to your question, Jeff.  But, that's a beautiful photo. 

I swear to God, you and Laura need to put together some sort of group exhibition.

Eternity

 I'm guessing that there's a corporate football game going on at the same time so they wanted to keep their stadium relevant in any potential ariel shots taken by main stream media cameras. I believe it's called advertising.

But there's probably a conspiracy in there somewhere, keep digging RealNEO community! 

TimH is right--the lights at Jacobs Field...I don't even know what they call it now...are on for the benefit of television viewers.  Who pays the light bill? 

At LEAST, the Browns won last night. 

I have noticed crazy, big downtown light shows before, too--thanks for catching this JeffB.  You also caught the spotlight photo and I believe that the use of these night sky spots is illegal due to the hazard they pose to flights overhead.

Or it could have been celebrating the forgone pre-conclusion the Browns were going to win since the Steelers were missing Troy Polamalu, William Gay and Charlie Batch along with half their offensive line. Heinz Ward, Mendenhall and Roethlisberger were not 100% and they had to sign a new wide receiver before the game....

and the game was in Cleveland....
aND it was 14 fricking degrees (below zero with wind chill)....

but it was nice to see the Browns break that losing streak - even tho I am a die hard Steelers fan!

I added a poll on this important matter here - please show your mind by voting on this poll, as well.

Disrupt IT

I wrote about the use of the lights at night on non-ball game evenings long ago. On non-game evenings when the Terrace Club at the stadium had events, usually non-profit agencies having a party of some type, the lights would be lit so that those in attendance could look out at the stadium, as bright as a game night. Jacobs liked to have the stadium noticed, naturally, as did the paying attendees to these evening events.

I believe now that the teams - Indians & Cavs owners - pay Gateway for operational costs so it is likely  the electric bill actually gets picked up indirectly by the teams.

There are always circumstances that make it difficult to really assess who pays  what. Since the new understandings, the teams take the revenue from naming rights, which should be nearly $1 million a year in exchange for the payments to cover Gateway's operational costs. So it may even out.

Here's a bit of trivia I wrote about long ago. Jacobs took the old bulbs that got burned out from the field lights, put them on a wooden board and sold them  to fans for $100 or so.

Major league sports and sports economics really are over the top here and elsewhere but fans apparently are willing to pay the costs, as out of proportion they are to reality, especially in these tough times.

A few years ago at a meeting of Entrepreneurs for Sustainability the future of wind turbines along the shore of Lake Eire was lauded. After the presentation I went over to David Beach, (now head of Green City Blue Lake), and asked him, "What about the birds?"

He responded by sending me several links to research done on what is killing birds in flight. As I discovered the birds are far more likely to strike a large building with lights blazing at night than the blades of a spinning wind turbine.

I wonder if after one of these nights of a well lit Progressive Baseball Field if they sweep up piles of dead birds under the light polls before members of the public arrive.