A few weeks ago, the Buffalo News Editorial Board released an article stating the importance of putting guidelines on whether public officials should or shouldn’t have access to luxury suites at the new Buffalo Bills stadium. The new stadium will open in less than one year, yet there continues to be no policy on these rules. The Editorial Board writes that “past experience clearly demonstrates that leaving suite policy to chance is not a good idea.” They are correct.
Last year, the Buffalo Bills beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in an AFC playoff game. The Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, decided to attend it. She billed taxpayers for almost $600 worth of wine and a total bill that day of $1923 and change. As the Buffalo News reported, it would eventually come out that taxpayers had paid “more than $6300” for the governor to attend four different games.
I loved this quote in the story:
“Things like the luxury suite should really not exist. I mean, the state should have just sold it and never had it,” said John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany. “Because it’s been a honey trap. And it’s just bad, bad symbolism and, kind of, obtuseness and disregard for the public.” – Buffalo News, 11/03/25
According to the state and county, this luxury suite is “meant to boost economic development.” I wish someone would explain to me how this happens…in any way, shape, or form. The spokesman for the governor claimed, without laughing out loud, that when the governor attends a game in the luxury suite, she is “ensuring our state is competing at the highest levels to retain and attract the best businesses, grow our economy, and drive job creation.” Quotes like this are what make people hate politicians. Nobody actually believes this, but it allows that official to get out of harm’s way. Again, show us a single piece of evidence of any financial benefit actually formed from attending these games. Anything?
So, it is clear that rules need to actually be put in place for the new luxury suites. Late last year, County Legislature Chairwoman April Baskin asked city leaders to form a “clear policy when it comes to stadium suite use from the county administration.” She was told that the new stadium was “still in early construction,” so the policy can wait until a later time. How about now?
But Buffalo is not alone in this problem. Many other cities struggle with city leaders abusing sports tickets and luxury suites.
Minnesota
In 2017, the Minnesota Star Tribune began to ask questions about the use of luxury suites for the new (at the time) Minnesota Vikings stadium, a “$1.1 billion taxpayer-subsidized building.” When the newspaper asked the stadium oversight authority, the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA), about who was using the tickets and whether taxpayers were being charged, the MSFA refused to answer any questions.
Eventually, two local officials were forced to resign after it was revealed that the MSFA was giving suite tickets to “family and friends of top commissioners.” The luxury suites were supposed to “help woo more business to the stadium,” but instead more than 50% of the tickets went to friends or family members of the MSFA. Bring more business to the area? Gee, where have I heard that phrase before? However, not only were tickets being given to friends and family, but the MSFA also charged taxpayers $32,000 in food.
New York
In 2009, the New York Yankees, arguably the richest team in all of sports, opened their new ballpark. Thanks to numerous moves by the then-mayor, Mike Bloomberg, the Yankees have received millions and millions of taxpayer dollars over the years to finance their new ballpark.
In exchange for this help, the Yankees gave a 12-person luxury suite to the city, a cost to others totaling $850,000, and free tickets to all events. The city didn’t stop at that though; the mayor’s office demanded free food as well…emails obtained by the Village Voice show how hard the city pushed for this. No, really. Here is an email from the deputy mayor at the time to the head of New York’s Economic Development Corporation: “We are giving them how much money?? For whatever it is, we should get the tickets for free.”
New Jersey
In 2015, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was caught on TV sitting in a Dallas Cowboys luxury suite with the Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones. Did Christie and his entire family get flown out by Jones? Sure. Were all other costs covered by Jones? Yes.
What makes this odd is that a company that Jones owns just won a massive contract with New Jersey? The contract is worth millions of dollars and allows the company to operate the top floor of the World Trade Center. Then there was an article by the International Business Times that had documents showing that “Christie personally pushed the Port Authority to approve a lucrative contract for a firm part-owned by Jones.” Thankfully, and I am not kidding, there is an exemption in New Jersey ethics law that allows these types of gifts from “personal friends.”
Then there are all of Christie’s ties to the NFL… Well, never mind. I could write an entire article on just Christie.
Anaheim
In Anaheim, California, public officials have been abusing both sports tickets and luxury suites for years. In 2008, the Orange County Register wrote several stories describing how county officials were accepting almost 9,000 free tickets to Anaheim Angels games (and other events), a value of $376,000 for everyone else. But these aren’t just any old tickets. Thanks to a clause in the Anaheim Angels ballpark lease, council members and “top city employees have top-notch views over home plate from two suites.” Each suite will cost everyone else about $215,000.
However, one city councilman disagrees with anyone who thinks this is a bad look.
“The council members have the right to go on these sites to see what is happening,” said Councilman Harry Sidhu, who said he has not attended an Angels game for three years. “It’s leased property and we own it. It is entertainment, but I don’t see anyone abusing it for personal use” – Councilman Harry Sidhu, OCRegister (2008)
Keep in mind that Sidhu is the same person who went to jail after the FBI caught him “destroying records about the corrupted Angel Stadium land sale.”
In 2019, this topic was brought up yet again after an outlet called the “OC Weekly” wrote a piece showing how “council members rewarded their friends, allies, and campaign contributors with access to city suites for sports and entertainment events.” For example, Disney has given gifts to various Anaheim council members. Those same members gave multiple tickets to a Disney lobbyist. One city blogger was given tickets by the same council members that he glows over in stories that he writes. The list of examples goes on and on in an excellent piece.
Fast forward to 2023, and we can see that nothing has changed. City officials continue to receive tickets and continue giving them to friends, family, or people who politically have helped them. Investigators found “many of the same people” who helped push millions of taxpayer dollars to the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce were the “same ones who got tickets to the best shows in town.”
From 2008 to today, the excuse given by city leaders is that their tickets go to local nonprofits. They say it virtually every time they are asked. Yet, there is rarely any proof showing that nonprofits have gotten anywhere close to the amount that these politicians are saying. A news outlet did an investigation in 2023 that showed that since the newly elected council members took office, “most of the tickets have gone to campaign donors, city staff, and political allies instead of local nonprofits.” After the investigation, the city promised to look into “potential changes to make the process more transparent.” Anyone want to guess if anything changed?
Oakland
In 2016, the Golden State Warriors were just at the start of their dynasty run, and tickets were expensive. Except for several Oakland politicians, who were not just “landing free seats” but doing so “regularly.” The Bay Area News Group found seven public officials who EACH claimed more than $250,000 in complimentary tickets. The tickets are supposed to be used for “public purposes,” yet a county supervisor gave four tickets to a Game 7 Finals to a man who had just painted the politician’s wife. Another supervisor OWED a man money, so the politician gave him tickets for six different games. In total, city officials have used 7,000 tickets, which have a face value that adds up to $7.8 million over three seasons.
Honestly, I was quite shocked to see so many public officials lying on government documents and not feeling the need to hide it. For example:
- One Oakland councilman, who reported $22,000 worth of Warriors tickets, admitted that while he writes down “provide oversight of the arena,” he simply gives them to all of his family members.
- The freakin’ Oakland City Attorney, who reported $314,000 worth of tickets, claimed that this was a “perk for elected officials and city staff; no one can argue otherwise.” No, it isn’t at all. It has a purpose that is written in the damn venue lease.
- Another Oakland councilman, who reported $375,000 worth of tickets, wrote down that he used the tickets “to investigate the efficiencies of the operations” at the arena. Then he told a newspaper that he barely went to games and gave them to friends and family.
Even though the tickets should have been used for actual “public purposes,” almost none of the tickets were given to students or for scholastic achievements. I say almost because on 9 occasions, students did get tickets. How about public officials using them for themselves? 1,104 times. As I said above, these types of excuses are another example of politicians simply giving the public the middle finger when they don’t want to answer questions.
Others
I could keep going… The Tampa Bay Bucs play in a taxpayer-funded stadium. But one commissioner had enough and told WTOP that “elected officials routinely ignore the law and watch Bucs games from the Sports Authority luxury box.” City officials called the commissioner out of order and mentioned to her that they accept these tickets because “they have to see how the stadium operates so they can make intelligent decisions” on stadium funding issues. Right. In Virginia, an article on WTOP from 2014 noted how state senators were going to Redskins games in a luxury box and breaking no laws. Even after both parties in the state agreed to change the law, it still allowed “gifts to lawmakers such as meals, trips, and entertainment…in unlimited amounts.” The article also reports on how the state’s largest utility company spent tens of thousands of dollars sending politicians to the Masters and other sports events. No problem. I am sure their politicians vote wasn’t swayed.
[…] of their local sports team? It has never happened. Except for that one time in Louisiana. Oh, and that other time in Buffalo. Darn it, and Minnesota. And New York. And New Jersey. And Anaheim. Should I keep […]