Stadiums – Once More With Feeling

         Atlantic magazine brings us the dispatch that Kansas City has blown $222 million for a new stadium, hoping to attract a basketball team — actually, any team that will come — but so far without success. For the whole article see Nate Berg, Stadium to Nowhere, April 17, 2009, click here

          And so it goes

Follow up. From the New York Times, Ken Belson, Is This Seat Taken? In Front Rows of New Ballparks, Not Yet, April 22, 2009, p. A1. We offer a quote without comment:

“After spending $2.3 billion on new stadiums packed with suites, restaurants and the latest technology, the Mets and the Yankees expected fans to embrace their new homes and pay top dollar for the privilege. Almost every team that has built a new stadium in the recent past has seen an immediate surge in attendance.

“Instead, the Mets and the Yankees face a public relations nightmare and posssibly millions of dollars in lost revenue after failing to sell about 5000 tickets — including some of the priciest seats — to each of their  first few games.”

“The empty seats are a fresh sign that the teams might have miscalculated how much fans and corporations were willing to spend, particularly during a deep recession.”