In a "bold statement to those who would steal" the MLB Rangers, the Arlington City Council yesterday "unanimously approved a master agreement with the ballclub to build" a $1B stadium with a retractable roof in time for the '21 season, according to Robert Cadwallader of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. The deal "would keep the Rangers in Arlington" through '54. It had "overwhelming support from an audience of more than 150 at the meeting." The council’s next action is to be on Aug. 2 when it is "expected to call an election for Nov. 8 asking voters’ permission to extend" the current half-cent sales tax, 2% hotel-motel tax and 5% car rental tax -- now paying off the remaining $175M debt on the AT&T Stadium debt -- and "start using some of the revenue to begin paying the city’s share of the new Rangers stadium" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 5/25). In Dallas, Jeff Mosier notes the "real uncertainty comes in future months when the campaign starts to convince voters to spend" $500M to keep the Rangers in Arlington. Some "dedicated critics of City Hall spending were present" for yesterday's meeting. There were "about 10 signed up to speak or register their opposition." But the crowded City Council chambers was "overwhelmingly filled with stadium supporters" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 5/25).
PLAYING KEEP AWAY: Rangers co-Owner Ray Davis on Friday said that he "had fielded calls from other cities about relocating his franchise and a retractable-roof stadium was a must to counter the scorching heat in the summer" (USATODAY.com, 5/24). In Ft. Worth, Jeff Caplan noted Friday’s announcement of a new Arlington venue "was steeped in fear" of losing the team to Dallas. Opinion among Rangers fans has "been mixed," and opinion among reporters from around the nation "just seems mixed up." Caplan: "A new stadium when the old-new one is only 22? Even some modern-day marriages last longer than that" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 5/24).
PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS: A DALLAS MORNING NEWS roundtable discussed the proposed ballpark, with architectural critic Mark Lamster saying that the placement of a ballpark in Arlington vs. downtown Dallas is "an enormous failure." Lamster: "It's absurd to put a Major League Baseball stadium out in a suburban area. Let's face it, Arlington is a bedroom community." Writer Evan Grant said, "I don't have a problem with the stadium necessarily being in Arlington, I have a problem with the stadium not being connected to mass transit, and I have a problem with the stadium not being connected to a downtown. Neither of which Arlington actually has." Lamster said of the proposed $100M mixed-use development that would go near the new ballpark, "I really am very skeptical about the plausibility of this Texas Live! I strongly suspect that it is going to be dead at all times except when the Rangers are in action." Writer Kevin Sherrington said of the new ballpark's renderings released last week, "That looks like a mess to me. ... I couldn't even tell what it was. It just looked like a big jumbled-up mess of everything." Lamster: "It looks like it was done with Crayola." Lamster added of recent ballpark designs, "If you look at why all these parks are sort of similar, it's because they are all built by (Populous). ... These firms in baseball have figured out what they want this experience to be and it has changed dramatically over the years into a more luxurious, mall-ification. The exteriors are all these hokey retro aesthetics which I don't particularly care for. I don't understand why we can't have a cool, modern ballpark" (DALLASNEWS.com, 5/24).
