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Build it and they'll flock to Greensboro

Watching football games broadcast from Ford Field in Detroit and Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, yesterday, it occurred to me:

Greensboro needs exactly this kind of sports facility.

With a state-of-the-art, climate-controlled, domed football stadium added to its existing facilities -- the Coliseum and the coming-soon Aquatic Center -- Greensboro can jump to the forefront of major league sports cities.

Think of the possibilities.

Greensboro certainly would become the permanent home of the ACC football championship game each December.

It could host a college football bowl game, likely a BCS bowl game, each January.

It could land other neutral-site college football matchups.

But football is just the beginning.

Look at what's happening at Cowboys Stadium:

Carolina vs. Texas basketball Dec. 19.

The NBA All-Star Game Feb. 14.

Professional Bull Riders Feb. 20.

Remember what happened at Ford Field April 4-6? We Carolina fans do: The Final Four.

In fact, all future men's Final Four sites scheduled through 2016 are enclosed football stadiums:

Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, 2010 and 2015.

Reliant Stadium, Houston, 2011 and 2016.

Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, 2012.

The Georgia Dome, Atlanta, 2013.

And Cowboys Stadium, 2014.

And we're just scratching the surface.

Building the newest, most dazzling indoor-outdoor sports mega-palace would give Greensboro a chance to land the biggest, most lucrative event of all: The Super Bowl. Yes, Cowboys Stadium is the 2011 location. Why not Greensboro some day?

Of course, a facility like this can be used for much more than sports. They're perfect for national political conventions, for example. And really big concerts. Huge trade shows. You name it.

It might cost a billion dollars to build a facility like this, but I'm sure someone could come up with a study showing economic benefits many times that. The Greensboro stadium might draw a million visitors a year, each spending a thousand dollars. There's your billion right there.

And just building it will provide a huge economic stimulus.

It will revitalize the High Point Road-Lee Street area, assuming it's added to the Coliseum Complex, provide countless jobs and turn Greensboro into a truly Major League Tournament Town.

It would be foolish not to act on this idea.

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Posted by Doug Clark on Friday, November 27, 2009 at 8:10 am

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gsostudent

November 27, 2009 - 10:03 am EST

Or we could build grocery stores in working class neighborhoods where they don't have any.....

Your idea is a nice one but you really need to reconsider what the City's priorities should be. Maybe you are unaware of the extreme underdevelopment in East Greensboro?

Doug

November 27, 2009 - 10:22 am EST

It wouldn't be far from east Greensboro. Everyone would benefit.

DonMoore

November 27, 2009 - 10:59 am EST

Hello Matt Brown - you know that Doug will not appreciate you hacking his blog.

I had to read this THREE Times and verify it was not April 1.

FYI, it takes a Population to support these venues - a population with expendable income. Something not found in vast quantities in Greensboro, not even in Raleigh or Charlotte. We are just not that big to build us a SuperDome and have it successful.

Doug

November 27, 2009 - 11:02 am EST

Do you think Matt Brown would support this?

DonMoore

November 27, 2009 - 11:06 am EST

I suspect that anything to improve to Coliseum facility above what it currently is, MB would like. It would just help him prove to the folks that fired him at his last job that he could get the job done. He would have been in a real city instead of stuck here in Mayberry.

Doug

November 27, 2009 - 11:14 am EST

"Mayberry" doesn't have the ACC Tournament or past and (maybe) future Final Fours.

Connie Mack Jr

November 27, 2009 - 12:53 pm EST

Think of the possibilities.* Doug

I did! You should ask Goldman Sacks to fund this project at Taxpayers expense like most Corporate Government Dreamers do. You would have been better off with this amazing project by biding on the ole Silver Dome for a 1/2 million dollars and have Mega Movers Yellow Freight move the thing to downtown Durham to replace Duke's ancient Wallace Wade Stadium.........

Doug

November 27, 2009 - 1:12 pm EST

You might have an idea about the Silver Dome. I could see it loaded on a barge on the Detroit River, crossing Lake Erie, floating down the Niagara River, then ... oops. Never mind.