Greenville County Council Got It All Wrong
It has taken a few days for me to process the implications of Greenville County Council Finance Committee’s decision to give the boot to “Project Kick” on Monday night. I have sifted through the comments from folks responding to the reports. I have read the comments of the council members who have spoken on the topic. I have tried to see this decision from every conceivable angle, and I just cannot make sense of it.
There is so much misunderstanding and misinformation regarding what was voted down that I don’t even know where to start. But here we go.
This is Bigger than Soccer
There are so many out there who saw this initiative as being simply about “soccer.” I even saw someone thanking the council for “voting against soccer” as if a dislike of the sport was the reason for this decision. In some ways I get this misunderstanding. The project was brought to the table by the Triumph and the Erwin family. They are the ones pushing for and organizing this initiative. And they would certainly be the organization most associated with the facility.
But is Flour Field simply a venue for the Drive, or does is host an array of other community and sporting events throughout the year? What about The Well? Are the Swamp Rabbits the sole occupant of that space? Of course not. And those two teams play many more home games than the Triumph do.
The proposal for this stadium would provide a much more usable venue than the Drive stadium for other sports and events. By year two, the estimates are around 150 events per year in the stadium. Between the Triumph and (yet to be named) women’s team, they would only account for approximately 25–30 of that 150, or about 20%.
But what about the illustrious Sirrine Stadium? Why couldn’t it be renovated for this purpose? Quite simply, the field dimensions do not meet professional league standards for soccer. Even if that wasn’t the case, the parking situation is a nightmare, the stadium is in really rough shape, and there are already so many events that happen there it could cause issues for scheduling.
This is What the Money is For
Another popular criticism of this initiative is that there is a better use for this money, like infrastructure, affordable housing, etc. I don’t think that most supporters of this stadium are opposed to those things and would agree they are desperately needed. The problem is that the proposal would utilize the hospitality tax money that quite literally cannot be used for those things.
The hospitality tax is for driving tourism and is paid, for the most part, by tourists. A state-of-the-art stadium of this size, that has potential to grow bigger in phase 2, would draw events from around the Southeast. It would provide yet another venue for concerts and festivals. All of this would drive tourism into the area, therefore increase hospitality tax revenue, and, you get the point.
What I find the most intriguing about this stadium is the possibilities it provides on that front (driving tourism). Greenville has always been a place of events. Things like Euphoria, Fall for Greenville, Freedom Weekend Aloft, and many more have drawn people to the upstate from across the country. My own family have traveled from Tennessee to attend Fall for Greenville nearly every year that I have lived here (12 years), sometimes when I wasn’t even in town! But what kind of events would we now be able to host, or even create, with a venue like this? The possibilities are endless.
Selfishly, I would love a tournament similar to the Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston, but I digress.
Mauldin Wants (and needs) This
Lest anyone think that this project was just something that nobody in local government wanted anything to do with, I want to remind you that the entirety of the Mauldin City Council voted UNANIMOUSLY to approve this resolution. Unanimously. So why does the city of Mauldin want this so much?
My wife grew up in Mauldin and loves that place with all of her heart. I have grown fond of that little slice of Greenville myself in our years together. But there’s one thing that is undeniable about Mauldin in 2022… they are one of the only parts of town yet to be revitalized. They have watched as downtown, Travelers Rest, Simpsonville, and more have all revamped their towns into destinations for those across the upstate and beyond. But Mauldin hasn’t gotten there yet.
The BridgeWay Station project is a big piece towards that end. And those in city government in Mauldin see this stadium proposal as a HUGE piece of what could be a huge economic boon to the area. They want it.
The math makes sense to Mauldin too. BridgeWay Station developer Phil Hughes has committed to donate the land for the stadium. The estimated cost for the stadium project is $38.6 million, which is a lot of money. But what doesn’t seem to be talked about enough in all the criticism is that the proposal includes the Triumph funding $18.25 million of that build out reducing the project cost to $20.35 million.
Still too much? The Triumph will also be paying a $350,000 lease for 30 years on top of being responsible for maintaining the facility. That means that they are committing another $10.5 million to the county reducing the overall burden to $9.85 million. The county would own this facility for less than $10 million effectively.
Still not convinced? Well, the Clemson University Regional Economic Analysis Laboratory estimates $270 million in economic development over the first decade of use of this facility. Additionally, this will generate an estimated 350–400 jobs.
Why wouldn’t Mauldin want this?
The Real Reason They Were Wrong
Everything I have discussed up to this point assumes that what was voted down was funding this stadium. But that’s not what happened on Monday night. And it’s also what is so frustrating about this situation. So what did happen?
A committee of five people voted 3–2 to not allow any discussion of this proposal between the developers and the full council. Three people made this decision. THREE.
The Chairman of the Council, Willis Meadows, who was one of the three no votes said it does not make financial sense because “We don’t have that kind of money.” Hear me on this: voting yes on this cost zero dollars. The vote was to allow a formal proposal to be presented to the council. But three people decided that they needed to keep this off the table altogether.
Three people. After the Mauldin City Council voted UNANIMOUSLY. After this petition garnered over 2,000 signatures. After countless support poured in from across the upstate, around the country, and all over the world.
THREE PEOPLE.
This is the absolute worst kind of gatekeeping that can only be reserved for local government. To end the discussion before it was even allowed to be presented makes zero sense. And it reeks of three people who did not understand what they were voting on.
The good news for Triumph fans, and fans of this project, is that it doesn’t sound like this is the nail in the coffin for this project. But it is a setback. I hope that the next avenue the folks behind this project pursue is more open to hearing and learning before making a hasty, ill-informed decision like the one made by the finance committee.
