Submitted by Carol of Seattle (not verified) on Thu, 08/09/2012 - 7:01am.
When Seattle decided to open Safeco Field for the Mariners and Qwest field for the Seahawks, the downtown businesses, especially the Pioneer District were elated. When the list of inside vendors came out, downtown businesses were nervous to find out places going in like gourmet seafood houses, sushi bars and bar-b-que. In actuality, they had nothing to worry about. After paying a hunk of money for the tickets and seeing the prices of dining at the parks were so outrageous, most fans nibbled on park snacks and waited until after the games to get the real bite to eat. Business in the Pioneer District is booming. The real downside was the amount of trash and fights that increased in the neighborhood. Caused some ordinances to be put in place fining business owners for over-serving alcohol and for failure to provide adequate security to control noise and outbursts.
The biggest concern is the tax increase to pay for the new stadium. They tried a similar thing in Seattle when Safeco Field was built and the public fought it. Eventually private investors stepped forward to finance the build including Microsoft, Nintendo of America and Safeco. Get the big companies in town to pay the cost of building the stadium by promising to give them box seats for life...worked for us.
There's a difference though
When Seattle decided to open Safeco Field for the Mariners and Qwest field for the Seahawks, the downtown businesses, especially the Pioneer District were elated. When the list of inside vendors came out, downtown businesses were nervous to find out places going in like gourmet seafood houses, sushi bars and bar-b-que. In actuality, they had nothing to worry about. After paying a hunk of money for the tickets and seeing the prices of dining at the parks were so outrageous, most fans nibbled on park snacks and waited until after the games to get the real bite to eat. Business in the Pioneer District is booming. The real downside was the amount of trash and fights that increased in the neighborhood. Caused some ordinances to be put in place fining business owners for over-serving alcohol and for failure to provide adequate security to control noise and outbursts.
The biggest concern is the tax increase to pay for the new stadium. They tried a similar thing in Seattle when Safeco Field was built and the public fought it. Eventually private investors stepped forward to finance the build including Microsoft, Nintendo of America and Safeco. Get the big companies in town to pay the cost of building the stadium by promising to give them box seats for life...worked for us.