
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can we please give up this notion that we’ll get an MLB team… 
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Why would we do that?
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MLB is for old retired cities - lol
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Even if you could cram a baseball stadium there, where would you park.
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Why should we do that?
MLB will expand in the next 5-7 years. By then who knows what Raleigh looks like. We already know Manfred (commissioner) is planning for expansion and has interest in this region for a multitude of reasons.
Had the ‘MLS to 919’ movement and planning started 5-7 years ago, we may very well have beaten Charlotte to the punch. This was an article stating just that from the N&O…
https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article238315783.html
Point is, you don’t have to like it and you definitely don’t have to support it, but dismissing the idea this far in advance is a bit short-sighted… especially when you’re talking about a movement that is costing you and the city absolutely nothing.
Ok sorry, back to the NCAE ‘block’
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Downtown Raleigh has tons of parking decks and surface lots to park at. Probably would also do some park and ride buses from a few locations around the greater area.
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Hubs and I park on Kindley for NC Symphony concerts on late Saturday evenings as its the only place to park for free on the street. So, I’m intimately aware of the local environs. And, I can imagine the overload of trying to cram that many more fans in to that area when there is a performance going on in all three venues - Fletcher, Memorial, and Meymandi. It wouldn’t be pretty.
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Most Stadiums in the U.S. in most the fans park far, or take mass transit most don’t have parking that quaint mindset the city needs to get rid of no parking take transit walk most big cities with stadium you park maybe some blocks away or mass transit there are no parking lots.