Debating the stadiums vote

Please do not be fooled by the sappy, totally inaccurate media campaign regarding the upcoming votes on stadium upgrades. Spending a minimum of $700 million to wrap duct tape around the Truman Sports Complex and allow the Royals and Chiefs to add stadium amenities is insane.

For the same amount of money we could renovate Arrowhead Stadium and build a brand new state-of-the-art baseball stadium.

The rolling roof is lunacy.

The scare tactics are juvenile. The Royals and Chiefs are going nowhere. The teams are not contributing anywhere near the industry standard for new stadium construction and upgrades. What a fantastic deal for the Royals and Chiefs.

The Chiefs have made fabulous profits for over 40 years. The likelihood of them leaving is zero.

Kansas City has a smart and loyal fan base. Defeat this effort, and we will obtain a much improved proposal in the next round of negotiations.

John Kinney
Kansas City

I would be willing to bet that many of the same people who are opposed to the renovation of Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums also opposed the building of the stadiums in the first place.

If they had their way, the Chiefs and Royals would be sharing the old Municipal Stadium, and they would oppose its renovation.

People of their mindset probably also opposed tax breaks for General Motors, Sprint, the NASCAR track, etc. (Aren’t we glad they’re in the area?) I also suspect they opposed building Kansas City’s downtown arena.

As for costs to the average taxpayer; the annual cost would amount to about a half tank of gasoline.

There are simply some people who consistently think negatively and can’t see beyond the end of their nose.

John D. Burroughs
Overland Park

Letter writers keep pointing out that we should vote no because taxpayers should not fund the rolling roof for the Super Bowl. Everyone should look at the bigger picture. The fans are the ones who will benefit from the rolling roof.

Chiefs and Royals fans need the roof over their heads when Mother Nature decides to blow in some rain or snow with bitter winds and cold temperatures. In the heat of the summer, we wouldn’t have to sit out in the sun. The Royals wouldn’t have to cancel games when it rains.

Please consider voting yes.

Alice Gomez
Kansas City

Comments

[CRD]

I've been to both this past year -- and will be going to Kaufmann again on Monday for the season opener. They ain't "run down" in any appreciable sense. Arrowhead's always sold out. Kaufmann, not so much (b/c the Royals, well, suck), but it's one of the most attractive ballparks I've seen.

The need for ongoing maintenance is no argument for a $200 million boondoggle that is the rolling roof. Besides, it's simply false advertising the way they're claiming it's "vote yes on #1 or we lose the teams." There's been no threat to leave. The supporters -- those who stand to benefit financially from the windfall -- siimply want to toy with our emotions.

[31337]

I'm voting for it. It's either the teams stay, or they leave. Nobody wants to play in a run down stadium, and teams that play in rundown stadiums are going to be more likely to loose (like they have been). It's kind of like the relationship of people that live in run down ghetto neighborhoods never have good paying jobs.