Standing In Our Own Way

We all got a chance to watch Ohio State win the National Championship... if you know me, you know I don't care about that BUT what I do care about is what I'm going to write about this week. In 2009 AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas opened. It was touted as having the biggest everything, the most high tech everything else, and was snuggled under a big ole dome to boot. I understand all of the glitz and glamour and huge screens but why a dome? Old Cowboys stadium didn't have one (at least not all the way covered). Sure Texas gets hot and you may enjoy sitting in an air conditioned stadium on Sundays but it seems like it was just put there to support that ego driven "everything's bigger and better in Texas" hype we hear so much about. Plus Jerry Jones is a gagillionaire and wanted to build the 9th wonder of the world so everyone could see how truly big his dick was, right?

Nope.

I took this on my most recent trip to Texas last spring. I literally spent an hour and a half taking pictures of it... and I had already been here. I was at the first regular season game actually. That's how impressive this place really is.

Compare it to First Energy Stadium here in Cleveland. We each play the same number of NFL games here as they do there... well except for the playoffs... and the Superbowl... and the Pro Bowl. I'm sure the few high school games we play here are about the same number as they play there. Then what? We had a soccer game a few years ago. That was something... and Kenny Chesney used to play here, I think. I remember driving Michele to American Idol tryouts there but that was like 10 years ago. So the Stadium that I pay for hosts 10 NFL games (including preseason) and a few HS football games a year... and I think this year's only concert is One Direction... so 1 concert. I'm not sure that really makes any financial sense for me or my city?!? UPDATE: Announced Wednesday, Luke Bryan is going to country rap all of your stupid favorites about winner winner catfish dinner on 9/5. Yuck!

Now go to http://attstadium.com/ and take a look at what's going on there... too much to mention right? That place seems like it's used 52 weeks a year and every event is big ticket. Along with those big ticket events come hotel stays, plane ticket purchases, restaurant meals, taxi rides, merchandise sales, car rentals, after-hour club visits, souvenir sales... you get the drift. It's its own revenue generator and economic driver. It's not only an amazing venue... it's properly marketed, booked, and run.

We in Cleveland get on average 1 days use a week for 4 months from our Stadium. That's 16 days! Add HS football and that's let's say 25 days... OUT OF 365! 7 F*CKING %! Wanna know why? It's simple and all of you he-men are gonna cry "Pussy" but it's true...a dome.

Retractable roof concept from a few years ago. Image from www.thepetitionsite.com

The Browns are currently renovating First Energy field or the Factory of Sadness... whichever you prefer. Flashy new scoreboards, special bar areas for people who paid $400 for their seats, gold toilets, blah blah blah... AND for what? 7% of the year when it's used. Who else thinks this is a stupid investment? If you made $25,000 (a number I'm throwing out there that has no base in fact) on average for every event you held, would you want to increase that let's say by 6% per event: $25,000 X .06 = $1,500 X 10 games = $15,000 Or would you want to increase the number of events so you could make $25,000 X the number of new events you add? Just add one event and you're already doing better. Honestly that number is really based on the type of event you add though. Let's look at some options shall we?

You dome your stadium and let's say book an OSU vs Eastern Michigan college football game. You may be a bit under your average amount due to the differences between college and the pros along with a dip in merch sales. On the other hand, if you dome your stadium, you can now have events like oh let's say... the Superbowl! Yup, I'm gonna throw math out the window and just say that you'd be making a boat load on that and since there are only a few different site where the NFL is willing to play the Superbowl, you'd have it at least once a decade... no matter what happens. You could be Detroit and as long as Ford Field has a dome, there they are again hosting the Superbowl.

Because Cleveland gets really Clevelandy and cold between November and April, we miss out on some of the biggest ticket events of the year. An NCAA football bowl game or national championship game for instance. What about the Final Four and the $100 million it brings to a city? The Big 10 championship game brings in $20 million. They're all nationally televised sellout events with fans who usually have to travel from far out of town. That means plane and train tickets, car rental/RTA, hotel rooms, restaurants for meals, souvenirs, tourist traps, gambling, etc... Same with the Superbowl and the Pro Bowl. That event week alone brings in around $400 million. Not a bad bit of coin. First Energy stadium is the only stadium in football to never to host an NFL playoff game so some kind of post season NFL in Cleveland would be welcome. The problem is they just don't have those events in cold climate, open air stadiums. I'm going to cut you off and say they're New York City. They can do anything at any time. They're the exception. Do you think they'd make that exception for Cleveland? Nope. They couldn't/wouldn't even stop our team from leaving...

The investment that you would make in doming First Energy stadium would be less than $100 million and with all of the new types of events we could bring in with it, the investment would pay for itself in no time. Even if we never saw a full return, less financially lucrative projects have been approved and paid for with tax money in our time. Heck our politicians only stopped stealing from us in the last 5 years or so... well at least the ones we caught. This make sense for everyone involved! I just can't believe we haven't pulled the trigger on it yet... or hell even when it was first built!

Now let me address all of the he-men out there that want football to be about mud and guts and blood and the frozen tundra of Lambeau field... you are indeed the cavemen everyone says you are. If I offered you $250 million to wear a dress with a tampon in your ass for 2 days, you'd do it and sing I Touch Myself in a little girl's voice but when it comes to your football you grab your sack and grunt something about a real man's sport blah blah blah. Look, we know you could care less about Cleveland and its well being minus 10 Sundays a year when you take advantage of it like a sad chubby girl at a West 6th bar but the rest of us want to see this city become something great. We are proud of Cleveland and think it's ready for the big time exposure and events. We see Detroit getting everything under it's dome and wonder why them?!? Why not us?

Look, if we keep the dome open for all Brown's home games and close it for everything else, I'd be OK with that too. All we'd need would be your support for this. It's not about being a man or more of a man... it's about this city continuing to stride towards its potential while it blows past expectations. We're standing in our own way with this mentality of rugged, rust belt, blue collar bullshit. We settled into that way of thinking as a way to deal with our decline since the 50's. We're smarter than that and we should demand more. We wear suffering on our shoulder like a badge of honor but no one feels bad for the guy who got shot once they find out he shot himself in the foot. Leave the long list of rust belt excuses for cities that need it like Buffalo, Canton, and Youngstown. We're on our way and we need to keep paving the road ahead of us in order to continue... oh and tear the rear view mirrors off. If you lived in Northeast Ohio anytime since 1950, what you can see behind you sucked anyways.

You have the whole backseat to fall asleep on Cleveland. Think big and know you are loved and supported. See ya on the flip side!

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Oh and the Rock Hall Induction Ceremony is only held here every 3 years. "Oh we're so happy to be included in your plans"... That mentality needs to change! Whoever let Los Angeles weasel their way into this needs beat with a guitar - Who style!

Also, bring back snow days and outdoor hockey at Progre... Jacobs field. I went one year to watch OSU vs. Michigan and it was an awesome time! Side note: After that game my love affair with Greenhouse Tavern's wings began.
Image from www.discoveringohio.com.