A dome was planned for Boston?

[Bill Lee]

Interesting thing is so many of the stadia built in the 60s/70s are now deemed to be economically obsolete and are being removed/replaced/renovated so there's a good chance if this thing got built we'd all be talking about what a sh*thole the place is, how much money was wasted on it, wouldn't it have been better to build a stadium out in suburbia like in Foxborough, yada yada.

Game day traffic would be awful if that thing was built. Can you imagine fans coming in for a MNF game at the same time as the normal rush hour traffic?

I see next to no provisions for getting cars in and out of that place. Where are you going to dump cars all wanting to leave after a game? It was all before the Big Dig so it'd be right onto the old elevated highway we had back then, no?

 

[denverpatsfan]

Interesting thing is so many of the stadia built in the 60s/70s are now deemed to be economically obsolete and are being removed/replaced/renovated so there's a good chance if this thing got built we'd all be talking about what a sh*thole the place is, how much money was wasted on it, wouldn't it have been better to build a stadium out in suburbia like in Foxborough, yada yada.

Game day traffic would be awful if that thing was built. Can you imagine fans coming in for a MNF game at the same time as the normal rush hour traffic?

I see next to no provisions for getting cars in and out of that place. Where are you going to dump cars all wanting to leave after a game? It was all before the Big Dig so it'd be right onto the old elevated highway we had back then, no?

Stadiums built in the 90s or early 2000's are being replaced. Not many left from the 70's.

The 3rd oldest NL ball park is Coors Fecking Field. Opened in 1995. Only Wrigley and Dodger Stadium are older.

Crazy times.

Stadiums are getting rid of parking btw. Here in Denver they are building high rises next to Mile High Stadium. Kronke is going to bull doze all the lots where the Avs and Nuggets play for condos and retail. Parking and tailgating at a major cities football/baseball/hockey/basketball arena is going away. Of course there will be exceptions for ****holes like Buffalo.

 

[Pape]

Was just reading about Schafer stadium this past week in one of the old media guides from the 70s... Had not realized that it was privately financed by the stadium group selling bonds...

And iirc, I don't know if anyone else remembers this rumor, Gillette (then known as CMGI) was designed to accommodate a dome if they desired to go that route in a future expansion... Not sure if that was just a flight of fancy or not...

 

[Triumph]

Stadiums built in the 90s or early 2000's are being replaced. Not many left from the 70's.

The 3rd oldest NL ball park is Coors Fecking Field. Opened in 1995. Only Wrigley and Dodger Stadium are older.

Crazy times.

Stadiums are getting rid of parking btw. Here in Denver they are building high rises next to Mile High Stadium. Kronke is going to bull doze all the lots where the Avs and Nuggets play for condos and retail. Parking and tailgating at a major cities football/baseball/hockey/basketball arena is going away. Of course there will be exceptions for ****holes like Buffalo.

The Royals are moving to Downton KC to a postage stamp size vacant lot.

If any of you ever been to a Chiefs or Royals game they have the sweetest set up for tailgating and leaving the game.

It all about money. The team and local government sees pennies from those who bring their beer and food tailgating. Forcing fans to go downtown to eat and drink on game day will funnel money to KC in sales tax money and business tax revenue. You will likely buy more stadium $10 Bud Light too.

 

[Bill Lee]

Stadiums built in the 90s or early 2000's are being replaced. Not many left from the 70's.

Only 3 NFL stadia left that were built in the 70s: KC, BUF and NO.

We know BUF is being replaced, and I've heard KC is being discussed.

Stadiums are getting rid of parking btw. Here in Denver they are building high rises next to Mile High Stadium. Kronke is going to bull doze all the lots where the Avs and Nuggets play for condos and retail. Parking and tailgating at a major cities football/baseball/hockey/basketball arena is going away. Of course there will be exceptions for ****holes like Buffalo.

Seems like the only sh*ttier game-day experience than sitting in traffic trying to leave the stadium will be standing outside trying to get onto a bus or a train with thousands of other ***holes. Might as well just watch on TV.

Having a condo next to the arena may *sound* like a cool thing, but it'd get old really, really quick.

 

[signbabybrady]

Stadiums built in the 90s or early 2000's are being replaced. Not many left from the 70's.

The 3rd oldest NL ball park is Coors Fecking Field. Opened in 1995. Only Wrigley and Dodger Stadium are older.

Crazy times.

Stadiums are getting rid of parking btw. Here in Denver they are building high rises next to Mile High Stadium. Kronke is going to bull doze all the lots where the Avs and Nuggets play for condos and retail. Parking and tailgating at a major cities football/baseball/hockey/basketball arena is going away. Of course there will be exceptions for ****holes like Buffalo.

Just for some info the Patriots regularly host Foxboro Residents events to share info about infrastructure and things like that. Several years ago I asked when they might consider a new stadium and they responded that they were in it for the long haul and probably not for decades. Things can always change but since then they've built the Optum upgraded the Jumbo on one side and are now doing the large renovation on the other side. I'd say Gillette is around for another 10-20 at least.

 

[Pape]

eh... couldn't find the article... it was a newspaper clipping / old photo, i think it was on ebay, but i can't find it now...

but, fwiw, from the 1970 & 1971 Patriots Media Guide

 

[Tunescribe]

Weld proposed a “Megaplex”, a combined dome stadium and convention center, in the Seaport, when Kraft was using Hartford to squeeze a better infrastructure/stadium deal out of Massachusetts. That would’ve been awesome, especially for a guy like me who has lived in downtown Boston for the past 20 years. Unfortunately, the drunken Micks on Beacon Hill did not have the vision or foresight to push ahead. The few who did have that vision were probably unhappy with their bribes.

While the ultimate result probably would have been great, the cost overruns would surely have been massive. They always are when Union workers are on the job multiyear projects in Massachusetts.

I think there were preliminary hearings on that project. Residents from the old nearby neighborhoods were all up in arms over the idea of football fans peeing on their streets. I remember seeing a union-sponsored billboard on Route 93 urging people to support it.

 

[JayNM]

I think high-end stadiums everywhere need to become high income generators nowadays. The easiest way it's becaming them "spectacle houses" or turn the "around" the stadium into a high foot-traffic area for commerce or business.

Putting roofs on them makes it a lot better for the former, logistics-wise. I doubt we're going to see a lot of open-roofs new stadiums, unless they they go the high-traffic route for business models

My first and last time in Gillette Stadium was in 2007, and although the Patriots Place is impressive, I couldnt tell it apart from other outlets out there (but I definetily lose in experience to most of you).

I would not be shocked if behind the scenes they were looking to improve. Stadium designs have made SIGNIFICANT progress over the last 20 years, it's not even kidding. But I also believe they would never disclose this to anybody, outside a very, very few priviliged few (just look at the Rams debacle... Billionaires don't think like us)

 

[patfanken]

Interesting thing is so many of the stadia built in the 60s/70s are now deemed to be economically obsolete and are being removed/replaced/renovated so there's a good chance if this thing got built we'd all be talking about what a sh*thole the place is, how much money was wasted on it, wouldn't it have been better to build a stadium out in suburbia like in Foxborough, yada yada.

Game day traffic would be awful if that thing was built. Can you imagine fans coming in for a MNF game at the same time as the normal rush hour traffic?

I see next to no provisions for getting cars in and out of that place. Where are you going to dump cars all wanting to leave after a game? It was all before the Big Dig so it'd be right onto the old elevated highway we had back then, no?

I reject the Parking thing. If this thing was built you could have parked your car for free in Brookline, Dorchester, Somerville, Newton, or any of a dozen communities and taken a 30 minute ride that would have taken you within a 5 minute walk to the station. If the Stadium held say 65K and just a 3rd came via public transpiration, traffic would have been very manageable. Not saying it would take a couple of hours to clear like it does at Gillette or any big Stadium in the country, but no worse for sure.

I really liked the idea, especially since it also would have included a separate stadium for the Sox where HR's would have gone into the harbor like they do in SF.

Football stadia themselves have long proven to be money losers and a terrible investment for public money. It's not so much the amount of money spent, BUT rather where that money COULD have be spent on (Schools, healthcare, roads, etc). If it could have been built with private money I'd have been fine with, BUT you would have needed an deep pocket owner, like say, Robert Kraft, to make something like that happen. Remember private interests are the big beneficiaries of projects like this. So as much as I would have liked to

 

[captain stone]

Also even if the Sox stayed at Fenway, there could have been a National League team added or moved in.

Yeah I remember Eddie Andelman leading the charge to have the Braves or another National League team return to Boston... But that was never going to happen, just as an American League team is never going to return to Philadelphia, or Saint Louis...

 

[captain stone]

...Football stadia themselves have long proven to be money losers and a terrible investment for public money. It's not so much the amount of money spent, BUT rather where that money COULD have be spent on (Schools, healthcare, roads, etc)...

Or it could've been returned to the taxpayers where it belonged in the first place...

I do agree with your take on the parking concerns... The T would've alleviated a lot of potential issues... Who knows, maybe the T would've also re-established the old South Station - North Station elevated line...

 

[Boston Boxer]

Also even if the Sox stayed at Fenway, there could have been a National League team added or moved in.

whoa, hang on now...there are only so many local teams the media can hate. No room for any more teams