Making waves through the city of St. Louis is what looks like a huge failure in downtown. Recently, the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team built a brand new stadium. Along with that proposal was the development of a “ballpark village” that would include lofts, retail stores, restaurants and a major company relocating its headquarters.

Now that the major company, Centene, has thought better of the idea, the ballpark village concept remains in standstill. Many St. Louisans were already discouraged by the lack of progress with the project since the new Busch Stadium was built. Now, the situation is looking far worse.

We must remember the root of the idea: An attempt to revitalize a struggling downtown area in a major city by putting places of business next to a baseball stadium. That idea was likely a major contributor to Missouri providing tax dollars for the ballpark, along with a threat to move across the Mississippi River to Illinois.

Still, let’s remember that baseball teams play only 81 home games per year, and the other major event facilities in St. Louis are not exactly next door to the new Busch Stadium. As with many other struggling cities, there has been a mass exodus to the ‘burbs in St. Louis over the last 50 years. Will those residents really be willing to comeback to downtown enough for this additional retail center to really revitalize downtown, even if it did have some nice shops and eateries? Probably not.

This is not to say that revitalizing some of America’s big, struggling cities is impossible. Though, maybe these cities should think a little more outside the box than trying to piggyback a sports team that is only in town for about 20 percent of the year.