Hey guys I was reading a article on Foxsports.com about the Marlins looking at Hialeah, and it also said they were looking at Homestead as well. I think Homestead would be perfect, and I have thought that for years. Other than the fact that I live in Homestead here are reasons why it would be great.

 

1. Plenty of Land and access roads.

 

2. Homestead is growing, and the value of the team would rise considerably.

 

3. With Homestead growing extesively, I dont think funding would be a problem. (they may want to consider the same way Ralph Sanchez got funding for the Homestead Speedway.

 

4. It would be the perfect sports-town with the Race Track, and there have been rumors for years of a Drag Strip going to be built.

 

5. It is just as far as Dolphin Stadium from Flagler, and it is close to the Keys as well. Which would mean MORE MONEY..God knows those people in the KEYS HAVE MONEY TO SPEND.

 

6. Homestead built a small stadium for the Cleveland Indians a long time ago, then at the last second they backed out. Leaving Homestead with a stadium that is not being used. The stadium could hold close to 10,000 fans. I think it would be a great idea to have the Marlins play a couple of Spring Training games there and see how the turnout is. Im pretty sure Homestead will sell the land and the stadium considerably cheap b/c they are LOSING money on it, and have for years.

 

7. I beleive one of the turn off of Dolphin Stadium, and has been for years, is that it is not in the best neighborhood. That is a deterent from middle class fans (as most of us are), who want to enjoy the game but are thinking if there car is being broken in.

 

8. Plans were set-up a couple of years ago by Leonard Hamilton to set-up a sports-town, but it was slopply organized.

 

9. I dont think they would have to rename themselves to the "Miami Marlins".

 

10. I would love to see the faces of Miami-Dade Officials if it gets done, and the Marlins succeed in attendance, revenue, and ANOTHER WORLD SERIES RING....

 

PS: I think they should bring Ralph Sanchez on board as a consultant.

 

here is the link.... http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5292628

Not a bad idea. From what I understand Homestead is starting to come around from Andrew and people are starting to move back in large numbers (is this correct?).

 

And I was unaware of that Indians stadium situation.

Homestead isnt a bad idea at all... But if Hialeah can get it done I would prefer their first.. That would be better for the Fish

Yes..the stadium as built in 1991 if I am correct. But when Andrew came through, the Cleveland Indians backed out for good. Even though they were assured the Stadium would be ready for next Spring Training. After that is when Homestead started to colapse.

 

In the next few years there will be a Baptist Hospital, A theme park (sponsored by Universal if im correct), a possible drag strip, movie theaters up the ying-yang, BANKS (which means Money)..I have been living in Homestead since 7/2004, and I love it. Its really nice, and its beautiful. I wake up every saturday to the sound of F-16 flying over my house. There are shopping centers all over.

 

You would be able to get to the stadium from the Turnpike, and from US1, and if your in the area, you could always walk or take back roads.

 

here is a link to the stadium..not much info but some..

 

http://www.ci.homestead.fl.us/portal-recreation/parks.aspx

i wouldnt mind homestead since it would be closer to my house, but i doubt broward/ palm beach people would go

I dont think many people from Palm Beach go anyways. Most of them are rich people who are close to being retired, or are retired, and just want to relax at home. Plus most of them are soooo rich that they probaly have a house in the Keys, and could probaly catch a weekend series if they have a house there. I was very impressed went I to the Nascar event this last November (for the third year in a row), and how it event handling is getting better and better organized. I think Homestead is ready for this. Homestead is full of middle-class, hardworking people. Mostly YOUNG couples as well.

 

Im not toooooo sure on how the Broward people would react to this, but if people from Dade have been doing it for years. I think its there turn. I mean, we would still have to drive for Dolphin games. So in reality we would be meeting half-way.

At this point all sites must be considered. But at this point I don't see them (the Marlins) seriously considering this as an option. What you're doing with putting the stadium in Homestead is cutting off the fans from Northern Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach and replacing them with a few thousand in the Keys the can reach the stadium within an hours drive for example.

The turnoff of Homestead is that the Marlins would lose a bunch of Broward and Palm Beach fans and ticket holders because it's just to far to drive. There's no TriRail going to Homestead either. US1 would be a disaster is you expect fans to drive on it. The only reasonable highway would be the turnpike. Its true that the Keys population would help and that Monroe would be considered Marlins territory but is it worth losing most of Broward and Palm Beach.

I don't think it's a co-incidence that both Hialeah and Homestead are on the forefront of moving the UDB and the Marlins would be used as fallguys in that chess move.

It's really sad what happened in Homestead during the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew especially when the Indians abandoned the Homestead location and never used it once. It's really a beautiful ballpark. The problem with Homestead is that its so far down south. The race track does very well but thats because the race events are planned well in advance for a weekend. People coming for a race event such as NASCAR/grandprix know that is held one time (weekend) out of a year. Can you imagine holding 80 plus games in Homestead? There will be plenty of empty seats.

Yeah Marlins2003 I don't think its a coincidence either. I believe that Miami Dade has been trying to move the UDB for quite some time down in the south Dade area. I remember hearing about it and seeing it on the news last year.

The turnoff of Homestead is that the Marlins would lose a bunch of Broward and Palm Beach fans and ticket holders because it's just to far to drive. There's no TriRail going to Homestead either. US1 would be a disaster is you expect fans to drive on it. The only reasonable highway would be the turnpike. Its true that the Keys population would help and that Monroe would be considered Marlins territory but is it worth losing most of Broward and Palm Beach.

 

 

well in defense of this idea, the Tri-Rail has been talked about by Miami Dade County Commision Chair Joe Sanchez as they are negotiating extending the tri-rail down into homestead within the next 2-3 years, don't know if that is a realistic deadline, but it is something to take into consideration

if it is in homestead kiss my backside goodbye from games. I would watch them on tv still and go to maybe 1-2 a year then. But I couldnt afford a 2 hour drive from Palm beach in rush hour traffic to get to the games sorry

Im sorry if I come off sounding stupid with this question. What is the "UDB"? Again sorry for the stupid question. :banghead

 

On another note...The Cleveland Indians....I became a Indians fan after the movie Major League, but after they did what they did to us, IM happy they lost the world series in 1997/ Kind of like redemption. Also they want to leave Winter Haven, which has treated them very well.

 

Im not here to bash the Hialeah idea. I beleive the Hialeah idea has positives as well, and we all have the ONE goal, which is to keep the FISH in town....IF there is one thing that I dont like about Hialeah..is the traffic. WIth all the construction, on a normal day at 2 am there is traffic.

If you are talking about the construction on the 826 that should be near completion or complete by the 2009-2010 season. Other than that I don't know what construction you are talking about.

This would be tantamount to putting a stadium in north Palm Beach County & losing the Dade fans. Probably even Broward isn't going to make that drive.

I beleive no matter where the stadium is built (if anywhere), the Marlins will lose fans. We just have to look at how many fans will we lose compared to gaining. The same would go with the value of the organization to field a competitive team.

 

If the construction on the 826 will be done around 2009-2010 season I guess that would more or less around the time a stadium might be done, and it woul dbe nice to go hand in hand. Does anyone think the new 826 can handle traffic for a stadium? I dont know if it could. Not saying that I dont think it can. I just dont know the exact specifics of the "826 project".

I don't think there's any construction project in existence that can cure the traffic issues of 826.

well considering that most of your season ticket holders come from palm beach and most of the rest come from broward this would be bad for a move

 

you are losing about 75% of your base there if you lose both. But, I am happy to watch them on TV even if would be upset at no more going to the games really at all.

 

 

I think if you had the option of Homestead of palm beach, I would put it in palm beach first, the population there is growing, more money there, and still would keep broward at least. Either way Dade/broward is the best places. like where it is now really and honestly.

I would have to agree with Fishfan79 (our names are similar..). I like where it is as of right now, but it looks like things wont work out in that area..unfortunately. I dont mind the drive up there. I made it last year a few times for the Dolphins and Marlins.

 

Why did the Bicentenial park fail?

Why did the Bicentenial park fail?

 

For a large number of reasons.

 

Construction costs related to moving both Biscayne Blvd. and the underground utility and steam lines under both the park and the BB, enormous community (read special interest groups who didn't want a noisy ballpark next the PAC) opposition, do-gooders who thought the park should remain a park, the Herald, in short a whole litany of objections, some real and imagined, combined with a lack of funding.

What about those glowing lights in the water? I don't want our players turning into fish-people.

Im sorry if I come off sounding stupid with this question. What is the "UDB"? Again sorry for the stupid question. :banghead

 

"UDB" stands for "Urban Development Boundary" which is an artificial line set in the Comprehensive Growth Management Plan for Miami-Dade County (and all other counties in Florida for that matter) which sets the limit for urban development densities. By "density" I mean how many residential units you can build per acre. If you are outside the UDB, you can only build one "unit" (either a house or apartment) for every five acres. Meaning that if you own 20 acres, you can only build four houses on it. Some "urban" densities usually run around 5 to 10 units per acre. That's why developers are desperate to move the UDB because it will allow for the construction of low to medium density housing on what is now agricultural land.

 

Any changes to the UDB must be approved by the Department of Community Affairs in Tallahassee and would be a "large scale amendment" to a Comprehensive Plan. DCA only reviews large scale amendments twice per year. It's probably too late to submit an amendment for the 1st session of 2006, so the earliest any new large scale amendment is to be considered would be approximately Sept./Oct. of 2006 (but the deadlines vary from county to county).

 

Also, BOTHFISHFAH, you have no idea what you are talking about when you refer to the population of Palm Beach County as "old and retired". I've been living in Palm Beach County now for nine years. Aside from your standard "snowbirds" most of the western part of the County is young, urban and professional. Not necessarily "rich and old." If the stadium is built in Homestead, there is no way I'd ever make it to a weeknight game (and I work in downtown Fort Lauderdale!). Demographically speaking, an MLB stadium in Homestead would be a disaster for the Marlins. If Homestead is a viable site, then maybe the Marlins should just expand Roger Dean Stadium and move to Jupiter, because that's what most of us in Palm Beach County would love, and then you'd know how we would feel.

lol....fish people..thats awesome...lol.

 

sometimes I think that the City of Miami, does not want the Marlins.

 

Its like the old saying.."you dont know what you have until you lose it"..

I believe the City of Miami does want the Marlins. However they are not going to give the bank away either. I believe Miami did not want to be another victim of whats happening at the performing arts center. Miami Dade is the victim of that mess. The City of Miami could not get any real guarantees from the Marlins that they would be responsible for any cost over runs.

I believe the City of Miami does want the Marlins. However they are not going to give the bank away either. I believe Miami did not want to be another victim of whats happening at the performing arts center. Miami Dade is the victim of that mess. The City of Miami could not get any real guarantees from the Marlins that they would be responsible for any cost over runs.

 

The City of Miami doesn't mind giving the bank away -- as long as it's going to "one of their boys".