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How are events normally more attended in Morgantown? WVU football and basketball are one thing, but that would be about it. I don't see how you can say that when Morgantown doesn't have anywhere near the amount of events.
We have a lot more events. Just with The University we have several well attended athletic programs, not to mention regular plays and concerts. We also have regular Broadway productions and concerts from several sources.
This column is supposed to be about a happening in Morgantown, and now you Charleston guys want to hijack it? Interesting. We weren't even discussing Charleston.
The new baseball venue will be highly successful here. It is greatly needed by the town, not just The University. It will provide a nice outdoor venue for many activities with great availability of convenient parking and ready accessability to Interstate travel resources without adding to local traffic congestion. It is way past due.
Things in general are better attended in Morgantown than they are in Charleston. Don't believe it, just ask Larry Groce of Mountain Stage. We easily draw crowds from not only all of NCWV (which has about the same population base as the Charleston area), but we pull folks from nearby PA and some from MD too. Trust me, if folks will come to a game from Pond Gap (which you included in your population figures whether you know it or not) they will come from Clarksburg, Uniontown, Waynesburg, Kingwood and Friendsville, MD.
You are using faulty statistics. You are using what they call the entire Charleston "metro" area on the one hand, and on the other hand you are only using the populations of a few towns. Our area is comprised of the entire region, and if you only consider counties (that would be faulty too, but just for the sake of example) the geographic area of Kanawha is about the same as the geographic area of Monongalia, Marion, and Harrison. The populations are about the same too. You see, the "metro" statistics are skewed for Charleston because there is no other substantial town near it, so they include everything within a half day's drive (just kidding, but you get the point). We have the Pittsburgh "metro" located just 5 miles from the edge of town here with Fayette County, PA.
I know, you could make the argument that there is a lot more to do here so the Power would draw better because of fewer entertainment options, but I just don't agree there. We had 6,520 for a womens basketball game here the other day. We regularly get more than 1,000 for soccer matches. This is just a very active place. I am not saying a minor league team would necessarily draw better here. I am saying population density is not a factor in deciding whether it does or not.
In fact, if you want an idea about how active is this place, take a drive on 705 any night of the week, note the time, then take a drive on the same night of the week on Kanawha Blvd. and get back to us. This whole state is comprised of small towns... we don't have any large ones. But activities and events here draw as well or better than any other place.
I have no idea where the State College affiliate would be moved. I just know the owner of the Pirates (and many other things) has strong WVU ties, and his banks do business in Morgantown. Take that for what it's worth. Maybe the Pirates have more than one affiliate?
The entire North Central WV MSA has an estimated population of 235,000
The entire Charleston WV MSA has an estimated population of 305,000
Both of these are taken from the official 5 county metro. And this does not include Cabell County in with Charleston. Nor does it include Preston County or Fayette County PA with NCWV.
Right, Steve and it doesn't include Greene County, WV either which is just 5 miles from Morgantown too. We draw heavily from other areas here that are not included in anybody's official categories. We're only 28 miles from the Maryland line here. We get lots of folks from western Maryland too.
The point is, we get great attendance at our athletic and other events here. I don't think anybody ever took the time to determine which county people come from, but they come in great numbers. This week I attended the play
"The Color Purple". There were 1,300 people there. We had the womens basketball game between WVU and DePaul. There were 6,500 people there.
There was a University Choral concert with 500 people there. Thousands attended the womens game vs. Rutgers on 2/15. We have mens basketball Friday night, womens basketball Saturday afternoon, and a University play Sunday night. Next Monday we have womens basketball vs. Pitt, Tuesday a mens basketball game, and a Saturday Pittsburgh Symphony concert. It would be highly unusual if one of these events weren't well attended, and these are just ordinary weeks here.
Also, Steve it is possible for us to do whatever we want with statistics. You can refer to Huntington as being part of Charleston, for example, but we know that is not the case. I could refer to Pittsburgh being part of Morgantown because the Pittsburgh urban area easily comes within 50 miles of Morgantown (and we essentially directly adjoin their 2 million MSA) but we know that isn't the case either. The official statistics do not even come close to accounting for all the varibles in these situations.
Like a lot of stuff that comes from government at all levels, it is misleading and of only selective usefullness. The fact is, folks from Uniontown come here nearly as often as they go to Pittsburgh, even though Uniontown is officially in the Pittsburgh MSA, and the fact that Ironton is officially in Huntington's MSA does not mean Cabell has more economic activity than Monongalia, because it doesn't.
Even county designations are highly arbitrary. Where is the logic, for example, that Kanawha is as large geographically as three ordinary counties? One can only assume the reason it was set up that way is because in the early days there were no signficant towns in that entire area except Charleston. But Pond Gap and the outskirts of Montgomery are definitely less urban than Nutter Fort and very little takes place in Cedar Grove (I love pointing that out since my ex is from there).
Last edited by CTMountaineer; 02-23-2012 at 09:28 AM..
One thing to look out for is that sometimes minor league sports teams, playing in the shadow of a university, has trouble getting the public support because they aren't affliated with the university.
Also, with baseball being a summer sport a minor league team playing in a college town has to worry about the population drop that occurs when the majority of the students go home for the summer. The drop may not be very large but its a drop in population.
I don't have any doubt the TIF proposal will pass, but according to committee Chairman Herb Snyder in the story from the Charleston Daily Mail, its not going to make it to the Legislature this term. He stated it won't be put back on the agenda.
I'm sure the project will get approval, just a matter of when.
One thing to look out for is that sometimes minor league sports teams, playing in the shadow of a university, has trouble getting the public support because they aren't affliated with the university.
Also, with baseball being a summer sport a minor league team playing in a college town has to worry about the population drop that occurs when the majority of the students go home for the summer. The drop may not be very large but its a drop in population.
Agreed, but it doesn't seem to affect the situation at State College so my hunch is the guys with the money have determined it likely won't here either. I think a minor league franchise gets its funding from other sources in addition to attendance, and in this case the minor franchise would not have an overlapping season with WVU, but a complimentary one. The fact that a proven successful developer is willing to put his money into the project not only speaks well for its chances of success, it can only be interpreted as a positive for WVU. We were going to have to have new baseball facilities anyway (the Big 12 required this) so this is a way to do it at minimal expense for The University.
Remember, WVU just had a very expensive buyout to change leagues. Our share will amount to $15 million over time. Even though our athletic program is essentially self supporting, that is a lot of money to absorb so saving money on this is important for the school. It's also a real plus for the area since it will help draw shoppers and folks to use the nearby restaurants and the like when the games take place.
I don't have any doubt the TIF proposal will pass, but according to committee Chairman Herb Snyder in the story from the Charleston Daily Mail, its not going to make it to the Legislature this term. He stated it won't be put back on the agenda.
I'm sure the project will get approval, just a matter of when.
The developer didn't have the necessary paperwork in place in time for this legislative season. It is likely to be taken up during the summer session, and my hunch is it will quickly be approved.
This column is supposed to be about a happening in Morgantown, and now you Charleston guys want to hijack it? Interesting. We weren't even discussing Charleston.
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Funny when the thread is about Charleston, you do the exact same thing! two way street!
I do? Care to show me where? I'm not trying to start anything here, just pointing out that we have pretty much established that we will try to keep things positive rather than engauge in this endless statistical crap that proves nothing and is always subject to the interpretation of the beholder.
I've been trying to follow the policy that if I don't have something favorable to say about another town in a thread about that town, I just don't say anything at all. I'm not trying to tell anybody else what to do, but I suggest you give it a try. I realize that there are some folks who feel threatened by our successes here for whatever reason. Although I find that very hard to understand (after all, we really have no towns of substantial size in our state anyway) because what is good for one town obviously benefits the others due to increased tax revenues, my intention is to try not to argue about it.
There are folks who come on here trying to stir things up. My intent is to respond in the most favorable way possible and suggest that if somebody wants some kind of comparison... come and visit and see for yourself. People can't make any intelligent decisions based on what any of us say here.
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