March 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 66

Operations
A 'Brand'-New Golf Course
for Arlington, Texas
The city ups the ante on sports/entertainment synergies
By Hal Phillips

n 2008, architect John Colligan started talking to the city of Arlington, Texas,
about renovating its municipal Chester H. Ditto Golf Course. At that time, the
golf economy was still riding a 15-year development boom, and upgrading cityowned courses had become commonplace.
When the Great Recession hit, an oversupplied golf course economy was greatly
impacted. Just two years later, course closures would outnumber new openings for the
first time in 30 years - a trend the industry has experienced every year since.
However, the city of Arlington has
since become a poster child for the lucrative synergies linking sports and entertainment. While the Dallas Cowboys'
competitive fortunes have flagged somewhat, AT&T Stadium has been a boon
to local business and municipal tax coffers, attracting concerts, conventions and
sporting events eager to engage with the
Cowboys brand.
Spurred on by this example, the Texas

Rangers followed suit, and in November
2016, Arlington voters approved the use
of tax dollars to pay up to $500 million
toward a new baseball stadium, complete
with retractable roof. The city will use revenue from a half-cent sales tax, 2 percent hotel-occupancy tax and 5 percent car-rental
tax to fund its share, with the Rangers committed to pay any cost overruns. The $1.1
billion Globe Life Field is expected to open
in time for the 2020 baseball season.

A renovated hole at the Texas Rangers
Golf Course in Arlington, Texas - the only
municipally owned, Major League Baseballassociated golf course in the country.

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Meanwhile, site work on the new
ballpark, as well as construction on the
Texas Live! bar and restaurant complex
next door, is underway on what were formerly parking lots. This 200,000-squarefoot Texas Live! development will open
sometime this summer, and a $150 million luxury Loews Hotel and convention
center will follow suite in 2019. According to Colligan, what had been an onagain, off-again, slow-moving courtship
with the city was transformed by these
large-scale, public/private, sports/entertainment partnerships.
The Texas Rangers Golf Course
" It was 2014 when we started working
with the city on a master plan, " says
Colligan, an Arlington resident since
1974. " At the time, they hadn't really
said much about the new baseball
stadium; in fact, the citizens approved it
while we were working on construction
documents for the golf course. But, we
felt confident it would happen. There
were rumors the Rangers would go to
Dallas if they didn't get a new stadium,
and the city sure didn't want to lose 'em. "
According to Gary Packan, Arlington's assistant park director, the newly
renovated golf course, funded by natural
gas wells located within city parks and
on its municipal courses, will open for
play this July with a brand-new name:
Texas Rangers Golf Club. Its $8.5 million price tag is small compared to the
$500 million residents have committed
to the Globe Life Field.

March 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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