Cleveland. For the love of all that is holy and important. Stop agreeing to pay for all capital repairs for your sports teams. It is costing you SO MUCH MONEY. Your city already has so many financial issues to worry about. Will your local banks go bankrupt? Will your local health centers continue to lose […]
The Spurs not only demanded roughly $164 million to upgrade their arena, they claimed that without this money, they wouldn't be able to “pay the player salaries”. The team even had a way of funding their next arena. Just extend the venue tax that helped fund the construction of the arena.
How could this happen? Because the 76ers were not required to hire Camden residents for the practice facility. This happens across the country. This site has written about instances where a sports team promises but does not deliver on hiring local workers. Why didn't the city mandate this before giving out the taxpayer money? Because New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority did not require a community benefit agreement for the Camden project. Just looking into this…
Saskatoon announced that a proposed new arena would cost $178 million. If we apply 7% inflation to that number, then it now becomes $191 million in today's dollars. Except, we don't know whether construction costs, project costs or land acquisition were originally included in the cities estimate. If we include major capital projects into this project, the cost goes up towards $300 million.
Pittsburgh Penguins developers are demanding that a decision for a music venue must be made soon before, and let me get this straight, “international events destabilize economic calculations”. In reality, they just want the city to approve this development so that they can receive tax breaks.
Las Vegas has tried several times to lure a Major League Soccer (MLS) team here with taxpayer funded options. In 2015, MLS passed on putting a new team in Las Vegas due to questions and issues about the proposed new and publicly funded stadium.
The city assessed the property value where the arena was built along with surrounding developments at $1.7 billion for tax purposes. The Warriors are asking the city to lower that assessment by just a little.....a billion dollars, that is. The Warriors believe the property value is at $706 million for 2022, which is $1 billion less than the city's value and would save the team over $11 million in property taxes for 2022.
In April 2021, the city of Calgary leased public land to a private company and promised to build a large parking lot near the agreed-upon new arena. All of this was done without the public knowing and was NOT INCLUDED in the new arena deal.
In fact, the Florida Marlins would stay at their place for several more years and win a World Series in Sun Life Stadium. It wasn't until 2009 that they were able to screw-over or con or get Miami to give them at least $300 million in taxpayer money for a new ballpark. Opps, I meant to say $500 million in taxpayer money.
Sports teams in Cleveland continue to beg the city for money while their owners make millions and are worth billions. It was just last year that the city of Cleveland gave the Guardians, their MLB baseball team, $138 million for Progressive Field improvements.
Back in 2014, the Ilitch family was telling the world about a brand new Detroit that would grow if they could build this new arena with taxpayer help.
