Arlington voters approve $500 million for new Rangers stadium
The voters of Arlington, Texas have spoken, and they want the Texas Rangers to have a new stadium. The proposition to fund the new park passed in a landslide on Tuesday night, with the opposition conceding early after it became clear they wouldn’t prevail.
And this isn’t just any stadium. It’s a retractable roof stadium that’s estimated to cost around $1 billion, and it will replace the Rangers’ current home, Globe Life Park. The deal will keep the Rangers in Arlington through 2053, their 82nd season. And for Arlington’s mayor, keeping the Rangers in city and building that history is what this was all about.
“It’s a phenomenal thing how so many generations now have grown up going to the Texas Rangers here in Arlington,” Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams told the crowd at a pro-stadium watching party at the Hilton Arlington. “And now we have an opportunity for us to say that we want the Rangers to be here for our kids and grandkids. … It is a historic time in which all of our leaders have come together here to work hard to ensure that we kept the Rangers now.”
The newly-passed stadium deal has the city of Arlington issuing $500 million in bonds, which will cover half the cost of the stadium. The bonds will take 30 years to repay, and it’ll be done through a five percent car rental tax, a two percent hotel occupancy tax, and a half-cent sales tax.
This may have passed in a landslide, but the deal had its fair share of controversy. Globe Life Park is only 22 years old, and it doesn’t really need to be replaced. An investigation by WFAA discovered that the stadium deal would cost $1.675 billion in total, far exceeding the price tag that the Rangers and Arlington city officials have been touting. The city will bear the brunt of that cost. In fact, voters approved a ticket tax of up to 10% and $3 parking tax at the new stadium, but those taxes won’t go to pay off the city’s bonds. They’ll go to help pay off the Rangers’ portion of the debt.
Controversy or not, it’s a done deal. The Rangers will stay in Arlington and get a shiny new stadium. The timeline is pretty aggressive, with the Rangers taking up residence in their new stadium in 2020 or 2021. The team has announced that it will launch a website on Wednesday to get input from the public about the new stadium.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
