NorthShore64

United Soccer League Takes Bold Step Forward with Launch of Division One Professional Men’s League Feb. 13, 2024 - USLsoccer.com Staff "The United Soccer League (USL) announced plans to launch a Division One men’s professional league in 2027-28, bringing the highest-level of soccer to more communities across the country. This groundbreaking initiative builds on the USL’s commitment to grow the game at all levels, provide new opportunities for players, teams, and fans, and strengthen the foundation of American soccer at a time when the sport is experiencing unprecedented momentum."

The new MLB broadcast was also able to keep on Matt, Rick, Andre and Al I'm not sure what this looks like for the Dolans in terms of revenue on their end, but from a fans perspective the $100 option per season with the (almost) same broadcast team and no blackouts is pretty great.

With the loss of the wrestling program, Woodling gymnasium is now down to only Volleyball and Fencing as primary tenants. This would slightly open up the facilities schedule for a theoretical move of some additional basketball games from Wolstein (the men's team have played 4, and women's team 1 game this season at Woodling). I do think the wrestling team had their own room at Woodling though, so I don't know how often they used the main gymnasium for practice. In terms of facilities alone, softball always seemed like the next most likely program to be cut. It was the only team with their own single use facility left on campus. Aside form practice, the facility would only see ~12 games a season in early spring. Softball has been played on this site next to Krenzler since the 1980s (predating the original tennis courts in right field). A softball field isn't that large, however it is still roughly ~1.5 acres of land on campus now opened up. In the short term there isn't much you could do with the parcels location in between Krenzler and the tennis facility. With a partial demolition/some minor modifications you could convert the facility into a multipurpose field for intramural sports. I believe most intramural field sports on campus just use Krenzler. Long term it does open the option for a potential reworking of Krenzler field for its use as a potential site for Cleveland's new soccer stadium (if the current attempt at gateway falls short).

CSU Board of Trustees Approves Recommendations to Reduce Athletics Budget CLEVELAND, Ohio (Jan. 23, 2025) — Cleveland State University (CSU) has announced it will discontinue its three NCAA sport programs in wrestling, women’s golf and softball, following the approval of the CSU Board of Trustees at their meeting on January 23, 2025. CSU made the difficult decision to discontinue these sport programs at the conclusion of their respective seasons this academic year as part of a strategic effort, which began in 2023, to address budgetary shortfalls across the University. In addition to the discontinued programs, the CSU Board of Trustees approved relocating the University’s Esports program from CSU Athletics to CSU’s Washkewicz College of Engineering. ... Cleveland State has no plans to discontinue any of its remaining 15 athletic programs. CSU is an active, engaged member of the Horizon League athletic conference and is committed to participating in Division I Athletics.

Some CLE screencaps:

LOL. Expected by many, but still sucks to see it happen. For a comparison - First imagine if the Browns were really good (multiple super bowls good), then move one of their marquee home games to OSU because its a bigger stadium. That sure wouldn't go over that well in Cleveland. I hope Messi doesn't play (and with the schedule congestion this season their is a good chance he won't). The Haslams better have enough free busses for Crew STH for this game at least. (I say this as a current Cleveland resident and devote Crew fan)

Going tall (around high capacity transit) is a quick and comparatively easy way to meet your local housing demands in the existing North American housing development context. When nearly you entire city is sparling sfh built post war, the most economically and politically feasible approach might just be very targeted high density development areas. Its not perfect, but under the existing economic system its one of the better solutions. Vancouver and GTA figured this out decades ago and haven't slowed down.

Yes, absolutely. High housings costs is arguably the most defining aspect of California life. Its inability to build urban housing is slowing down the states economic growth, while exasperating many negative private and social outcomes (like homelessness, traffic, inequality, uneven tax burden - Prop. 13). When people with jobs (that want to live in your cities) leave because the housing is too expensive, that is absolutely a housing policy failure. The state has a goal of 2.5 million new units by the end of the decade (over 300,000 units per year). They are currently around ~115,000/year. To be clear, this is not just about a lack of >150m tall new builds. You can certainly build a sufficient amount of urban housing without going that tall. That simplistic measure can however be a good indicator of the level of new build activity happening in an urban area. The Bay Area isn't currently building anything above 150m, and they also aren't building nearly enough infill density throughout their cities. San Francisco just missed its state mandated housing goals (which could actually speed up the approval process - SB 423). At some point you need to actually build density in your urban core, especially around existing high capacity transit, not just dethatched sfh is some sprawling suburb a valley over.

The Vancouver / Cali (specifically the Bay Area) comparison is a useful one to make when talking about tremendous shortcomings of American urban development. Obviously they aren't 1:1 comparisons, but they are both rapidly growing west coast cities (with some of the highest housings costs anywhere in the western world) that are topographically constrained with politically powerful NIMBYs in the urban core, yet also have world class regional rapid transit. Vancouver and its neighboring cities have concentrated dense developments around SkyTrain stations throughout the metro to help meet its housing demands. San Francisco and the many cities around the Bay Area have build little more than some 5 over 1 apartment complexes near a few of the BART stations. Typical suburban SkyTrain station: Typical suburban BART station: Berkley, after lawsuits, ballot initiatives and decades of fighting may finally be developing one of its BART station parking lots with a ~700 home development. Meanwhile Burnbay is pursuing a massive (~15 tower, ~12,000 unit) redevelopment in the middle of Metrotown. A lot of this is due to Canadian vs American federal policies around urban issues over the past ~75 years. That is however not a sufficient enough of an excuse for every East Bay city to not be pursuing dense developments around its BART stations. California has the capacity to make the necessary changes to allow for the densification of its cities (or at least those within walking distances of rapid transit).

Denver willing to go overboard with the expansion slot fee may have been the deciding factor for Denver over Cinncy/CLE. Laurel Pfahler at Queen City press: "Boston paid $53 million. My understanding is #FCCincy offered what was believed to be competitive market value, but Denver’s bid to pay double previous fees seems to have put them over the top of an otherwise impressive push from Cincy." https://bsky.app/profile/laurelpfahler.bsky.social/post/3ldjoukoh622b

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/lake-county-captains-baseball-americas-2024-milb-team-of-the-year/#:~:text=Lake County Captains%3A Baseball America's 2024 MiLB Team Of The Year,-December 16%2C 2024&text=The Guardians organization is on,American League Central division title.

A project like this would be beyond the museums current capabilities, but long term that front lawn would be a great piece of land to develop into some sort of outdoor play area for the museum. The Children's Museum of Indianapolis opened a great "sports park" outside their facility, with exhibits themed around the local sports teams/events. The Indianapolis project cost around ~$25 million. We have great museums in the region, however we are lagging behind our peer cities in the "Children's Museum" type of experience. Cincinnati, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis children's museums are some of the best in the nation, and COSI is arguably the best attraction in Columbus.

I know they need pavement for school buses and whatnot but some tourists may think they’re pulling into the Universal Studios tour of the Psycho house set not a children’s museum Yeah, very spooky vibes now. I don't believe they modified the parking area in the front at all when they moved in, other than the new entrance with its needlessly wide curb cut on Euclid. Schools busses use the original Chester entrance which still has a decently sized lot. Maybe they want the parking for larger events.

Glad to see the investment into LDC. With how successful attendance has been though, I was expecting a more substantial capacity increase for the first stadium expansion. It is however more disappointing that the new "East Club" expansion over the loading dock will convert the Upper Centerline Seats into a more premium "club" product. I know of a lot of longtime crew season ticket holders (years at HCS) who are now in the upper deck at LDC. The conversion of some of these sections to a more premium product will likely price some longtime supporters out. I know the margins are in the premium seats (and that's where spectator sports are heading in general), but its still a bummer. A look at the existing gap in the northwest corner: The East Club will have a great view of downtown:

Gov. Mike DeWine ramps up involvement in the Browns stadium fight Jeremy Pelzer - Cleveland.com - Dec. 12, 2024 "DeWine told reporters Wednesday that he’s “in a fact-gathering process at this point.” Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer that the governor wants to get both sides on the same page about a stadium deal. ... The governor said he’s scheduled to meet with Bibb on Friday during a two-day visit to Cleveland this week. DeWine met last week with Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, according to spokesman Dan Tierney."

LDC Expansion:

The project received positive feedback from todays landmark meeting. The annex/northwest section of the mansion that this new project connects to has been mothballed since they moved into the building because of its difficult/minimal connection to the main museum area. So its a small addition, but should open up a lot of space for the museum to expand. Ya no kidding, the the current entrance off Euclid is so devoid of life. Its a shame the trees on the lawn were cut when they moved in. Some new plantings and maybe a mural on the social services building could help the museum feel more inviting.

At todays Landmark Commission meeting (East 4th Street Historic District), the new build "DORA Park" received its COA (project will need separate lighting approval later). Discussions are currently ongoing with a couple of local ice cream brands who are interested in the location. The development team are working with the Cleveland Clothing Company to create a new "Cleveland sports legends" mural on the wall of the current Cordelia building. The same group is also behind The Yard in Willoughby so they have some experience with managing/programming outdoor spaces year round https://theyardon3rd.com/ The roadway to the current valet drop off area is only ~150 feet into East 4th, however that represents almost a third of the block length that will now be fully pedestrianized. There wasn't much discussion about the existing streetscape in the East 4th right of way, but hopefully this small section could be modified to remove/flatten the curb are move the bollards south to Prospect. Those small adjustments (and a potential Flannerys patio expansion onto East 4th) could really improve the entrance from Prospect.

EDIT - Forgot about East 4th Thread: "DORA Park" received its COA from Landmarks.

Bikur Cholim purchases building near hospital Bob Jacob - Cleveland Jewish News - Dec. 10, 2024 "Bikur Cholim of Cleveland has purchased a building at 8931/8933 Cedar Ave. across the street from the Cleveland Clinic’s main campus. The 4,276-square-foot building, formerly a restaurant, was purchased by an anonymous donor from New Jersey with the specific intent of transforming it into a multi-use housing facility for Jewish patients and their families receiving medical care in Cleveland, according to a news release."

This is a good point and worth reiterating. This project is led by Comcast Spectator (owners of the Flyers and the Wells Fargo Center). This project was then later joined by the Phillies. From what I can tell there has been no direct contribution/involvement from the Eagles. That means that this is undertaken by the ownership of teams/facilities that have between them over 150 events per year, year round (a lot even if the 76ers leave for city center or Camden). No development of this scale would be happening with the Eagles and Lincoln Financial Field if they were alone in that parking lot and Philly's arena and ballpark were located somewhere else in the metro. This project is arguably closer Gateway in Cleveland and to what Gilbert/Bedrock are doing right now on the Riverfront. Also this project is being undertaken by Comcast Spectator, a subsidiary of Comcast, one of the largest media entities in the entire world. It is not owned by an individual affiliated with comcast in some way, but the massive multinational corporation itself (40th on Forbes global 2000). The Browns on the other hand are owned by a family that used to own a lot of truck stops. This south Philly sports complex development (which again has taken years to materialize, and will according to comcast take well over a decade to build) also has a few other advantages when compared with Brookpark: Being built directly around the existing Broad Street Line stop on Pattison ~3x closer to city center Across the street from a large Olmsted Brothers designed park (not an engine plant) Total complex area roughly ~60 acres larger More direct highway access In a CSA roughly double the size of Cleveland On a site where spectator sports have been played for nearly a century Does not require over a billion dollars in taxpayer subsidies

The American Public Transit Association puts the Akron Metro growth at 4th in the nation for a transit systems of its size in its 2024. For reference, the best increase among major US transit authorities according to APTA is WMATA at 20%.

The Philly special

I totally agree with where you are coming from, but a lot of people who support this whole project, mainly car brained suburbanites, would probably would view that as a good thing as dreadful as it sounds. If it keeps them from interacting with riff raff (mainly poor people who are different from them) then so be it. Yes of course there are plenty of car brained people to go around (and with Haslam the former gas station mogul they have their perfect champion). There are however a lot of car oriented suburbanites that even understand the utility of rapid transit for football games and big events (like the Haslams keep talking about). A lot of people who would never take transit for their commute would use it for events, especially if the parking is difficult and pricey enough. Some that have never taken transit in their home city use it when traveling to another for events. Even the suburbanites that would never use it under any circumstances like that it reduces the traffic they are in after a game. The people who don't like the idea of being around any riff raff aren't going to Browns games (I've seen plenty of fights even in the club seats). If we are just talking about the surrounding development, that potential clientele isn't going to to like being next to an engine plant in a working class inner ring suburb on the Cleveland border much. They may try and treat it like a hermetically sealed development out in some greenfield development off the turnpike, but its still a stones throw from city limits (its even walking distance from public housing). Even for people ideologically opposed to transit can't deny its benefit for major events. The Rapid was recognized as a legitimate asset in the site selection process for the RNC in 2016.

Why would they even consider this. Would just be shooting themselves in the foot. They want people to drive there so they can charge $50 and up for parking. Isn't this really the whole point of leaving downtown in the first place, control of the parking. No rapid transit connection would increase the demand for gameday parking, however it could simultaneously reduce the potential value of the surrounding development. If you are trying to get people and businesses to move next to an engine plant in an inner ring suburb it would make sense to fully capitalize on the lots full potential. So is the increase in parking demand ~8-10 days a year exceed the total added value of a direct rapid transit connection to the Airport, Downtown and The Circle? I mostly point this out because only having values (and profit motives) in direct opposition to that of the region (and its future) would lead them to their decision. Truly regressive.