It is all right here:TXAggie2011 said:
I'm not one to defend Tom Hicks but I don't understand how he is responsible for the relationship you had with your nearby beer stand.
And I don't see how his "development" at the ballpark alienated the existing fan base in favor of a new one. Whatever the "old fanbase" was...it was never coming to the old Turnpike Stadium or the Ballpark because either one was directly surrounded by a bunch of bars and restaurants.
They were always surrounded by a bunch of parking lots.
Tom Hicks alienated people by poorly managing his money, which negatively impacted the performance of both the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers.
See... once upon a time, the Rangers had baseball loyalist fans.Quote:
Hicks alienated his base Rangers fans, in an attempt to attract NYYankee/Boston Red Sock/ChicagoCubs/Dallas Stars/NHL type fans and destroyed the atmosphere of games, by allowing Jim Lites to turn it into a hockey atmosphere. Hicks jacked up the premium seats transitioning the demographics of loyal STH from baseball fans to corporate sponsors, whom he was intent on gouging and exploiting. That changed the fan development is attracting from loyal fans with a routine... to people who drop in for games. You want loyal fans who immerse themselves in game... or do you want business meetings where sales people invite customers to formal expensive dinners and then drop into the game, where the game is more of a distraction to what is going on.
When Hicks appointed Jim Lites, Lites tried to recreate a hockey environment. Music was blarring. It was changed from a traditional baseball sound... to grinding hockey blaring music. No longer could you have conversations, because the music was too loud and too often.
Premium Seats, between 1st and 3rd on the lower level... went from like $24/seat (about $2000 per) to like $60/seat ($5000 per). This infuriated many long-time STHs who refused to renew. Corporations were courted and they picked up the tickets. Good for Hicks... he got more revenue, however, many of those seats go unused when the team doesn't perform. I had the privilege of using a Corporate Suite 17 times in 2005, because the Corporation couldn't find anyone to use it for customers. The company soon didn't renew, because it was no longer seen as a customer event. Hicks felt he no longer needed to invest in the team on the field, payroll decreased and Hicks complained.
Regarding attendance... just a look back on history...
Arlington Stadium
1992: 27,139 Avg, 2.20M (2.27M AL Avg)
1993: 27,711 Avg, 2.50M (2.38M AL Avg)
RBiA
1994: 43,916 Avg, 2.50M (1.73M AL Avg)
1995: 27,582 Avg, 1.99M (1.81M AL Avg)
1996: 35,448 Avg, 2.89M (2.12M AL Avg)
... Enter Jim Lites Era (2001-2005) ...
2001: 34,952 Avg, 2.83M (2.35M AL Avg)
2002: 29,043 Avg, 2.35M (2.21M AL Avg)
2003: 25,856 Avg, 2.10M (2.19M AL Avg)
...
...
2008: 24,320 Avg, 1.95M (2.46M AL Avg)
...
2017: 30,960 Avg, 2.51M (2.29M AL Avg)
15 years after of attendance and your net increase is 3,500 Avg with the population growth of DFW... is terrible.
Jim Lites took attendance down below the levels even at Old Arlington Stadium.
Regarding the parking lots... you missed the point again. SURPRISE. Taking possession of land around where they were building the new stadium, was supposed to be part of the overall economic development, where you were supposed to have what is being proposed for this new stadium. The Dev never happened and it remained parking lots, just like Arlington stadium. The question is... why will it be different for the Cowboys... or the new Ballpark? Consider parking for 2.5M guests. Pretend an average of 3 people per car, that 833K cars per game. X$20 per car= $16M. Hicks put the parking lots into a separate Corporation to hide the revenue, in order to pretend the team couldn't spend money. When the team was sold into bankruptcy, it was recognized what he had done.