Arlington (WBAP/KLIF News) – Early voting starts October 24 in Texas, and supporters of a new ballpark in Arlington say they hope a short playoff run by the Rangers will not affect support for a ballot proposal.
Arlington will ask voters to shift a portion of sales tax to provide the Rangers $500 million to offset the cost of a billion dollar ballpark. The park would be built in a parking lot southwest of Globe Life Park.
The measure would also shift part of the hotel and car rental taxes that are currently being used to pay off the city’s portion of AT&T Stadium. Arlington expects to pay off its share early.
Mayor Jeff Williams says the plan to pay off AT&T Stadium early shows how the teams contribute to the city’s economy.
“When we had the Alabama-USC football game, the fans all wear their college gear. I’ve heard from businesses all over Arlington how we had fans here all week,” Williams says. “We have restaurants, we have retail establishments, all of them were seeing fans. Hotel occupancy was off the charts.”
Opponents of the stadium say Globe Life Park is just 22 years old, and the new ballpark would have fewer seats. They say Dallas had not made an organized attempt to convince the Rangers to move, so the ballot measure was rushed while the team did not need additional incentives to stay.
Williams says the sales tax has not hurt the city’s ability to generate business.
“At the corner of Collins and I-30, we have a major destination restaurant development being done right now, centered around plazas and pavilions,” Williams says. “It is going to be a state of the art development that we’re very excited about.”
(Copyright 2016 WBAP/KLIF News. All rights reserved)
