A Troubling New Trend: Trashing A Perfectly Good Stadium

I live in Charleston, SC, where history lives. We love our old buildings, and so, evidently, does the rest of America. The 300-year-old buildings are a draw for millions of tourists who grace our city.

I owned a house in Upstate New York that was born in the Depression, 63 years before I bought it. All the houses in the neighborhood were roughly the same age. Buildings can last for 100 years if properly maintained. Ask the Wrigleys and the Yawkeys.

Trashing A 20-Year-Old Building
In Arlington, TX, the baseball team has announced it will trash its ballpark for a new one, just 22 years after moving in. Unlike the Braves, who are abandoning their 24-year-old stadium for the suburbs, the Rangers hope to occupy a new, domed, air-conditioned home field nearby. 

Why? Is the current edifice decrepit, anachronistic or dysfunctional? No, it's a perfectly good baseball venue, enjoying the bloom of youth. Apparently they were not aware that it's hot in the summer in Dallas when The Ballpark at Arlington, as it was originally known, was built.

$1 Billion Investment for Something The City Already Has
The good people of Arlington shelled out $305 million (in 2016 dollars) for Globe Life and will bear the brunt of the $1 billion price tag for the new ballpark. City fathers and Rangers' brass will spin the accounting, but no matter how they fund the project, it's a massive new burden. The bonding authority or sales tax hike, or user fees employed to cover the cost can't be used to build schools, fix roads, invest in real economic development or anything else.

In the meantime, the old ballpark will be trashed and condos or somesuch will rise in its place, a waste of much of the original investment. At least the 30-year bonds were paid off early, or they'd be paying for a perfectly good baseball stadium while tearing it down.

A Disturbing Trend
It's their money, so folks around Dallas should allocate their dollars any way they want. But econometric studies have demonstrated that baseball stadiums, which host maybe 100 events a season, are rarely good financial investments for communities, even accounting for all the ancillary benefits beyond the sports team. And if you think Arlington's reputation would suffer without the ballclub, ask yourself this: is Arlington, TX now on your personal radar? 

Two teams have now made plans to ditch their home parks before they reached Mike Trout's age. This is a travesty of public policy. I hope it doesn't catch on.