OT: Washington Freedom Cricket Stadium

[2011WinOverVillanova]

disappointing. They’ll come after us if we try to do a new basketball arena. They killed one stadium and they’ll feel empowered to keep being the party of obstruction and no.

 

[gmubrian]

Good decision. Heard from a nearby resident in North Hill that GMU was trying to pull some extremely shady shit here.

I think calling it shady is a very biased point of view. We seemed to know everything that the school was attempting to do based on publicly available information. Much of what the nimby's were claiming was shady just didn't seem to hold any water. They needed it to sound nefarious to kill the project.

I don't know if this was going to be, ultimately, good or not for Mason and the baseball team, so I don't know if I should be disappointed or not that this has fallen through.

What does concern me is if it was truly the nimby's that got this killed, that is a disturbing development for the future of any big plans Mason might have for future endeavors. Mason has been unable to get any ultra rich donors to contribute large sums of money to our athletics programs. Some of that has been, largely, self inflicted by not wanting to try to raise money for athletics as a priority. If we can't do that, these kinds of win/win partnerships are our best avenue forward and this doesn't bode well on that front.

 

[dr. gunnie]

Now that DC is keeping the Caps/Wiz, I think Ted and Monumental should invest in a new arena somewhere else in Va... maybe in the Fairfax area???

In all seriousness, I think I'm ok with no shared stadium just as long as there is some sort of plan to improve our current stadium. I want Mason to invest more into our baseball program.

 

[2011WinOverVillanova]

Now that DC is keeping the Caps/Wiz, I think Ted and Monumental should invest in a new arena somewhere else in Va... maybe in the Fairfax area???

In all seriousness, I think I'm ok with no shared stadium just as long as there is some sort of plan to improve our current stadium. I want Mason to invest more into our baseball program.

I don’t think it would work…. He would want the metro stop where you take the escalator up and you’re there. He has that currently and would have had that at the Potomac yard metro stop. The Vienna stop is just a dumpy parking lot.

 

[GMU79]

If the NIMBYS stopped it, part of me is ticked. Still, I've never been all in on the project. I'd rather see a baseball only facility.
So maybe it's for the best?

 

[MasonSAE4]

Good. A stupid project being stopped for stupid reasons doesn't make it not a stupid project.

 

[EXpatriot13]

I think calling it shady is a very biased point of view. We seemed to know everything that the school was attempting to do based on publicly available information. Much of what the nimby's were claiming was shady just didn't seem to hold any water. They needed it to sound nefarious to kill the project.

I don't know if this was going to be, ultimately, good or not for Mason and the baseball team, so I don't know if I should be disappointed or not that this has fallen through.

What does concern me is if it was truly the nimby's that got this killed, that is a disturbing development for the future of any big plans Mason might have for future endeavors. Mason has been unable to get any ultra rich donors to contribute large sums of money to our athletics programs. Some of that has been, largely, self inflicted by not wanting to try to raise money for athletics as a priority. If we can't do that, these kinds of win/win partnerships are our best avenue forward and this doesn't bode well on that front.

This sums up where I’m at. The pushback from the community is disappointing and frustrating, and likely the main driver here. But I’m wondering if it opened up more questions and concerns on Mason’s side that they may not have originally considered for the sake of getting something done quickly?

I’m also of the belief that this specific project wouldn’t have really benefited the baseball team or the few fans who attend in the short term. Playing on a cricket field with temp walls, temp bleachers, temp dugouts, temp lights, etc. There was no plan or timeline (that we know of) for a permanent stadium or true infrastructure upgrades to benefit the baseball team like indoor cages, locker room/lounges, etc. This temp facility felt like something we’d be stuck with a lot longer than anyone would want.

However, I like that they took a creative approach here and are at least focusing on fixing these problems. Marvin Lewis seems to be hyper focused on strategic planning, so I’m hopeful they’ll continue to evaluate alternative solutions.

 

[mkaufman1]

Now that DC is keeping the Caps/Wiz, I think Ted and Monumental should invest in a new arena somewhere else in Va... maybe in the Fairfax area???

In all seriousness, I think I'm ok with no shared stadium just as long as there is some sort of plan to improve our current stadium. I want Mason to invest more into our baseball program.

My hope/dream is that they'll at least consider revitalizing EBA since the Potomac Yard project was cancelled. I suspect the focus will be in DC, but it would certainly be nice if they would consider upgrading EBA as a sister or secondary venue.

Unfortunately there are many venues in EBAs size that are newer. That may not bode well for investment, but on the flipside, maybe thats all the reason to invest to help keep up.

 

[Pablo]

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Callie Lynn
"I think this decision was in large part due to the digging people did into partnerships and other matters GMU was being less than transparent about (they were certainly trying to withhold information despite the FOIA request!). Perhaps the last straw was MLC’s partnership with Betway. I can’t see how any university in good conscience would allow advertising for an online gambling platform. Thanks to all who have been active in pushing for responsible and transparent development."

 

[Falco]

Fairfax can handle the traffic of a 10k arena in EBA, but not 12k for a cricket stadium?

Heck, Fairfax can handle 20k students commuting to campus every day, but can't handle the traffic of a cricket stadium?

 

[tblack33]

Personally think this is a blessing in disguise. All for baseball improving their facilities, but this was absolutely not the way and not commensurate with what the demand realistically looks like. Keep that land for something more valuable. If down the road that becomes a spot for a new basketball arena I’d hope that the season ticket holder fanbase can drown out any local opposition, and that the school does more thorough planning and preparation before moving forward. This should provide some good lessons learned for the AD to keep for the future on how to approach this type of thing.

 

[bravesfan]

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Callie Lynn
"I think this decision was in large part due to the digging people did into partnerships and other matters GMU was being less than transparent about (they were certainly trying to withhold information despite the FOIA request!). Perhaps the last straw was MLC’s partnership with Betway. I can’t see how any university in good conscience would allow advertising for an online gambling platform. Thanks to all who have been active in pushing for responsible and transparent development."

Callie Lynn is acting like El Chapo was funding this sh*t.

 

[MasonSAE4]

My hope/dream is that they'll at least consider revitalizing EBA since the Potomac Yard project was cancelled. I suspect the focus will be in DC, but it would certainly be nice if they would consider upgrading EBA as a sister or secondary venue.

Unfortunately there are many venues in EBAs size that are newer. That may not bode well for investment, but on the flipside, maybe thats all the reason to invest to help keep up.

The area could really use a minor league hockey team, but not sure how feasible it would be to renovate to the level needed to support a rink. But that could be one big tenant that Monumental could look to profit off, even though it wouldn't be a Caps affiliate.

 

[Old Man]

The area could really use a minor league hockey team, but not sure how feasible it would be to renovate to the level needed to support a rink. But that could be one big tenant that Monumental could look to profit off, even though it wouldn't be a Caps affiliate.

While I like the idea of a hockey arena, there actually is already a hockey rink built (seats about 3500) and functioning in Leesburg. I watched some u17 tournament there a couple of years ago. Doubt you could justify a second arena in the area short of building it primarily for GMU hockey, which I wholeheartedly endorse.

 

[GMUgemini]

This is the third partnership to fail here: DC/Loudoun United, the softball team and now this. Those facilities are still woefully inadequate for trying to be nationally or even regionally competitive in any of those sports.

If I’m the AD I take that one guy up on his offer and start hitting them up for donations to redi the baseball stadium today. Remind them all they promised to help get something done for the Mason “students.”

 

[GMUSSTN]

I was fine with this agreement but the ideal world is that the school can fund the baseball stadium outright without needing private partners who also want access to the facility. Might be a blessing in disguise, because if you ever got in a conflict with the parties that funded the stadium you could find yourself on the losing end real quick, especially if that funding party is a private sports league that has its own interests at heart.

That's not to say we can't build Jeff Bezos Field at Amazon Prime Park: Home of George Mason Baseball, I just think the mixed use thing wasn't ideal. Still, I'd rather have a new staidum than not.

 

[dr. gunnie]

I'm just disappointed that we never got to see the designs of what the stadium was going to look like. I was really curious how they were going to try and combine the two into one useable stadium.

I'm sure I would have been disappointed.

 

[GMU79]

I'm just disappointed that we never got to see the designs of what the stadium was going to look like. I was really curious how they were going to try and combine the two into one useable stadium.

I'm sure I would have been disappointed.

I agree. A Cricket stadium you played baseball. Polo Grounds, anyone?

 

[thebiasedannouncer]

While I like the idea of a hockey arena, there actually is already a hockey rink built (seats about 3500) and functioning in Leesburg. I watched some u17 tournament there a couple of years ago. Doubt you could justify a second arena in the area short of building it primarily for GMU hockey, which I wholeheartedly endorse.

If I ever win one of those Billion dollar lotteries, I can promise I will be funding a new arena/major renovations to EBA with dual basketball/hockey ability and to move GMU hockey to full time D1

 

[GMU79]

If I ever win one of those Billion dollar lotteries, I can promise I will be funding a new arena/major renovations to EBA with dual basketball/hockey ability and to move GMU hockey to full time D1

And join the SEC in football!?