--signed,
Kansas City, Kansas


If you build it, they will come.

Exactly. Give them a reason to come, and they will come.

You're comparing a field far from the crime ridden parts of KCK to a crime ridden part of KCMO that's chased off the upscale crowds once before.

They can't keep the Banister area crime free. They've tried and they failed.

I don't see the point of revitalizing every shit hole corner of the city. There's plenty of other areas that can accommodate a soccer stadium.

I grew up in the area.
I don't think it's nearly as bad as you believe it is.
It's not great, but it's not "Judgment Night," either.

Soccer's ****in reeruned anyways, I could give 2 shits less if they moved.

Soccer will NEVER be popular in America, period.

I've got family there. It's far from what it was, but it's not a DMZ like some are making it out to be.

There's a study out there that backs you up.

Crime statistics of area shopping centers

I think the area has more than its share of unsavory characters, but I think the danger was mostly imagined and not real when the mall started to decline. A strictly enforced 'No Loitering' law would have done wonders to prevent the downfall of the mall, but unfortunately the city didn't see it as a priority I guess. Hopefully this will be a lesson learned if this area does get a second chance.

I'm not sure what Walmart you are referring to exactly. The only Walmart in that immediate area was a Hypermart and that was in place long before the decline of the mall.

Walmart pulled a fast one on the city some time ago and actually built a new Walmart out where Blue Ridge Mall used to be. They promised to bring new jobs to that part of town when in reality, the just shut down the Hypermart and transferred the workers.

Maybe you were thinking of Blue Ridge Mall? :shrug:

The Traditional enclosed types of malls are a dying breed anyways because of exactly what happened to Bannister Mall. (Haven for teens, thugs, unsavory characters, etc)

All the new shopping Meccas being built these days are all open air.

The stadiums owned by AEG have stages built-in, which was a sticking point with Red Bull and why they're going to build Red Bull Park without any interference from AEG.

And yeah, soccer-specific stadiums often host other events around the year. Concerts, the X-Games (in LA), and high school football playoffs (in Dallas), specifically.

Maybe with a stadium that's not way too big for a crowd of 15,000, KC can generate an atmosphere like this rather than being one of the most depressing places to watch a game in the league. Section 8 did a good job at Soldier Field before Toyota Park was built, and DC fans do an amazing job at RFK, but those are definitely exceptions.

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That being said, Portland's Timbers Army is ****ing amazing for a USL-1 side:

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The problem you have is with the system. Yeah, the developers should do this on their own without tax breaks but that isn't the way the system works. And little ole KC with no cards on the table is going to force a change in the system?

The Fledgling soccer league folds 5 years from now doesn't matter to us does it? How much tax $'s are the taxpayers out? Zero. Nada. $0.00

WYCO has proved the concept if you build it they will come. If you can safely get JOCO soccer mom's and their daughters to come downtown at night to see Hanna Montana you can get them to come to a soccer complex right off the interstate.

The taxpayers are not putting any money into the deal Zero. Nada. $0.00.They are only allowing any future tax revenue to be put back into the infrastucture around the complex.

We can't afford to lose that future tax revenue is total BS. Without the TIF the project is dead. We are not giving up any future tax revenue because there is no project and the project goes down the road to the next city just like the Bass Pro Shop, Nascar, Legends etc.

BTW, I lived for 10 years behind Bannister Mall down 87th street. Hypermart was our grocery store etc. We saw the deteroiation coming just like everyone else and moved out to the burbs. I hate seeing the area like it is now.:(

It's been around for over a decade and revenues are steadily going up and new teams are being added. I don't think it's going to be folding any time soon.

I don't think so either. Phil was the one who said it might.

Yeah, I know. I was just expanding on your point :)

Freaking Tax breaks...who ends up paying? Taxpayers...amazing. Im with the Funk. If its a viable business it wont need tax breaks.