The Rangers stadium vote

You probably heard that there was an election this week.

One of the lord-knows-how-many items Americans voted on was a stadium proposal in Arlington, Texas, home of the Texas Rangers.

The current ballyard, which has gone through a variety of names and is now identified as Globe Life Park,  opened in 1994. I don't think anybody regards it as a bad stadium, but it seldom cracks the top five in stadium rankings either. I've not been there myself, but there is a consensus that it's not as good as Target Field or the stadiums in Seattle, Pittsburgh or San Francisco.

And there's no question that the Tampa Bay Rays or Oakland Athletics would love to transplant it to their respective cities.

Anyway: The city of Arlington and the team worked up a plan for a new $1 billion stadium with a retractable roof. Local taxes were to pay for most of it.

There was organized opposition to the proposal, but it passed easily Tuesday. The Rangers expect to be in the new stadium no later than 2021.

It's their city and their taxes, but I heartily dislike a sports culture that regards a 22-year-old stadium as disposable. This make two markets (the other being Atlanta) that is ditching a ballpark before it hits 30. It all strikes me as a waste of resources.