Florida Marlins Stadium Poll

A viewer emailed us earlier today suggesting we place a poll on our website in regards to the Florida Marlins stadium discussion.  Two weeks ago we featured an interview with Norman Braman who is challenging the stadium and the Miami Mega-Plan.  Last week we interviewed Florida Marlins' team president David Samson supporting the stadium.

In addition to being able to post your comments underneath each blog entry, you can now also vote.

Online Surveys & Market Research

For those of you unfamiliar with the project, the Miami Mega-Plan is a major works project that aims to do the following:  build a new baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins, build an underground tunnel to the Port of Miami for easier truck access, build a light-rail streetcar, and create a museum park at Bicentennial.

We've been following the Mega-Plan on Issues for some time. If you’re interested in seeing some of our older segments on this topic, check out the links below.  This information, along with segment descriptions, is available on our Previous Episodes page.

ISSUES - Downtown Miami’s “Mega-Plan”
AIRDATE: January 4, 2008

ISSUES - Should We Finance a Stadium for the Florida Marlins?
AIRDATE: February 29, 2008

ISSUES - Challenging the Florida Marlins Stadium
AIRDATE: April 25, 2008

ISSUES - One-on-One with Miami Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez
AIRDATE: May 2, 2008

ISSUES - Interview with City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz
AIRDATE: June 27, 2008

uVu - Downtown Bay Forum: Mega Plan? Or Mega Scam?
DATE: July 30, 2008

ISSUES - Judge Rules in Favor of Florida Marlins Stadium
AIRDATE: September 12, 2008

ISSUES - One-on-One Interview with Norman Braman
AIRDATE: September 26, 2008

ISSUES - Interview with Florida Marlins Team President David Samson
AIRDATE: October 3, 2008

Comments

[Jordan]

EDIT: "...political inclination, ECONOMIC theory..."

[Jordan]

To answer my own question (which has seemed to silence the uninformed, uneducated, ignorant and utterly foolish opposers of the stadium). The answer is 0. That's right the big goose egg. It's easy to say "A team should fund its own stadium." But how realistic is that? How many teams are doing it? Zero. Read some of the arguments proposed by economists that are pro-stadium and you will see that their arguments are based on statistics and facts, as opposed to political inclination, theory, or bitterness.

[Jordan]

Just curious... Anyone who is against the stadium: Can you name me one baseball stadium among the ones that have been built in the last 6 years or that are being built now that has been completely privately funded either by the organization or by donors?

[Lisi]

You guys sound ridiculous. "The Marlins should pay for the stadium with their outrageous salaries" The Florida Marlins are the cheapest team in the league. They are also not guaranteed to play here forever, so why would they pay for the stadium. The Florida Marlins play in a stadium with two other football teams. They deserve their own stadium. How embarrassing is it that these two time world champions are being played this way. The stadium would provide jobs, not to mention liven up the Little Havana area. The money would not come from us tax payers, but rather revenue from travels. So the money can't be used for education, though no doubt you all need it. ALSO, look at the money Dolphin stadium is bringing this year and you tell me how this isn't good for the economy of Florida. This year alone it's hosting the World Baseball Classic, and the National Championship game is here too. That means money from tourists comes here. In conclusion, stfu and vote for the stadium. Oh, and if you can't afford 15 dollar tickets (which are decent seats) then you're not an average family. You guys really need to do your research before you comment, and Brahman isn't anything but some bitter old guy.

[Jordan]

How is this in the taxpayers' expense? We literally are not paying a single dime.

[Frank Dillon]

Millions of people are facing foreclosure on their homes.
Why should we provide taxpayer's money to provide a stadium for billionaires ?
What a JOKE !!!
We should use taxpayer's money to fund our schools maintain our roads and other services which will benefit the majority of Floridians.
The owners of the Marlins are very wealthy people. If they want a stadium. I have a suggestion ... Go to a local bank and apply for loan. Stop looking for a Hand Out which amounts to nothing more than a Freebie at Taxpayers expense !!!

[David Carter]

if you want to read about the fallacies of using public funds for building new stadiums for millionaire owners, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED recently published two very good articles on the subject:

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1140877/index.htm

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1127640/index.htm

[Jay Parks]

The local South Florida press is being accused of playing ostrich and not being inquisitive at the sweetheart deal that the Miami politicians gave to the Baseball Marlins to give the taxpayers money away to New York Millionaires who live in Palm Beach so they can build that stadium at a horrible location. It took an out of town newspaper, The Wall Street Journal to write an article about the horror of it all.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122394181925330941.html

[Venetia Timm]

Let the Fish finance their own stadium from their outrageous salaries. Who's going to come to the games? Certainly not the average family. Who can afford tickets for decent seats? Certainly not the average middle income family, much less lower income folks. Why should taxpayers subsidize such extravagance for a team that can't even fill 1/3 of the stadium they already have?

[Jordan]

Apparently the people who have commented after me have not read my posts. Please read before making dumb assumptions. Because all you are doing is making yourselves look like stupid, ignorant people. Anything labeled "Jordan" will serve its purpose in educating you on the matter since, apparently, you guys are not.

[Pete R]

Baseball is a positive for the community. It keeps kids off the steet and provides a wholesome family activity as well as an awesome venue for family discussions. My Father taught many life lessons between innings. The ball park is a great place to step out of the rat race and engage in good family communication. Also, in the schools, I'd much rather have our youth discussing a Freddy Gonzalaes decision rather than the latest "X" rated music lyrics. Additionally, Marlins baseball has quietly become the glue that bonds together the many diviersities of our South Florida culture. Think about it. Before baseball our South Florida Latin community was much more segregated. I am all for Public funding of the new stadium. We also need the South florida media to start publicizing the many heroic stories that Marlins players encountered along their way to the big leagues. We all know how hard it is to make it "the bigs". There are many stories of players making the right choices, work ethics and diciplines. There are 100 heroic stories on the ball field for every one negative story. Yet, the S. Fla media chooses toinflate the negatives and make the heroic obscure. That is primary reason attendance is low and an intelligent man like Mr Braham misses the value of having baseball in Miami.

[Jacqueline M.]

Public money should not be used for any stadium. Since Miami-Dade County has so much money to spare, it should be given to the Dade County School Board for educational usage. Thank you Norman Braman for being our voice.

[Morton Moskowitz]

Why does the tunnel have to be linked with the stadium project? I think that the tunnel is essential, but the stadium is optional and should be privately financed.

[R. Shields]

So many of these stadiums become "pink elephants" like the Miami Arena because they never deliver the economic benefit. Sport franchises have clearly illustrated that they can pay ridiculous salaries why can't they pay the debt on the stadiums they feel they require to house a couple hundred fans. Professional sports definitely should rely on other joint venture partners and funding.

On the other hand, I believe that if it were an intellegent business decision and if the city and county could ever fullfill and deliver a construction project without going millions and even billions over budget, then the citizens could consider this. However, so far the leaders of this city have proved otherwise; that we are far from ready to become a world class city.

[Phil Rose]

What's wrong with PP park? If they REALLY need a new stadium, let them pay for it out of the players' already-bloated salaries. The average balllplayer makes more in a year than I could expect to make in 10 lifetimes. THEN, on TOP of that, there's endorsements. MORE millions. But WE should pay for their damn stadium? What if they decide to strike again? We'll have pissed away however many millions for nothing. You want to play baseball and get all the perks that come with it? PAY FOR YOUR OWN DAMN PLAYGROUND!!!!! I'm worried if I'll be able to buy food or gas in a year, and on top of this I should pay for a stadium that we need like a bull needs an evening gown? BULLS**T!!!!

[Ernie D]

wow...this poll is such BS!!!!!!!!! just yesturday the poll was 80% to 18% in favor of the marlins and was like that for a whole week straight, now today it has completely flipped the other way. this poll is completely rigged 100%! wbpt your full of crap.

[Chris F]

In a matter of Hours Bramen makes up %20 of a losing vote and pulls ahead for the lead. Within a day, he is ahead by another 20%.

This poll has been tampered with or compromised. Either way, to use this poll to gauge the pulse of the voting masses would be a tragedy.

Shame on WPBT if they dare use this for anything more then toilet paper.

[Larry Pius]

The concept of asking for public funds for a Marlin stadium without long term revenue sharing is too absurd of a concept to even discuss in my view. Actually, I’m not even sure that I care if they move the team out of S Florida. They appear to have little or no interest in developing a winning team anyway. Every time a player gets to the point where he can demand anything above a minimum salary he gets sold off. How do they ever expect to develop any kind of fan loyalty by exploiting their fan base that way? You see so many great ex-Marlins, far too many to name, playing for all of the great teams around the league that it really makes your blood boil. I’ll bet most fans feel the same way that I do. Please end this farce already and move your damn team someplace else!

[Fran Gaynes]

No to the stadium. Let the owners of the team use their own money and money they borrow to fund it. There must be SOMETHING more worthwhile to the entire community that these funds can be used for.

[robert kunz]

No, do not use any more taxpayer money for professional sports!!

[Nannette C Neubauer]

Why should we taxpayers pay for a playpen in which the players, managers and owners reap ridiculus salaries when "Joe Sixpack" has to to ante up his own costs when going into a business, and hope it makes good?
How many of us even likes baseball??? Not many!
Pay your own bills! Take responsibility for your own game!!

[Michael Garcia]

Ilove baseball its America's game.There is something fundamentally wrong when new stadiums are built with the design to separate the common folk from the elite.When there are funds designated for community less privileged and they go to build stadiums.Our beloved president G. W. Bush,while I believe gov.of Texas had a tax passed to have a new stadium built for the Texas Rangers.They later sold the Rangers and guess who made the big profits.No,no not the common folk/tax payer,BUSH and COMPANY.You can read about in,Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston.

[j]

All you idiots saying that this money should be used for education, I GOT NEWS FOR YOU, IT CAN'T BE USED FOR EDUCATION...do your research before sounding like ignorant people.

[Jordan]

OK. Last one.. I promise hahaha. Why are people high on the drug I like to call "the Marlins fanbase is in Broward and Palm Beach." It isn't. The only reason this claim is being tossed around is to try to illegitimize the argument to build the stadium. Ultimate proof is that the current stadium is catering to the northern crowd and it clearly isn't working. I am sorry Browardites who are true fans but it's true. And who wants to cater to counties whose populations are decreasing year-by-year. Yeah that's real reliable. I work in Broward and no one cares about South Florida sports up here unless it's the Panthers. The Heat are a Miami-Dade team, the Dolphins are a Miami-Dade team (sorry, but you can't convince me otherwise Browardites; you guys just live in your own little bubble and like to believe that you are the Dolphin fan base), and the Marlins probably have the biggest Miami-Dade following. Look, I know these things can't be substantiated, but you go to Miami and all the sports bars are full and have Marlins, Heat, and Dolphins games playing, but when you go to Broward it's sad that you have to go to a Flannigan's that is half full watching a Panthers game. Sorry.

[Jordan]

Oh and taxpayers are not paying for the stadium so whatever farce that you guys are believing is exactly that... a farce. It's coming from tourist taxes. Are you tourists? No. So stop claiming that it's your money because it's not.