 Try This One...The "Arlington Cowboys"By Allan Saxe, WBAP Political Analyst Evaluating the finances of moving "America's Team" to "America's City". Bring on the Cowboys! That is, the Dallas Cowboys football franchise. Bring the team to Arlington. There is nothing that should stand in the way of bringing the footballers to the same town where WBAP resides. The Dallas Cowboys want a new stadium with all the trimmings. And Arlington should put out a red carpet for the owners. Whatever Jerry wants, Jerry should get. And little old Arlington wants you! I have never understood why the Cowboys now have a home in a place named Irving anyway. Where in the world did a city get a name like that? Irving is a man's name. You might as well name a town 'Bob' or 'Charlie.' It is not macho enough for a tough bunch of football players. Arlington has a nice ring to it. The team can send out greeting cards to fans, urging their attendance at games. "The Dallas Cowboys now request your attendance at their games in their new home in Arlington, Texas." And who cares if the team calls itself the Dallas Cowboys playing in Arlington. To paraphrase Abe Lincoln, "The world will little know or long remember or care where the team plays, only that they play and win." But there will be those around and about who will say 'No, a thousand times No', to any deal to bring the team to Arlington." They are the nay sayers, the spoiled sports, the citizen-watchdogs over our taxes. The spoiled sports are the ones who will cry out that a city should not subsidize a private sports venture. They will shout about public monies helping the rich grow richer. But if Arlington could help George W. Bush become a little more affluent with baseball it can do the same for the Cowboy owners with football. Cities all the time lure companies to town by reducing or eliminating the taxes they have to pay. And if cities can reduce and or eliminate business taxes (tax abatements) to lure a company to town, it can raise taxes to do the same for a sports team. It is all good symmetry. The Cowboys new stadium is projected to cost $500 million dollars. That will make it one of the biggest semi-public works projects in the state. It will create construction jobs and permanent jobs after completion. Awesome. And just imagine. The famed Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders will be with the team. I wouldn't mind if Arlington raised its sales taxes to the maximum to bring the cheerleaders to town. The Cheerleaders alone are worth the whole cost of the stadium. This is a once in a lifetime chance. Go for it, Big A! Allan Saxe serves as political analyst for WBAP News/Talk 820 and writes an opinion column for the Star-Telegram. You can express your opinions to this column by CLICKING HERE. Be sure to include your name and city of residence. This information may be included with any published opinions. Return To The Allan Saxe Opinion Page
Listener Comments:
Building a stadium for the Cowboys in Arlington will no doubt put a great deal of money in the pockets of wealthy developers, city council members, etc, but it will be a powerful NEGATIVE impact on the Quality of Life for the people that live here, and by the way, that will be forced into subsidizing it with a sales tax hike. KEEP THE COWBOYS AWAY FROM MY HOME! I think it is a GREAT idea. Build a wonderful new stadium next to the ball park and
use ball park parking as part of the deal. Arlington could be a resort/tourist/vacation
spot the year around and all members would benefit by advertising for the other guy.
Leave the Cowboys in Irving. Send Jones to his buddy Clinton in NY. Both of them together couldn't come up with a good idea without screwing something up.
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