Baseball fans are expected to spend millions of dollars in Arlington as the city is in the running to host another major sports event – the World Cup Finals
Game three of the World Series is Monday night in Phoenix, Arizona after two games in Arlington's Globe Life Field. As the Texas Rangers chase the championship, eyes are on their home city of Arlington.
The city's convention and visitors bureau estimates each home game generates between $12 million and $14 million for the local economy. That's big money that came up at the mayor's State of the City address hosted by the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce.
"It's going to help on a huge scale because it's going to bring to light a lot of small businesses which ordinarily would not have had a light shown on them," said Jacoi Pugh, President of Black Women's Wall Street.
Arlington can sometimes be forgotten, lying between Dallas and Fort Worth. However, this major city has more people than Pittsburgh, Cleveland, or St. Louis. NBC 5 and the Dallas Morning News spoke with Arlington Mayor Jim Ross on the Series and the future of the city, beginning with the big economic impact.
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"The more big events you put on in a city whether it's a concert, whether it's the world series, whether it's the super bowl or the world cup, whatever it may be, It means more heads in the beds. People coming here spending money. People eating in our restaurants, just spending more money here and it helps our financial growth," said Mayor Jim Ross.
Even though the city would make more money if the series goes to seven games between the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks, Mayor Ross said he wanted the Rangers to win in four games.
"I don't think my heart can handle those seven games. We just did seven games in Houston and its nerve racking," said Ross.
At nearly four hundred thousand people, Arlington has the monicker of being one of the largest cities in the country without a public transportation system. NBC 5 and the Dallas Morning News asked if the city can continue to thrive without a bus or rail system.
"When you say we're without a public transportation system it's not entirely correct. We're not a part of a transit authority. That's the significant difference. There are three transit authorities in North Texas but we have public transportation here, it's called Arlington on Demand. And it's a ride share program, similar to Lyft or Uber that people can get around in. And it's much more efficient then a bus route of sorts when you're running a bunch of empty buses in an area," said Ross, "We're working on things that are going to give us a substantial return. One of the things is like the high speed rail that would connect downtown Dallas to our entertainment district to downtown Fort Worth."
Until the regional authority happens or North Texas gets high speed rail, fans will either have to take the city's ride share or drive to the entertainment district.
"We're working on that. Some of the other options are electric busses. Can we bring in electric busses and then sell those or get those buses to LA for the Olympics afterward. That type of stuff. Everyone can work together on those types of things," said Ross.
Arlington is already named one of the host cities for the World Cup in 2026 but Arlington is also in the running to host that tournament's finals.
"I know that FIFA individuals have come to Cowboys games recently. They've been in AT&T and they're watching everything that's going on with everything from infrastructure to traffic to crowd control and all that kind of stuff. I know they're going to be keeping a close watch on how we handle the World Series. Here's what I tell people. Wait and see. We were born to do this. Arlington is the entertainment capitol of the Southwest United States and if I have anything to do with it we're going to pass Orlando at a point in time and be even bigger than Orlando when it comes to entertainment," said Ross.
Arlington's Mayor Ross told NBC 5 he made a wager with Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. The loser wears the winning team's jersey to a city council meeting. Also on the line for the bet is local food: Hurtado Barbecue of Arlington or a Phoenix favorite, Pizzeria Bianco.
