GreenCity/GreenCity Arena - $2.3B Ecodistrict

[upzoningisgood]

@wrldcoupe4I was using @I miss RVA’s figure about metro growth currently. If it’s too low, that’s good. 
 

The second point is a general observation. I wasn’t directing it at you in particular.

[wrldcoupe4]

I know - my comment is more directed at keeping this conversation on topic versus going through another unnecessary city vs city comparison for the umpteenth time. all good!

[Child2021]

https://www.nbc12.com/2022/03/23/henrico-name-first-leader-new-sports-entertainment-authority/ Big news!!!

[Hike]

4 hours ago, Child2021 said:

https://www.nbc12.com/2022/03/23/henrico-name-first-leader-new-sports-entertainment-authority/ Big news!!!

I just saw this in the RTD as well.  This is the Richmond raceway president changing positions to head up a new sports authority for Henrico.  The article goes on to say the arena is already pushing to get NCAA tournaments and conference tournaments lined up, even before it's built, set to open 2026.

https://richmond.com/sports/dennis-bickmeier-shifting-from-richmond-raceway-president-to-head-of-new-henrico-authority/article_54ddfb71-d43c-5320-b8ae-8aee13761dcc.html

Edited March 23, 2022 by Hike

[I miss RVA]

2 minutes ago, Hike said:

I just saw this in the RTD as well.  This is the Richmond raceway president changing positions to head up a new sports authority for Henrico.  The article goes on to say the arena is already pushing to get NCAA tournaments and conference tournaments lined up, even before it's built, set to open 2026.

https://richmond.com/sports/dennis-bickmeier-shifting-from-richmond-raceway-president-to-head-of-new-henrico-authority/article_54ddfb71-d43c-5320-b8ae-8aee13761dcc.html

Bickmeier looks like an outstanding choice for the leadership role in this. His resume is outstanding and quite impressive - and I love the fact that he's already looking to move proactively to get NCAA tourney and conference tourneys lined up for an arena that still a few years away from opening. THAT'S the kind of vision, forward-thinking and leadership we could use in the city!

[eandslee]

36 minutes ago, Hike said:set to open 2026.

https://richmond.com/sports/dennis-bickmeier-shifting-from-richmond-raceway-president-to-head-of-new-henrico-authority/article_54ddfb71-d43c-5320-b8ae-8aee13761dcc.html

2026!?!?  If I’m not mistaken, they were talking 2025.  Have they already slipped it to the right by one year?  If so, that’s not a good thing. 

[Hike]

10 minutes ago, eandslee said:

2026!?!?  If I’m not mistaken, they were talking 2025.  Have they already slipped it to the right by one year?  If so, that’s not a good thing. 

That's what it is saying today, opens in 2026.

[I miss RVA]

11 minutes ago, Hike said:

That's what it is saying today, opens in 2026.

Hmmm... if it's going to take an extra year to get this thing built, then let's get something in return for the additional timeframe - like another 1,500 to 3,000 seats or so. Boost the capacity up to 18-5 or 20K. Let's go big on this thing!

[Virginian11]

I’m wondering when we get another update on Green City - anyone heard anything?

Edited May 18, 2022 by Virginian11

[DowntownCoruscant]

I was just wondering that the other day. Last news I heard was tangentially related - Henrico hiring the RIR guy as its sports authority head.

[I miss RVA]

21 minutes ago, DowntownCoruscant said:

I was just wondering that the other day. Last news I heard was tangentially related - Henrico hiring the RIR guy as its sports authority head.

Has the county finalized their FY23 budget? Or did they do that a while ago? I'd think there would be some kind of news about Green City related to the county's new budget.

[DowntownCoruscant]

About a month ago.

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, DowntownCoruscant said:

About a month ago.

Okay - good to know. And I don't recall there any being discussion about Green City at the time.

[Hike]

Added ESPN article link below.
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, still read posts and enjoy keeping up but too lazy to get into back and forth, so will post only. This may not be the final destination in Woodbridge, where the commanders bought land and have done drawings for their new stadium.  Will a similar larger concept 80 miles away put green city in an awkward spot or a good place where they can feed off each other? A train ride to both looks easy.

https://richmond.com/sports/professional/commanders-buy-land-draw-up-plans-for-3-billion-mini-city-stadium-complex-in-woodbridge/article_4358a499-6f98-5147-92e4-55a627100993.html

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33971374/source-washington-commanders-spend-100-million-land-virginia-possible-stadium

Edited May 24, 2022 by Hike

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, Hike said:

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, still read posts and enjoy keeping up but too lazy to get into back and forth, so will post only. This may not be the final destination in Woodbridge, where the commanders bought land and have done drawings for their new stadium.  Will a similar larger concept 80 miles away put green city in an awkward spot or a good place where they can feed off each other? A train ride to both looks easy.

https://richmond.com/sports/professional/commanders-buy-land-draw-up-plans-for-3-billion-mini-city-stadium-complex-in-woodbridge/article_4358a499-6f98-5147-92e4-55a627100993.html

This rant has nothing to do with location or proximity to RVA or to Green City - this is a football-only rant:

Dear God - I can't accept this. Not with a yet another awful "climate controlled" mausoleum with yet another awful "translucent roof" ... Jesus H. Christ. Get rid of the effing roof and make sure the field is natural grass, and we'll talk. This is absolutely traitorous to the game of football. If they do this, I'm out, permanently. I cannot stomach the recent trend of these damnable roofed NFL stadiums and the horrific Field Turf garbage that -- oh by the way -- the players universally HATE. The current head of the players union -- upon assuming the leadership position (I think in 2020?) immediately filed a petition (just short of an actual grievance) demanding that the league REQUIRE ALL STADIUMS get rid of synthetic fields and replace all playing surfaces with natural grass because of the significnatly higher rate of non-contact injuries suffered on synthetic fields. From everything I've read, there is not a single player in the NFL who likes these horrible fields - they ALL want natural grass. Of course, I believe the league just smiled (perhaps even chuckled) and circular-filed the petition. Mamzers!!!

I'm sick of seeing the proliferation of these climate controlled indoor football arenas. THE GAME IS MEANT TO BE PLAYED OUTDOORS IN THE ELEMENTS, REGARDLESS OF WHAT SAID ELEMENTS ARE!

For Christ's sake - 

Edited May 24, 2022 by I miss RVA

[Downtowner]

11 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

This rant has nothing to do with location or proximity to RVA or to Green City - this is a football-only rant:

Dear God - I can't accept this. Not with a yet another awful "climate controlled" mausoleum with yet another awful "translucent roof" ... Jesus H. Christ. Get rid of the effing roof and make sure the field is natural grass, and we'll talk. This is absolutely traitorous to the game of football. If they do this, I'm out, permanently. I cannot stomach the recent trend of these damnable roofed NFL stadiums and the horrific Field Turf garbage that -- oh by the way -- the players universally HATE. The current head of the players union -- upon assuming the leadership position (I think in 2020?) immediately filed a petition (just short of an actual grievance) demanding that the league REQUIRE ALL STADIUMS get rid of synthetic fields and replace all playing surfaces with natural grass because of the significnatly higher rate of non-contact injuries suffered on synthetic fields. From everything I've read, there is not a single player in the NFL who likes these horrible fields - they ALL want natural grass. Of course, I believe the league just smiled (perhaps even chuckled) and circular-filed the petition. Mamzers!!!

I'm sick of seeing the proliferation of these climate controlled indoor football arenas. THE GAME IS MEANT TO BE PLAYED OUTDOORS IN THE ELEMENTS, REGARDLESS OF WHAT SAID ELEMENTS ARE!

For Christ's sake - 

amen you and I feel the exact same about football. The amount of injuries on turf is staggering as someone who has played on a turf field myself playing baseball. Look at montreal Olympic stadium when the expos were there. When fielding a grounder it’s like fielding a grounder on carpet. That’s what turf is it’s like playing on Carpet. The day the nfl went to turf I knew injuries were about to go sky high. Who in gods name thought it was a good idea to go to turf? Also yes football is an outdoor game. Do we have a generation of Weenies deciding these decisions on playing football inside? Your supposed to sit in a foot of snow watching a game. I miss the old days of football outside. Being a lions fan I wish we could one day get an outdoor stadium. Plus the skins indoor stadium looks like the ugliest indoor stadium I have ever seen. If that’s what’s going to look like I’d rather have nothing at all. Go back to the drawing board boys design something nicer looking. Looks a giant horse saddle. 

[I miss RVA]

On 5/24/2022 at 6:39 AM, Downtowner said:

amen you and I feel the exact same about football. The amount of injuries on turf is staggering as someone who has played on a turf field myself playing baseball. Look at montreal Olympic stadium when the expos were there. When fielding a grounder it’s like fielding a grounder on carpet. That’s what turf is it’s like playing on Carpet. The day the nfl went to turf I knew injuries were about to go sky high. Who in gods name thought it was a good idea to go to turf? Also yes football is an outdoor game. Do we have a generation of Weenies deciding these decisions on playing football inside? Your supposed to sit in a foot of snow watching a game. I miss the old days of football outside. Being a lions fan I wish we could one day get an outdoor stadium. Plus the skins indoor stadium looks like the ugliest indoor stadium I have ever seen. If that’s what’s going to look like I’d rather have nothing at all. Go back to the drawing board boys design something nicer looking. Looks a giant horse saddle. 

We're likely old enough (I know I am - turning 60 this fall) to remember the days of the original AstroTurf - which was little more than concrete painted green. Players suffered all manner of injuries on that garbage. The players say that even the technlogocially advanced and far less contact-damaging FieldTurf - which has been engineered to behave somewhat more like a natural field and is far more padded than the original AstroTurf surfaces ever could have dreamed of being - is still every bit as harmful to a player's health from the standpoint on non-contact injuries (things like torn hamstrings, blown out ACL/MCL/PCL, Achilles injuries, lower-body hyperextensions and stress fractures - basically anything involving torque, sudden shifts of body weight on joints, tendons, etc.) because synthetic surfaces - for all their improvement over playing on green-painted-cement - still are NOT as forgiving as natural grass, dirt, mud, etc. Good old-fashioned terra firma - a.k.a. earth - manufactured by God, Inc., is light years better than ANYTHING man-made when it comes to a football playing surface.

It boggles my mind that the players will strike over differences in contract structures when it comes time to sit down to hash out a new CBA. They honestly should stand up and if they want to strike over something, next time the CBA is up for negotiation, force a work stoppage until the NFL mandates that ALL facilities return to natural grass.

And FFS - can we PLEASE get rid of the plexiglass roofs? The Astrodome was a novelty - it was cool. SoFi, Allegiant, Ford Field, the weird roof thing in Minneapolis, Lucas Oil Stadium -- and even these "retractable" places like whatever they're calling Reliant Stadium in Houston (which was the best of the retractables bc they used to open the roof to the point that it legit was an actual open-air stadium when the roof was open), JerryWorld outside of Dallas, and that weird spaceship monstrosity in downtown Atlanta... ALL of these places are horrifically bad venues that would be SO much BETTER venues (actually they're by and large, very nice stadiums - they just suck terribly bc of the roofs) - if they'd jettison the damn roofs!

Washington needs to tear up any plans for DannyDome and forget such a concept even exists. OPEN AIR FOOTBALL ON NATURAL GRASS, PLEASE!!!

As for the horse saddle shape - I think whoever designed this also designed the old Capital Centre in Landover - recall the jokes about it being the big Pringles chip... 

Edited May 26, 2022 by I miss RVA

[DowntownCoruscant]

Who’s clamoring for edge-city-style  development in Woodbridge of all places? Other than Snyder, of course, who simply wants to jump on the sports-team-owner-turned-real-estate-developer trend. 

[Downtowner]

5 hours ago, DowntownCoruscant said:

Who’s clamoring for edge-city-style  development in Woodbridge of all places? Other than Snyder, of course, who simply wants to jump on the sports-team-owner-turned-real-estate-developer trend. 

Well if you haven’t been following the nfl owners news. Danny is about to be voted out of the league and sell his team to someone else. First time it would ever happen in the history of the nfl. I’ve heard Ted leonsis wants to buy them. Owner of the Washington capitals and Washington wizards. Also the Washington nationals I have heard are about to be for sale. The Lerner family is losing money on them and a big reason why they want to sell is to recoup money they have been losing in real estate with all of the empty office buildings they own. I also think the old man Lerner may be about or die or did die not sure though.

5 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

We're likely old enough (I know I am - turning 60 this fall) to remember the days of the original AstroTurf - which was little more than concrete painted green. Players suffered all manner of injuries on that garbage. The players say that even the technlogocially advanced and far less contact-damaging FieldTurf - which has been engineered to behave somewhat more like a natural field and is far more padded than the original AstroTurf surfaces every could have dreamed of being - is still every bit as harmful to a player's health from the standpoint on non-contact injuries (thinks like torn hamstrings, blown out ACL/MCL/PCL, Achilles injuries, lower-body hyperextensions and stress fractures - basically anything involving torque, sudden shifts of body weight on joints, tendons, etc.) because synthetic surfaces - for all their improvement over playing on green-painted-cement - still are NOT as forgiving as natural grass, dirt, mud, etc. Good old-fashioned terra firma - a.k.a. earth - manufactured by God, Inc., is light years better than ANYTHING man-made when it comes to a football playing surface.

It boggles my mind that the players will strike over differences in contract structures when it comes time to sit down to hash out a new CBA. They honestly should stand up and if they want to strike over something, next time the CBA is up for negotiation, force a work stoppage until the NFL mandates that ALL facilities return to natural grass.

And FFS - can we PLEASE get rid of the plexiglass roofs? The Astrodome was a novelty - it was cool. SoFi, Allegiant, Ford Field, the weird roof thing in Minneapolis, Lucas Oil Stadium -- and even these "retractable" places like whatever they're calling Reliant Stadium in Houston (which was the best of the retractables bc they used to open the roof to the point that it legit was an actual open-air stadium when the roof was open), JerryWorld outside of Dallas, and that weird spaceship monstrosity in downtown Atlanta... ALL of these places are horrifically bad venues that would be SO much BETTER venues (actually they're by and large, very nice stadiums - they just suck terribly bc of the roofs) - if they'd jettison the damn roofs!

Washington needs to tear up any plans for DannyDome and forget such a concept even exists. OPEN AIR FOOTBALL ON NATURAL GRASS, PLEASE!!!

As for the horse saddle shape - I think whoever designed this also designed the old Capital Centre in Landover - recall the jokes about it being the big Pringles chip... 

Odell Beckham in the super bowl and Jameson Williams in the National title are perfect examples of why you don’t use turf on any sports field. 

[123fakestreet]

1 minute ago, Downtowner said:

Well if you haven’t been following the nfl owners news. Danny is about to be voted out of the league and sell his team to someone else. First time it would ever happen in the history of the nfl. I’ve heard Ted leonsis wants to buy them. Owner of the Washington capitals and Washington wizards. Also the Washington nationals I have heard are about to be for sale. The Lerner family is losing money on them and a big reason why they want to sell is to recoup money they have been losing in real estate with all of the empty office buildings they own. I also think the old man Lerner may be about or die or did die not sure though.

I might have to become a WFT fan now. I always said I would root for them if they:

• changed their racist name
• played in VA
• got new ownership that wasn't a giant turd
• got cooler uniforms/changed their colors to something a least less drab shades

With a new name and stadium there's a decent chance they do the last part

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, 123fakestreet said:

I might have to become a WFT fan now. I always said I would root for them if they:

• changed their racist name
• played in VA
• got new ownership that wasn't a giant turd
• got cooler uniforms/changed their colors to something a least less drab shades

With a new name and stadium there's a decent chance they do the last part

Okay - more of a rant on my part. It's not aimed at you or meant as being critical of how you view the team. It's my old-tuchus going off about the team I've followed, rooted for and loved since 1970 - and how the current changes -- many of which are utterly mind-boggling -- just don't sit well with me.

Please know - no offense intended - it's aimed at the team, at the NFL and at Nike... not at you. 

1.) I'm very glad they got rid of the old moniker - but "Commanders" flat out SUCKS. They could have done FAR better than that. "Football Team" should have been changed to "Football Club" and then left that way if they couldn't come up with anything tighter than "Commanders". Classy, in the way of some of the cool British soccer team names.

2.) Played in VA - so long as it's in an OPEN AIR - NON-ROOFED (retractable or otherwise) STADIUM ON NATURAL EFFING GRASS IN THE ELEMENTS (none of this "climate control" BS) -- we're in agreement. Otherwise, I'm out on this one. They could play in Antarctica for all I care if they insist on building this insipid and horrendous roofed DannyDome monstrosity. 

3.) We're in 100% full agreement on how badly they need new ownership. I've beein saying this since '99 when Doofus Danny bought the team. I didn't want him buying the team then, and I sat shiva after he did. I KNEW they'd be no kind of good once he got ahold of them.

4.) I'm sorry my friend - the new uniforms are (IMNSHO) beyond grotesque. The weird "uni-color helmet-jersey-pants" scheme and the even weirder base black with hints of the old burgundy and then the gold makes me want to absolutely VOMIT the last six weeks of meals I've consumed. The only place these horrific duds (and folks - these duds are TOTAL DUDS) belong is at the bottom of a roaring dumpster fire.

I absolutely CANNOT stand these garish, ghastly pieces of you know what that the NFL has foisted upon our eyes with this "color rush" BS -- eschewing the cool, classic, TRADITIONAL UNIFORMS that teams are known for. I'm so glad the Browns, for example, went back to something closer to their "classic" look and got rid of those blinding and puke-inducing protoplasm orange and you-know-what-stain brown things they wore for roughly five seasons. No wonder they couldn't win any games. Jesus Christ...  The Bengals new unis look REALLY sharp! I love what they did. The Rams' aren't too bad, but that weird watercolor-like fade has the same nauseating affect on me as those neon key-lime-pie alternates the Seahawks wear on Thursday or Monday nights. I LOVE the clean, simple look of Jacksonville's - and Tennessee's may be my favorite of the "newer" brand of uniforms (newer meaning "non-traditional that teams have worn, essentially unchanged, since the '60s - Packers, Colts, Cowboys, Chiefs, Raiders, Bears, Niners (since they went back to their classic duds), Giants (since they went back to them), etc.) The Chiefs would do well to rid themselves of those awful uni-color "reds" they wear on Thursday and Monday (and even some Sunday) night games - ALL RED LOOKS RIDICULOUS!!! They look like fire engines running around - at least go back to the white pants - or better yet - just stick with what works -- the classic uniforms!

Sorry bud ... these futuristic, way "out there" uniforms that look worse than the garish college uniforms of some schools (Maryland and -- in particular OREGON -- I'm lookin' at YOU!!) - and look like the uniform designers dropped several rounds of acid before sitting down to actually draw them up - need to be circular filed. At least stick to the Burgundy and Gold theme - it's classic and traditional and the team is recognizable by those colors. It would be like asking the Detroit Lions to suddenly do away with their Honolulu Blue and Silver theme (through I wish they'd go back to the more classic unis they wore in the 70s, 80s & 90s instead of the junk they've been sporting the last 10 or so years... ugh... 

I'm sorry - but the Commanders' uniforms are beyond ugly and need to go. I have NO idea how I will stomach watching them this coming season.

Edited May 26, 2022 by I miss RVA

[I miss RVA]

The General Assembly has withdrawn the bill to provide state funding for the Washington Commanders' proposed (and God-awful ugly) DannyDome. It will not come for a vote when the legislature reconvenes to consider budget amendments, and any action will require drafting a new bill during the 2023 session.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

https://richmond.com/sports/professional/commanders-bill-officially-pulled-from-consideration-in-virginia-legislature/article_5e025fd9-6e0c-55f8-b499-16acc9f47270.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

[Downtowner]

47 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

The General Assembly has withdrawn the bill to provide state funding for the Washington Commanders' proposed (and God-awful ugly) DannyDome. It will not come for a vote when the legislature reconvenes to consider budget amendments, and any action will require drafting a new bill during the 2023 session.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

https://richmond.com/sports/professional/commanders-bill-officially-pulled-from-consideration-in-virginia-legislature/article_5e025fd9-6e0c-55f8-b499-16acc9f47270.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

If I’m being honest I don’t see dc or Maryland doing anything either until Snyder and everything else gets resolved. Until then nobody wants to deal with that dumpster fire. At least my Detroit lions had to resort to old man ford dying and his wife being so old she no longer could withstand it so her daughter who is an angel sent from heaven to take over the team has created the best culture I have ever seen since the lions have been a franchise. Good luck dc football fans may have to take an expansion team to rid of that disaster. I hope they move out of dc completely sadly who would want that dumpster other than maybe at Louis since the rams left. It’s time to just let that team ride off into the sunset and get an expansion team. Nobody wants Danny the dumpster fire. Sad that the league may have to vote on ousting him from the league. Has never ever happened before. That just shows how bad he truly is.

[I miss RVA]

30 minutes ago, Downtowner said:

If I’m being honest I don’t see dc or Maryland doing anything either until Snyder and everything else gets resolved. Until then nobody wants to deal with that dumpster fire. At least my Detroit lions had to resort to old man ford dying and his wife being so old she no longer could withstand it so her daughter who is an angel sent from heaven to take over the team has created the best culture I have ever seen since the lions have been a franchise. Good luck dc football fans may have to take an expansion team to rid of that disaster. I hope they move out of dc completely sadly who would want that dumpster other than maybe at Louis since the rams left. It’s time to just let that team ride off into the sunset and get an expansion team. Nobody wants Danny the dumpster fire. Sad that the league may have to vote on ousting him from the league. Has never ever happened before. That just shows how bad he truly is.

The last time something like this happened (Dumpster-fire Danny potentially getting booted from the league) was with Donald Sterling & the L.A. Clippers in the NBA about eight years ago, no?

[Downtowner]

Just now, I miss RVA said:

The last time something like this happened (Dumpster-fire Danny potentially getting booted from the league) was with Donald Sterling & the L.A. Clippers in the NBA about eight years ago, no?

Sounds right to me. I remember that whole fiasco too. But an owner has never been ousted from the nfl. Not sure about mlb or nhl though. I thought the old reds owner marge schott was but I’m not sure on that one.