Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyler
Yeah, they're going to leave the most perfect location in all of Toronto (a stadium they own btw) because planting grass is going to be hard  |
You do realize that it is possible to respond to posts that you disagree with in a manner that doesn't cause you to come off as a condescending, insufferable jerk, right? Let me show you:
"I disagree. The Rogers Centre is in a great location, the Jays own it, and while installing a grass field will be challenging, I think it can be done. I doubt that it'll be that big of a deal." See? Not hard.
My point isn't as asinine as you so clearly believe. I'm also not a complete moron that deserves to be talked down to.
Yes, the Jays do own Rogers Centre. I'm sure they quite like that. It's also a 26-year old building without the historical charm of a Fenway Park or even Camden Yards. They're going to need/want to replace it some time, and this is the time that many teams start itching for new parks. Atlanta just announced they were replacing a ballpark that is newer than the Rogers Centre. By 2018, it'll be nearly 30 years old.
As mentioned earlier, it's going to be costly to install grass if it can be done at all. I've also heard the $250 million number thrown around and I don't think they've even engaged in a feasibility study to determine if it can be done. I think there's a fairly strong chance that ownership looks at the situation and decides that spending that amount of money on a 30-year-old stadium isn't worth it. At that point, I think they'll either find a way to cancel the project and sweep it under the rug, or they'll start positioning themselves to get a new ballpark built.
Of course, a challenge standing in the way of a new ballpark is indeed its perfect location. McCown on PTS brought up that while they own the park, they don't own the land it sits on, which will serve as a roadblock.
Overall, I agree with flames_fan_down_under. I have little to no faith in Rogers doing right by the Jays and the circus act and bumbling around by Ed Rogers over the last while didn't do a lot to reassure me. I think that one of the reasons they signed a medium-length lease with the stupid Argos rather than year-by-year leases was so that they could put off the grass as a long-term project that could either keep getting pushed back or cancelled altogether without any huge disappointment. It's still far enough to be off in that nebulous zone of 'will it happen or won't it happen'? I'll put it this way: I'm not expecting it to happen.