OUT FRONT WILL DALLAS BLOW IT AGAIN? Why the New Arena Must Be Downtown

THINK OF IT AS THE ALTERNATIVE DOWN-town-the downtown that might have been.

What if, back in the ’60s, Dallas mayor Erik Jonsson had embraced the idea of a downtown stadium for the Dallas Cowboys? Cowboys owner Clint Murchison, Jr. did not want to leave Dallas; he wanted to leave the ramshackle, outmoded Cotton Bowl and he wanted a new stadium, preferably downtown. If he couldn’t get it, he would look elsewhere.

Perhaps Jonsson didn’t think Murchison was serious. He was. The rest is history-and a continuing economic bonanza for Irving.

What if, in the late ’60s and early 70s, Dallas had made a more aggressive bid of its own to attract a major league baseball team, rather than agreeing to support an Arlington location? City fathers of 20 and 30 years ago could not envision how sports would become one of the great entertainment attractions of the latter part of our century.

But we have the benefit of hindsight. We can’t blow it again, That’s why the arena must be built downtown.

We now know that our downtown must be an entertainment and living center as much as it is a financial and legal center. And it won’t become that if the arena is not downtown. We know, for example, that West End restaurants enjoy a 30 percent bump in revenues on game nights at Reunion Arena. In the restaurant business, that’s the profit margin.

We also know that investors who have taken a gamble on downtown housing aren’t nuts. One such investor-to the tune of one million square feet downtown that is being readied for apartments, lofts, and retail space-told me that if the arena isn’t built downtown, “I made a terrible mistake. “

So who can make this happen? The city council is paralyzed. With 14 single-member council districts and only the mayor elected citywide, a ward-heeling, Balkanized mentality takes over. Councilman X’s voters don’t live downtown, so downtown is not on his agenda.

In addition, council member Paul Fielding argues that any public expenditure that benefits the owners of the Mavericks and Stars is a waste of money. Mayor Ron Kirk is a major cheerleader for downtown, but he’s hobbled because his law firm represents Don Carter, who’s still a minority owner of the Mavericks. Picking has threatened to nail the mayor on a conflict of interest charge if he moves an inch. To make matters even worse, a federal judge is now looking over the council’s shoulders as it tries to discuss arena matters.

Into this political quagmire strides Ross Perot, Jr. with a concept that is refreshing and bold. He foresees that around the arena will grow a mixed-use development of office towers, apartments, and restaurants. He wants a place “where people can walk” to games, to bars, to concerts, to work. With Perot Jr. involved, the arena could become a transforming event for downtown.

So forget Cityplace. Forget Stemmons Freeway. For Dallas to capture the full benefits the arena could bring, it must be downtown.

An arena must be built with public money, but for it to succeed as it could, it needs private management. One financier unconnected with Perot Jr. told me that local government should just build the arena and give it to the teams. Any other arrangement just saddles the teams with either debt or a lease payment that drastically reduces any possible return on their owners’ investments. The public sector stands to gain the most from a revitalized downtown, whatever accrues to the owner. We have a tax base to protect, and with the kind of development Perot Jr. is talking about, we have an opportunity to greatly expand it at very little public risk.

We need the arena, and we need it downtown. We can’t blow it again.