Having narrowly dodged a bullet in the form of an obligation to build a new arena for the CHL’s Austin Ice Bats, the town of Cedar Park, TX, is seriously considering paying big bucks to errect a new venue for the Arena Football League’s Austin Wranglers. From the Austin American Statesman’s Jennifer Barrios.
The City of Cedar Park spent about $80,000 for a consultant to recommend that it build a stadium city officials say they cannot afford.
The recommendation from consultant Stafford Sports ” that Cedar Park build a $75 million, 12,500-seat stadium to house the Austin Wranglers arena football team ” would cost twice as much as the proposed budget for this year’s failed attempt to build a multipurpose event center for the minor-league hockey Austin Ice Bats. That $38 million deal fell apart over the summer.
In all, the city has paid Stafford Sports more than $500,000 in consulting, design and other fees since 2004, including fees for the latest proposal.
Tonight, the City Council will hear a presentation on how the city of about 30,000 might pay for a $75 million stadium, which represents nearly four times the city’s annual budget of $19 million.
Though many council members and residents remain committed to building an events center in Cedar Park, the ballooning price tag leaves few expecting that the city will adopt Stafford’s suggestion.
“I don’t think it’s a terribly realistic proposal,” Council Member Matt Powell said.
“Even if we diverted all the assets we have as a community to fund this, we can’t fund $75 million,” Council Member Cobby Caputo said. “I mean, we’d have to shut the rest of the city down.”