Roof on Arrowhead

[JVO]

As I am sure those of you who care are aware, the NFL has promised to allow KC to host the SuperBowl in 2012 (i think?) if they put a roof on Arrowhead and make significant improvements. What do y'all think of this?

In my opinion, this is a fantastically stupid idea. First of all why can't the SuperBowl be in an outdoor cold climate stadium? If you were to list the oldest and most cherished NFL teams, every single one of them play in an outdoor stadium, and many in very cold climates. For the city of KC to pony up $500 million just to make improvements and add a roof so that the city can host 1 SuperBowl is insane. If you are going to spend that much money why not just build another stadium? I know it would be tough for Chump fans to imagine their team playing some place other than Arrowhead, but is it really worth it to spend that much money just to fix the old stadium? It broke my heart when they agreed to tear down the old Mile High in Denver, but when I saw the new Mile High next to the old Mile High, I suddenly realized what an incredible dump the old stadium was. I wonder if KC agreed to build a new state of the art outdoor stadium if the NFL would still allow them to host the SuperBowl. If the terms of the deal require an indoor/roofed stadium, I can not imagine that KC fans would be supportive. After all outdoor stadiums are a complete mockery.

[duckplucker]

k.c. voters will never agree to fund this. 0% chance.

i dont want no stinkin roof. and if that means we get no super bowl then whatever.

when it snows, real men keep playing football.

the super bowl should always be in a warm weather area to maximize $$$$. but not in a dome. domes are for candy ass mutha fuckas.

[007]

k.c. voters will never agree to fund this. 0% chance.

i dont want no stinkin roof.

I agree with Duck that Arrowhead does not need a roof.

However, I disagree that there is a 0% chance. I think voters will take a serious look at doing this. A Super Bowl is a huge revenue machine, and the community could probably recoup $500,000,000. Plus, a roof would put you in contention for more Super Bowls.

I just looked it up, and the economic impact in Jax was estimated at around $366,000,000. That is enough money for voters in KC to think pretty seriously about (especially those small business owners, hoteliers & restauranteurs). You've got to think about who holds sway in the community. Money talks & its the business owners who make things happen. You mention $366 million & I'm sure their eyes would light up.

I'm not saying the community will go for it, but I think they will definitely seriously consider it just for the generated $ factor.

[JVO]

I was not aware that when they originally designed the Truman Sports Complex they designed it to have a retractable roof. In fact the track is already laid down.

I agree with Duck that indoor football is communism, but I agree with 007 that the voters of KC may vote for these improvements. After all, these same KC voters just spent half a billion dollars building a Basketball/Hockey arena and they don't even have a Basketball or Hockey team! Also the amount of money that the citizens will actually pay is only like .0035 cents per dollar on a sales tax increase. The city of Columbia just voted for a continuence of a sales tax increase that was much higher than this just to build more parks (like Columbia doesn't have enough parks!). The stadium will mostly be paid for by visitors to Kansas City through hotel taxes. Not only will KC stand to make a tremendous amount of money from the SuperBowl itself (like 007 said), but I also read that this roof would increase revenues for the KC Royals for like $10 million a year. Surely after two or three years this revamped stadium would pay for itself, but what I don't understand is why not just a build a new stadium? The best thing KC could do is to build a state of the art facility as near to downtown KC as possible. I have personally seen the incredible revitalization that happens with downtown stadiums, in both Baltimore and Denver. Ask Poof about the part of town that Camden Yard is located. It used to be a slum, now it is the financial and commercial center of the city. The same is true for Denver. And in 10 years, Arrowhead will be so out of date that even with improvements it still will never be able to compete with the other newer stadiums which feature restaurants, bars, gormet food, incredible luxary boxes, hot tubs, etc. I think that building a new stadium (especially one that is not located in the ugliest most distant spot from KC)would be a great idea, but the fact that the NFL is dictating that it has to have a roof is what really irritates me. If KC is forced to build a roofed stadium and in return get the Superbowl, next thing you know all the other cities are going to do the same thing and then you have no more outdoor football. Is that really what the NFL wants?