I stand slightly corrected

About the Marlins ballpark.

 

It will, in fact, have a "plaza," on four acres of land on the west side of the ballpark.  'It will be open year round and will be the largest of any stadium in the history of the United States....I envision a fountain with an area for people to congregate during lunch, after lunch, during work, after work. It will be the signature park of Miami, with some sort of outdoor exhibit areas. I hope when we open the ballpark, it will be completed.' [partly paraphrased]

 

So says team president Ralph Sampson.

 

But....just remember that what he "envisions" and what will be delivered are probably different.

 

Also, his last comment that he *hopes* it will be open when the ballpark is seems telling - or is it that you hope everyone is so thrilled with the ballpark they'll forget about it?

 

I'm still trying to figure out who might use it during the day - or at lunch - since its pretty far away from downtown, and there isn't much industry in the immediate area.

 

But at least he bothered to mention a park around it.

Am I missing something?

In Taiwan, they recently completed constuction of a new stadium in time for this summer's world games.  Why is this interesting?  Because the city of Miami is giving the Marlins (one of the other tenants at what-used-to-be-Dolphins Stadium) a new stadium.

 

 

The Taiwan stadium seats 40,000 and is a beautiful facility that is called Dragon, but looks like a snake.  Sure, it doesn't have a roof, but otherwise its on the scale of the Marlins ballpark.

 

It cost $170 million to build.  That's it.  Or about 1/3 the initial cost of the Marlins park.  It was expected to be completed in 24 months from concept through to completion, but it actually took closer to 28 months to finish.

 

They did something innovative by placing 8,000 solar panels on the roof that can generate about 1.1 million Kw/hr of electricity for use by the stadium.  A stadium typically uses in the neighborhood of 7-10 million Kw/hr of electricity, so they're offsetting about 14% of a typical electric bill (though, to be fair, there is no A/C in use at this stadium at all, so the solar panels will account for more like 80% of the power consumption).

 

Meanwhile, in Miami, the cost estimate (term used very loosely) was around $600 million, but with the high-interest bonds and other contributions they had to make to have someone buy the bonds, it will end up costing $2.5 Billion (yes, with a B)....and that's before any cost over-runs.

 

And they expect to be ready for opening day 2012.  That's 32 months away from groundbreaking, which happens to be today.

 

Oh, and the Taiwan stadium has an elaborate park around it that was built so that someone could walk from downtown to the stadium and take in the view while strolling in a pleasant area.  That cost less than $30 million to complete, in addition to the stadium, and was completed along with the stadium.  I'm pretty sure that there will be NO parks around the Marlins ballpark, and certianly you can't walk there from most anywhere...

 

Raise your hand if you think (a) it will be done on time (opening day 2012), (b) it will be done on budget (and for that purpose, let's go with the $2.5 billion they've already committed), and (c) that there will be no legal actions that stand in the way of construction.

 

No hands?  Okay, good.  Then you have been paying attention.

 

No I ask - which would you have rather have had?  Supposing we could add $100 million and get a roof.  Wouldn't that be sweet?

Pajama party

Now that the PJ party is over, its nearly time to get on with the real deal.

 

Yeah!  Training camp opens in 2 weeks

 

 

Being a celebrity has its moments

And no this entry is not about me. LOL

The NFL held its annual rookie symposium this week, where players were
brought in and reminded that big changes are coming in their lives.
Lots of information about how they're always in the spotlight, how
they should comport themselves, and now they're going to have money,
and people are going to try and take it from them.

If you have questions, just ask any one of a number of former players
who are broke. Or you could just ask JT. A couple of years ago, he
and a couple of other guys invested some money into an island. The
plan was to buy it and make it into a retreat or golf resort or
something. Only the "owner" was never able to come up with a deed for
the property, and the group had to sue to get their money back.

They won, and may see the money - if the guy has any left.

So here's a guy who's been in the league for a dozen years and he
invests a small (to him!) amount, and it apparently was a bad deal
with someone out to take his money.

Rookies beware.

Lots o' construction

I nearly forgot.... There's a lot of renovating going on at beer can
ballpark. You mean we might actually get some decent food offerings?

Landshark

Yeah it's not a dolphins game but it's still fun to be at uhhhhh

Beer stadium

Bess

Love the story about someone pretending to be Davone on Twitter and
going so far as to challenge a former teammate to a race and hosting a
live chat.

We give serious props to that guy

anti trust?

Back in 1961, Pete Rozelle put the NFL on the map.  You see, up until
that time, the NFL was a loose collection of teams that really had
limited exposure.  Rozelle decided to act on behalf of all teams, and
negotiated a contract with a TV network (CBS) that allowed them to get
that exposure on a national scale.

But it did so much more.  A group turned around and sued the NFL
alleging that the NFL was essentially a monopoly, and thus violated
anti-trust regulations. The court ruled that the "pooling" of rights
by all the teams to conclude an exclusive contract between the league
and CBS was illegal. Undeterred, Rozelle worked with some allies in
congress to frame the situation a little differently, and the Sports
Broadcasting Act of 1961 was passed. This act "permits certain joint
broadcasting agreements among the major professional sports and
permits the sale of a television 'package' to the network or networks"
which is essentially what happens today.

And, by the way, it also limits the games that can be shown by
including the blackout rule.

In any event, by that law, the NFL received its first level of
anti-trust exemption.

Later, in about 1970, when the upstart AFL came along, the NFL played
nice and merged with them. Although there are a lot of good reasons
to do so, one of them certainly was anti-trust. And not surprisingly,
congress once again stepped in to ratify the way that the league was
established, thus solidfying their position.

Over the next 30+ years, there have been many claims against the NFL's
anti-trust status. One of the biggest challenges came from the USFL
from 83-85, which was taking on the NFL on the corners, but not head
on. Donald Trump was one of the people who thought the NFL could and
should be challenged and wanted to move to be a fall league and take
on that exemption. The other owners thought better of it, and
ultimately there was no challenge.

Then, about 2 years ago, Senator Arlen Specter and a couple of others
decided to "look into" the NFL's anti-trust exemption because of the
NFL Sunday Ticket on Direct TV and Comcast's legal battle. Again,
nothing came of it, but there's still some room to re-open the file.

Channeling the spirit of Rozelle, the NFL pulled an end-run of its
own. A couple of years ago, they negotiated a contract with Reebok to
be the exclusive apparel provider for the league. Prior to that, each
team could negotiate its own deal with a supplier, and the league also
purveyed suppliers. Feeling slighted by the NFL's actions, one of the
suppliers filed suit under anti-trust laws claiming - as the TV case
did before it - that the NFL could not act as a single entity and
enter into an agreement. The courts sided with the NFL, and the
suppliers appealed.

The appelate court upheld the judgement.

Then, the NFL did something unexpected. *They* appealed to the US
Supreme Court for a hearing. Now why would they do that if they won?
Because they want the Supreme Court to uphold their standing as
anti-trust exempt, and to allow for a broad interpretation of that
ruling. That would essentially allow them to act in what amounts to a
monopolistic manner, without fear of there being "frivolous lawsuits,"
The NHL and NBA saw it as a good thing for their sports, and also
signed on to be involved in the ruling as "friends of the court"....in
essence to ride the coattails if they can.

Of course this all has some bearing on the labor issues that are still
hanging out there. The NFL undoubtedly feels it has more leverage if
they get this ruling. And the TV deals can go however they want -
unless and until Sen Specter decides to get involved again.

Remember, in 1961, the legislature overtuned what the court found.
Could it happen again? Who knows.

But one thing I can tell you for sure is that such a ruling is bound
to be bad for the smaller operations, and probably for us fans, too,
in the long run.

The twins

The "case" against Vontae has been postponed.

We have to wonder if our thought about him having a twin is true (check out the wanker)