M&T Bank Stadium seen from Federal Hill park. (photo by Frank Klein)If you're a lacrosse fan, chances are you at least considered making the trip to the NCAA final tournament at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. In it's infinite wisdom, the NCAA has moved a tournament that drew record crowds here in Baltimore the past few years. I can't fault them for trying to grow the sport and attract new regional fans.
But it's dumb to hold this event at Foxboro. Here's why...
If you look at Google's satellite image you can see that they built that thing in the middle of nowhere.
You can't walk to it. There are no shops or restaurants. Just forest and fields, interrupted by a sea of parking lots.
They did something similar with FedEx Field where the Redskins play. And I just don't get it.
Isolated stadia are bad developments. They eat up undeveloped land, require extra costs to build infrastructure and utilities, aren't well connected to mass transit, and they minimize spin-off revenue because there aren't any shops, restaurants, or other businesses where event-goers can spend their money.
And this isn't just my opinion. Studies by the Urban Land Institute among others have calculated the increased economic and environmental advantages that you get with a Downtown facility over a rural one.
So this weekend, instead of 50,000 people walking from their hotel or the harbor, stopping at Cross Street or one of the other nearby shopping / restaurant districts, you'll have traffic congestion, some parking lot tailgating, and the opportunity to spend way too much on a stadium hot dog because that's the only choice you'll have.
-mike
