Here's a look at this week's print column and the continuing push to land a major league soccer team to play its games in Chester.
If you build it, will they come?
I don’t know about that, but if you hold a press conference to announce the state is kicking in $47 million to a project to build a soccer stadium on the Chester waterfront, they’ll beat a path to your door.
By now you’re no doubt aware of the little soiree thrown by our political Odd Couple, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and Republican state Sen. Dominic Pileggi, last week to announce the state funding for the stadium project in Chester.
Now all they need is a team to play there. And that’s part of the problem. The stadium financing deal was 11 days ago. And there’s still no word from Major League Soccer on where they will deposit their 16th franchise.
The belief was that with the final block in the financing riddle now under lock and key, that the field would tip decidedly in favor of the Chester site, which has been running neck and neck with a similar proposal being bandied about in suburban St. Louis.
Maybe MLS is simply holding out to hike the drama. Then again, not everyone believes that this is a field of dreams in the first place.
I don’t happen to be among them. Neither is this newspaper. We have been a persistent booster of the project. I am aware this is not a unanimous opinion.
When the idea of building a 20,000-seat, $115 million sports stadium in the shadow of the Commodore Barry Bridge was first proposed, there were no shortage of raised eyebrows and those who dismissed the idea as nonsense.
State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, D-159, for one noted the folly of such a venture in a city that does not offer its residents a single legitimate supermarket. It’s a good point. There are a lot of problems in Chester, despite the clear indications of an economic turnaround. Certainly there are things that $47 million in state funding could be used for that would have more benefit than building a stadium for some deep-pocketed investors.
And yet there was Kirkland at the press conference to announce the funding agreement. No, he was not there to protest what the city does not have. He was there to support the project, which now includes specific funding to bring a supermarket to the city. There also is language that would deliver a portion of ticket revenues to kids in the Chester Upland School District.
That has not stopped those who oppose the plan from lodging their opposition.
If this was only a plan to build a stadium in Chester, we likely still would be intrigued, but not to the extent that we are now.
That’s because this is decidedly not just a proposal to build a stadium. Pileggi, for one, saw to that. He knows a little about Chester. He served as its mayor, and it was under his term that the first seeds of redevelopment along the waterfront took root with the restoration of the old Peco Power Station at the Wharf at Rivertown. Then came Harrah’s with its racetrack and slots parlor. Now just on the other side of the Commodore Barry, they want to erect a stadium.
But the stadium is just one facet of a $400 milllion development that would include retail outlets, restaurants, apartments, townhouses, an expo center and several office buildings. There also would be a riverwalk and boat slips that would put Chester on a par with anything the Wilmington or Camden waterfronts have to offer.
Chester would be a destination point. A Major League town, if you will.
The big challenge with this project is making sure the economic benefits find their way across Route 291 and into other parts of the city. It is no small task, but it is certainly one worth doing.
On thing I know. If they build this thing, I know one group that will be there. The Sons of Ben are a local group of soccer fanatics who have been pushing for more than a year now to attract an MLS franchise to the Philly area.
They took a road trip to Washington, D.C., for the MLS Cup championship game.
Then they went back down I-95 to Baltimore, where Major League Soccer was holding its draft.
They also were on hand for the announcement of the stadium funding deal.
If they build it, these guys will come. And they have some ideas on what the team that plays there should be called.
I’ll talk about that next week.
Philip E. Heron is editor of the Daily Times. Call him at (610) 622-8818. E-mail him at editor@delcotimes.com. To visit his daily blog, the Heron’s Nest, go to
www3.allaroundphilly.com/blogs/delcotimes/philh/blog.html.
If you build it, will they come?
I don’t know about that, but if you hold a press conference to announce the state is kicking in $47 million to a project to build a soccer stadium on the Chester waterfront, they’ll beat a path to your door.
By now you’re no doubt aware of the little soiree thrown by our political Odd Couple, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and Republican state Sen. Dominic Pileggi, last week to announce the state funding for the stadium project in Chester.
Now all they need is a team to play there. And that’s part of the problem. The stadium financing deal was 11 days ago. And there’s still no word from Major League Soccer on where they will deposit their 16th franchise.
The belief was that with the final block in the financing riddle now under lock and key, that the field would tip decidedly in favor of the Chester site, which has been running neck and neck with a similar proposal being bandied about in suburban St. Louis.
Maybe MLS is simply holding out to hike the drama. Then again, not everyone believes that this is a field of dreams in the first place.
I don’t happen to be among them. Neither is this newspaper. We have been a persistent booster of the project. I am aware this is not a unanimous opinion.
When the idea of building a 20,000-seat, $115 million sports stadium in the shadow of the Commodore Barry Bridge was first proposed, there were no shortage of raised eyebrows and those who dismissed the idea as nonsense.
State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, D-159, for one noted the folly of such a venture in a city that does not offer its residents a single legitimate supermarket. It’s a good point. There are a lot of problems in Chester, despite the clear indications of an economic turnaround. Certainly there are things that $47 million in state funding could be used for that would have more benefit than building a stadium for some deep-pocketed investors.
And yet there was Kirkland at the press conference to announce the funding agreement. No, he was not there to protest what the city does not have. He was there to support the project, which now includes specific funding to bring a supermarket to the city. There also is language that would deliver a portion of ticket revenues to kids in the Chester Upland School District.
That has not stopped those who oppose the plan from lodging their opposition.
If this was only a plan to build a stadium in Chester, we likely still would be intrigued, but not to the extent that we are now.
That’s because this is decidedly not just a proposal to build a stadium. Pileggi, for one, saw to that. He knows a little about Chester. He served as its mayor, and it was under his term that the first seeds of redevelopment along the waterfront took root with the restoration of the old Peco Power Station at the Wharf at Rivertown. Then came Harrah’s with its racetrack and slots parlor. Now just on the other side of the Commodore Barry, they want to erect a stadium.
But the stadium is just one facet of a $400 milllion development that would include retail outlets, restaurants, apartments, townhouses, an expo center and several office buildings. There also would be a riverwalk and boat slips that would put Chester on a par with anything the Wilmington or Camden waterfronts have to offer.
Chester would be a destination point. A Major League town, if you will.
The big challenge with this project is making sure the economic benefits find their way across Route 291 and into other parts of the city. It is no small task, but it is certainly one worth doing.
On thing I know. If they build this thing, I know one group that will be there. The Sons of Ben are a local group of soccer fanatics who have been pushing for more than a year now to attract an MLS franchise to the Philly area.
They took a road trip to Washington, D.C., for the MLS Cup championship game.
Then they went back down I-95 to Baltimore, where Major League Soccer was holding its draft.
They also were on hand for the announcement of the stadium funding deal.
If they build it, these guys will come. And they have some ideas on what the team that plays there should be called.
I’ll talk about that next week.
Philip E. Heron is editor of the Daily Times. Call him at (610) 622-8818. E-mail him at editor@delcotimes.com. To visit his daily blog, the Heron’s Nest, go to
www3.allaroundphilly.com/blogs/delcotimes/philh/blog.html.
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