Weeds crunch beneath my boots as I wonder around the Panthers stadium in Springfield. The sky is dark and ominous, thunder booms in the background. Not the best day to examine the waste left by the Panther organization, but then is there a good day? The stadium lies vacant and crumbling. Experts state
that it is unusable and that it would be cheaper to build a new stadium than try to fix this one again. The Panther organization got out of its contract with the stadium, and the city, by promising to move a
AAA team in. It never happened. What wasn't known at the time of the deal is that the Panthers current AAA team of the time was independently owned, and didn't want to move from its lucrative foundation. The Panther organization didn't have the money to field
a second AAA team, so like a lot of their promises, it was empty, and ultimately lead to ruin and decay.
I walk back outside of the stadium and survey the surroundings. I look long and hard, but the only human that I spot is Karl, who is protecting my car. This is not the neighborhood to randomly wander around in, or to leave a car unprotected. Looking at pictures of the area, tax documents and other information, this was a prosperous section of the city at one time. But once Briggs got his hands on it, it decayed at an alarming rate. Abandoned warehouses, business, houses dot the landscape. I feel as if I'm visiting an area after a neutron explosion. Or more readily accessible to my readers, it looks like Bosnia at its worst.
Except no bodies.
It is a strange twisted tale of how Briggs ruined a prosperous city. Sure the city still has the Atoms, and sure 3/4ths of the city still survives and is moderately successful. But a small city could be placed in the waste that was wrought. The decay
and destruction started small, but it continues to spread, eventually it might engulf the entire city.
Safeguards have been set up, and city authorities make assurances that the problem is contained and will shortly be wiped out. They hope that within 5 years they will be able to remake the area into a prosperous area again.
Now I'm back in Richmond, and the purpose of my trip becomes apparent. As I walk through the area that surrounds the Panther stadium, I see the process
starting over again. Another twisted tale of deceit, fraud and business gone wrong. The lack of funds has really let the stadium start to run down. The surrounding area is one of struggling communities up against a ravaging beast of decay and abandonment.
How is this allowed? How can they let him get away with this? It is good that we are getting ride of his presence in this city. Removing that evil form should do wonders for the area.
Oh, and one last thing. One of the small rumors that seemed too good to be true has occurred. Briggs has finally been forced out of the organization
after years of struggle. New owners will have to be found, but that's a good thing. The new owners will get a run down, decrypt team. But it is almost guaranteed that no matter what they do, it will be better than what Briggs did.
