Raise the Hammer

Captain, I won't quote you because I agree with it all. The Pan Am debate aside, there have been many positives during the past 7 years. We have a strong front office now and with two home playoff games the past two years, times are certainly changing for the better all around. How much of the $30M BY lost, was due in part to his learning curve as an owner? Tiger Vision brought almost immediate benefits to the entertainment value at IW that is for certain.

We replaced all the stairwells leading up to the stands, and have given the old girl a really good coat of paint all around and I know there is much to be addressed, but we were heading in the right direction and BY had Fenway dreams from the get go. The Pan Am bid changed that.

For $20M we could replace the concrete slabs on the south side, then add seat backs on top of that price and demolish Brian Timmis for 1,000 more parking spots, and to open up the stadium for passers by to actual see - to show off the stadium becuase it isn't so bad the way it is. It just needs a plan. A vision, and money to start going into a pot whether through fund-raising or/and a certain amount set aside from council to plan to in say 10 years, add more press boxes and add more coverage on the north and south sides, or whatever.

I don't totally get $115M for the IW reno but I look forward to seeing the designs/plans. If Bob Young would still offer in the harbor what he did at CP, how would that change things? $10M of the FF has already gone into purchasing the land. How much would prepare it so it was more attractive for a builder/buyer to get us closer to Setting Sail?

We have always been prepared though from the get go, to spend the entire $115M and not a penny more, on a stadium. In the harbor originally of course, but it's still in the core of our city, is IW all that bad a location?

I also heard that the cost was perhaps leaning towards $125+M so I would like to know who we are getting quotes for this IW thing from. Or a stadium anywhere for that matter. I would think South Africa knows a thing or two about builiding stadiums. I asked this morning and I belive the number they built was like 14?

Many people have sent me emails for some impressive stadiums that were built for substantially less than what we are looking at, taking into account the size of some of these others stadiums compared to what we want to accomplish.