2008 Woodie Awards
STADIUM SOUNDOFF
Right thought; wrong application
Matt Lombardo
Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: Sports
On one hand West Chester Mayor Dick Yoder should be commended for his creativity and ability to take a risk to look into building a minor league baseball stadium in West Chester to house a single A team, and committed on the other for overlooking another obvious, dare I say opportunistic way to generate both local revenue and entertainment value in the region; a multi-purpose arena in downtown West Chester.
In case you missed the front page story, West Chester is currently spending $75,000 to investigate the feasibility of building a minor league baseball stadium in the borough.
Let's face it; this region is oversaturated with baseball both at the minor league and major league level. The Philadelphia Phillies, Wilmington Blue Rocks, Camden River Sharks, Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs and Reading Phillies are all within an hour's drive of downtown West Chester, with the Lakewood Blue Claws, Atlantic City Surf and Trenton Thunder a little further on up the road.
And do not forget the limited use that a multi-million dollar minor league baseball stadium would see in this climate.
However, the yield of a multi-purpose arena would benefit the borough, local businesses and West Chester University as well. With the Spectrum in Philadelphia potentially being razed to make way for a hotel as part of the Philly Live complex, it's two major tenants the AHL's Philadelphia Phantoms and MISL's Kixx may soon be homeless.
Where better to relocate these two booming minor league sports franchises then West Chester? Besides potentially luring minor league hockey and indoor soccer to the region, a new arena could also house West Chester University's men's and women's basketball teams, thus giving these teams and this institution a state of the art facility to call home. The revenue potential for both entities, West Chester Borough and the Uni-versity, would be only surpassed by the undoubted boost in recruiting for the Golden Rams, especially since increased revenue should equal an increase in funds allocated to athletic scholarships.
In case you missed the front page story, West Chester is currently spending $75,000 to investigate the feasibility of building a minor league baseball stadium in the borough.
Let's face it; this region is oversaturated with baseball both at the minor league and major league level. The Philadelphia Phillies, Wilmington Blue Rocks, Camden River Sharks, Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs and Reading Phillies are all within an hour's drive of downtown West Chester, with the Lakewood Blue Claws, Atlantic City Surf and Trenton Thunder a little further on up the road.
And do not forget the limited use that a multi-million dollar minor league baseball stadium would see in this climate.
However, the yield of a multi-purpose arena would benefit the borough, local businesses and West Chester University as well. With the Spectrum in Philadelphia potentially being razed to make way for a hotel as part of the Philly Live complex, it's two major tenants the AHL's Philadelphia Phantoms and MISL's Kixx may soon be homeless.
Where better to relocate these two booming minor league sports franchises then West Chester? Besides potentially luring minor league hockey and indoor soccer to the region, a new arena could also house West Chester University's men's and women's basketball teams, thus giving these teams and this institution a state of the art facility to call home. The revenue potential for both entities, West Chester Borough and the Uni-versity, would be only surpassed by the undoubted boost in recruiting for the Golden Rams, especially since increased revenue should equal an increase in funds allocated to athletic scholarships.
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Get a clue
posted 4/14/08 @ 8:42 AM EST
Great April Fools story! I laughed my #$$ off, even if it was two weeks late.
I can just see folks on campus taking this serious, as if a Division II basketball team would sell out a 12,000 seat arena, or as if the Stones would play a venue that small. (Continued…)
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