Poor Pawtucket. Several years ago, they wanted to find someone to help them build a new stadium for their soccer team, the Rhode Island FC. Then in 2019, this mystery group, called Fortuitous Partners (FP), told city officials about their $400 million plan that involved building a soccer stadium downtown along with other amenities. Brett Johnson, a developer for FP, got everyone excited with talk of creating a “365-day-a-year destination with sports entertainment, retail, food, and then putting hotels and multifamily around them”. Specifically, the project would include a 10,000-seat soccer stadium, new apartments, offices, and a hotel to name just some. Maybe the best part? FP could have this ready for the 2024 season.
Albuquerque will try to build a new soccer stadium for the 12th time thanks to support from fake groups
Over the last few years, the New Mexico United owners have really increased how often they push for a new stadium. But when you read old stories of these pushes, it is odd how often AHC is somehow involved in it. The team began play in 2018, but actually started their stadium push in 2020. In that same year, the city of Albuquerque released their yearly “Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy”. This report took input from several local groups. Yes, one of them was a member of the AHC. The report says that the city's plans for boosting tourism that year involved developing “a downtown soccer stadium, and other facilities that draw visitors for specific sports”. When one of your yearly objectives is to “Support a stadium in Albuquerque for the NM United soccer team”, it isn't hard to see what side of the fence you are on in this issue. What about strategies to expand the culture and history of the local area? “Support (for) NM Stadium” is the report's answer, among other things.
San Francisco 49ers continue to find new ways of screwing over Santa Clara
Santa Clara continues to claim that the 49ers are hiding financial information from the city. A civil grand report from last year claims that the city of Santa Clara hadn't seen any revenue from…events in six years nor have they seen any money from…events from the stadium's most recent fiscal year. When it was announced last year that a report was being done by a civil grand jury, the 49ers responded with an unusual act of having a 49ers executive follow, investigate and harass the jurors.
Milwaukee continues to be given imprecise stadium info from groups that are consistently wrong
If the rumors are true, city leaders from and around Milwaukee are preparing to give the Milwaukee Brewers roughly $520 million dollars in taxpayer money to upgrade America Family Field. Over the last few years, we have seen the Brewers asking for all sorts of different amounts of public money. Last year, they were thinking of asking for just $100 million of public money. More recently, they have been asking for $300-$430 million.
Oregon State lawmakers reject $20M request by Hillsboro Hops. Team now says city should pay that money
The Hillsboro Hops are a minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks, in Hillsboro, Oregon. Just outside of Portland. Much like they are doing in most cities with a minor league team, Major League Baseball has told Hillsboro city leaders that their minor league teams will leave town if substantial upgrades or a new ballpark are not completed. I could post 1000 links of stories all over the country where a city is being told to upgrade or else by MLB. Here is one anyway. Then last week, stories began coming out of MLB requiring Hillsboro to upgrade the ballpark or else.
Cleveland is consistently paying for arena, ballpark & stadium upgrades. Now, they are approving projects without knowing how or even if they can afford it.
The city of Cleveland is going to pay for upgrades to the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, the non-profit corporation who decides whether to approve these projects, Gateway Economic Development Corporation, also has no idea how, where or even if they can pay for it. Which does seem to be a slight problem?
The Las Vegas Review-Journal claims the Oakland A’s will “boost” their economy, increase tourism & give city additional dollars.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal went after these teachers for their political action committee. According to the newspaper, the teachers are simply “blinded by its misguided opposition”. I was interested to see what the newspaper would say as to why the teachers were wrong. Instead, the Las Vegas Review-Journal uses the same arguments that have been disproven numerous times.
Philadelphia 76ers pinky swear they will prioritize minorities even more
The idea that this Philadelphia 76ers deal can be looked at as privately funded is crazy. Nobody can say whether this project is actually privately funded until all the details of the project are released by the team. We don't know who is paying for the land where the new arena would sit. Furthermore, the 76ers still intend to demand a “tax increment financing deal” that would cut their property tax rates and allow them to take taxpayer money to fund the construction.
Why are Oklahoma City residents paying millions to upgrade an arena that the mayor claims “isn’t what it used to be”?
Several weeks ago, the current mayor of Oklahoma City (OKC) stated that an agreement for a new arena with the Oklahoma City Thunder should be finished “before the end of 2023”. He also called the current Arena “not what it used to be…the building itself is a growing liability”.
Vancouver’s mayor plays the quiet game when asked about World Cup expenses
Last year, 16 cities, including Seattle and Vancouver, were selected to be hosts for the 2026 World Cup matches. Then FIFA told every city to just shut up if anyone asked about expenses. FIFA was tired of answering questions from cities. It is well-known that the hosting cities are expected to pay most of the costs. But when cities like Chicago, Vancouver and Minneapolis tried to get a basic level of certainty on some major unknowns, FIFA ignored them. Cities had to decide whether they could figure out a number of huge and unpredictable costs without FIFA help.