The Jon Blog

Stadium Schmadium

Granted, I'm not a football fan. But even if I were, I think I'd be opposed to a West Side stadium. I can think of a lot of reasons.

First of all, they're saying that "NYC's Olympic bid hinges on it." Honey, get yourself a reality check: NYC's Olympic bid lost any remote chance it had of going anywhere the night that the idiots in Jesusland re-elected Bozo the Clown, he of the most expensive inauguration ever that pays homage to the fact that we're fighting a war we can't afford. Makes perfect sense, no?

Second: the stadium is estimated to cost $1,400,000,000. Which means that it will cost more than that, of course. Now, this season, the Jets have 10 home games. And if you figure that the "productive" life of a stadium is 20 years, that comes out to $7,000,000 (that's still $7 million) as the per game cost of the stadium. Even if they're going to have 70,000 seats, that means that the estimated construction cost comes out to $100 per ticket, ten games a year, for 20 years. And who else builds in Manhattan for something that's going to be used 10 times a year? Oh, sure, there will be rock concerts and so forth, but seriously, how much use is there going to be for a 70,000 seat stadium?

Additionally, there's the tailgating argument, the overwhelming traffic burden, et cetera, et cetera. And the fact that there's a lot more productive, New York-ish functions that the land could have. Apartments? Museums? Things that actually have something to do with what people think about when they think "New York City."

I mean, when's the last time a tourist said, "I'm going to New York so I can go to a football game!" Let me tell you, it's not all that frequent!

So I say stop the stadium before it starts.

And I also say, on a totally unrelated topic, that I should have a work schedule that allows me to get more sleep...

Posted by Jon at December 11, 2004 07:13 AM | TrackBack