Category: Ballpark

Arena Ballpark Stadium

Buffalo is struggling to limit city leaders access to the luxury suites at the Bills new stadium

Last year, the Buffalo Bills beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in an AFC playoff game. The Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, 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. 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…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

The Kansas City Royals owner keeps promising to be transparent in the future yet never seems to follow through

The survey asked questions about the ballpark being located in downtown, near downtown, Clay County/North Kansas City and Johnson County/Overland Park. The Royals claim that this survey is meant to “optimize fans experiences” in their new ballpark. Whatever that means. In addition to the survey, Sherman released a statement where he claimed that the Royals were “constantly engaging and listening to” their fans. Really? Maybe Sherman can answer the fan who told KSHB that when he received the survey from the team, he simply asked himself, “What exactly is the plan?” Nobody knows.

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

“Business groups” in Kansas City push local officials to build the Royals a new ballpark…without disclosing the Royals connections to the groups

When the Kansas City Royals tried to garner some support for the sales tax vote last year, they paid a company, Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago-based real estate company, to write and release an economic impact report on a potential ballpark. But, it didn't take long for problems to come out of this idea. The Royals paid Jones Lang LaSalle to write this report without caring or realizing that Jones Lang LaSalle had no experience with economic impact reports for ballparks or even sports venues. Even worse, the Royals didn't just pay Jones Lang LaSalle but they also “worked…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

The Anaheim Angels must keep their ballpark in “first class” condition. Why can’t cities & counties use the Angels definition of first-class?

The Anaheim Angels need to be held to the same standard as sports teams holding their cities when the government handles the facility. However, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to see some local leaders appearing to give the team ways out of their lease agreement. Others suggest the ballpark is, in fact, a first-class ballpark right now. One City Councilman told a local media outlet that the lease agreement to him seemed “vague” and that he believes the team has “met its obligations”.

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

The Tampa Bay Rays owner and executives should be embarrassed at their recent comments

The Tampa Bay Rays are responsible for all cost overruns and have one of the cheapest and worst owners in all sports. So, it would make sense that Sternberg could be getting nervous and is trying to find any way possible to get out of this deal. One of the Rays team presidents, Silverman, not that long ago stated how the current deal may not be good for the Rays “in the context of Major League Baseball and fielding a competitive team for the next 30 years”. I do not understand the last part of this comment. Is he…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

Why are the Tampa Bay Rays publicly crying about rising ballpark costs yet refusing to give the mayor any evidence of this financial increase?

In June 2024, the Tampa Bay Rays agreed to a $1.3 billion deal with both the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. The initial numbers given to the public about costs showed that $600 million would be split between the city and county while the Rays pick up the rest, totaling $700 million. These numbers are insanely misleading for several reasons. One, they don't include the many hundred of millions that the city/county will need to spend on infrastructure improvements. Two, the lack of property taxes is not included in these numbers. Three, there are still so many…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

Did the cities of Fort Lauderdale & Miami actually stand up for themselves against a professional team?

When the city reminded the team of this contract agreement, Inter Miami had the nerve to ask the city to pay for the park. Why would the team do this? Especially when the lease agreement says nothing about the city paying for the public park? The team claims that during stadium negotiations, an unknown city person at some unknown time gave the team “certain agreements…but not all made it into the written contract”. After some time, the city told the team that they must build the park by July 2023 or else the city will build it and give…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

The Minnesota Twins want to stay put for decades to come…in exchange for taxpayer money on a yearly basis

The Minnesota Twins love playing in Minnesota. Team representatives talked to local media this week and brought up their desire to play in the state for “decades to come”. In fact, the team wants to put pen to paper to stay at their current ballpark until 2059! In return, the team doesn't want anything big or flashy. They just want a lot of taxpayer money given to them every single year. No big deal.

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

The Arizona Diamondbacks continue to demand that everyone else pay for their expenses

Eventually, in 2018, an agreement between Maricopa County and the Arizona Diamondbacks was finalized that essentially allowed the team to take over all Chase Field maintenance in exchange for the opportunity to seek a new ballpark at another location. The team quickly fixed all of their issues with their wallet, right? No. What about those massive problems listed by the team? For some strange reason, after the team took over management of the ballpark, “hardly any stadium repairs” were done within the first few years. The team miraculously was able to make the ballpark work to start the next…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

Tampa Bay Times: Just approve the new ballpark. If we don’t, people will say mean things to us

Transparent? Everyone, outside the team, knew little to nothing about this deal until the very end. A few months after the deal was announced in 2023, the Tampa Bay Times wrote an article that had this line in it: “After months of secret negotiations, the release Thursday of finance projections…”. In March of this year, the team was actively trying to get both the city and county to approve the ballpark deal. However, both Pinellas County commissioners and St. Pete City Council members seemed to say the same thing…they needed actual answers. Pinellas County Commissioner Dave Eggers issued a…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

How many times will MLB threaten a minor league city and then walk back that threat when the deadline passes?

Lately, we have seen virtually every minor league team tell their local jurisdictions that they require millions of taxpayer dollars for upgrades to their ballparks. They require it quickly too because Major League Baseball has given us a date…or else! This forced many cities to give money to the teams without much, if any, examination of the actual details. As Ballpark Digest noted in a story, this is why a number of minor league teams (Knoxville, Hillsboro, and Salt Lake City) got new ballparks. Who will pay for these upgrades or new ballparks?

William Neilson Jr.
Arena Ballpark Stadium

The absurdity of non-disclosure agreements, sports and taxpayer money

The San Antonio Spurs want a new arena. That isn't new or shocking news. But if you want actual news on this subject? Good luck.  For the last year or so, the Spurs and city officials have kept every possible detail out of public view if it pertains to a new arena. No discussions. No interviews. Just silence. Now, will taxpayers end up paying quite a bit? Sure. But they won't know about it until a deal is done first. How can this be legal? We are talking about taxpayer money. We are talking about city officials and negotiators...the…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

Will someone just please give Portland an MLB team?

The Portland Tribune wrote a story on the City Council “unanimously” agreeing to “formally support” bringing an MLB team to the area. The mayor of Portland even claimed that this resolution showed that the city was “very serious” about getting a team. Now, I am not denying that they may be closer than ever, nor am I making fun of them for doing whatever they can to get an MLB team. But haven't we seen this before? I swear, Portland has almost had an MLB team for my entire life. Some claim that the city has been trying to…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena Ballpark Stadium

Yet another “historic” community benefits agreement…this time in Chattanooga

In July, the Chattanooga Lookouts, a minor league baseball team, reached an agreement with the city to build a new ballpark. Although the price was originally going to be $79.5 million, the final price tag was actually $120 million. Not to worry, though, as the public contribution amount is capped at…$112 million? Ever since 2022, local groups in Chattanooga have been pressuring local officials to make sure that the community was represented whenever a community benefits agreement (CBA) was discussed.

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

Why isn’t anyone asking minor league owners to pay for their own venues?

Why is nobody asking the owner to pay for these upgrades? Why are the local media not outright demanding, if not just asking, this basic question? Sports owners have simply gotten used to receiving every dollar of revenue and paying almost nothing for expenses. The owners of one minor league team admitted in a lawsuit that the city they played in had “an unlimited obligation to cover the cost of the stadium”. That is how sports owners look at their cities, with very few exceptions.

William Neilson Jr.