Of course, some argue that Baltimore will never get an NBA team or an NHL franchise, and that Baltimore doesn't have an available billionaire to form an ownership group. That's all part of grumpy never-think, and we hear it around here all the time. The more it is repeated, the more it is believed. This lame mindset assumes that modern professional sports is a static, flat-line industry, with teams stuck in place forever and owners never considering greener pastures. It also assumes that new, entrepreneurial money can't emerge at any time to take advantage of an opportunity. (Ask yourself: Did you ever hear of Steve Bisciotti before he stepped out of the corporate shadows to buy an interest in the Ravens? Would it be so hard to imagine the Under-Armour Center where the First Mariner Arena is now?)
Never-thinkers assume the city's population won't grow adequately to support three sports franchises. That's hooey. The supply and price of crude oil and global warming is going to drive a new generation of men and women into the city for work, jobs and play. Baby boomers are going to retire and move here for the convenience and social life.
After decades of decline, Baltimore's population grew last year. The Maryland Department of Planning says the Baltimore metropolitan area could gain more than 200,000 new jobs during the next 25 years. We rank eighth nationally in per capita income and eighth in private-sector employment growth since 2000, according to the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore.
The grumps who opposed the city's investment in a $301 million convention headquarters hotel should take note: The hotel opens next month, and the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association says it has booked 451,608 room nights in city hotels through 2017. That's a record.
We're only limited by our imaginations here. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Stop thinking small ball, Smalltimore.
You want an NBA franchise? Here's my advice, again: Get Cal Ripken involved. He loves hoops. Get Muggsy Bogues, the mayor's nephew Juan Dixon, Reggie Williams and Carmelo Anthony, too. Will Smith and his wife, the actress and singer Jada Pinkett Smith, a Baltimore native, apparently remain interested in investing here.
It is not crazy for a developer to consider building an Olympic-size pool in the basement of the new arena and bringing Michael Phelps back to town to promote it as a site for training and for national swimming trials. Dorothy Hamill and Kimmie Meissner could establish an international figure skating competition here.
Enough of never-think. It assumes that Baltimore can't grow and can't control its own destiny by doing something bold and exciting like turning an uninteresting industrial waterfront into a tourist destination, or transforming a rail yard and brick warehouse into a fabulous sports venue, or tearing down an old, dumpy-but-still-bookin'-dates arena and building an amazing new one.
Let's roll.
dan.rodricks@baltsun.com
Dan Rodricks can be heard on "Midday," Mondays through Thursdays, noon to 2 p.m., on 88.1 WYPR-FM.
