Category: Stadium

Stadium

Barely a decade after the Minnesota Vikings got their new stadium, they want a yearly source of taxpayer money for whatever they desire

All the economic activity promises made by the Minnesota Vikings, when they were negotiating for a new stadium, have been completely incorrect. The mayor of Minneapolis made a public spectacle of how the Vikings new stadium had "encouraged Wells Fargo to relocate 5,000 jobs" near the venue. The relocation of these employees preceded the announcement of the new stadium deal. Therefore, no new jobs were being created from the creation of this new stadium. The Governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, was very public in his support of getting something done with the Vikings. He touted the new stadium was the…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Houston Texans stadium continues to haunt local leaders as one of the worst financial stadium deals

Residents of Harris County should pay attention to this part because “taxpayers will have to pitch in to close that gap”. You better because the Texans, a team worth over $6 billion, are “frustrated” at the “lack of maintenance”. When Houston got the Super Bowl in 2017, the team got angry at the county because of their refusal to pay for expensive upgrades that would just be used for the Super Bowl. Don't you worry though, as city leaders got Super Bowl tickets for free, rather than having to pay the $3,000-$4,000 required for a ticket. Some people have argued that…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

“No Tax Dollars” will be spent on a New Mexico United stadium, except this $30 million and multiple other tax breaks

Let's not forget the millions spent by taxpayers at the current home of New Mexico United. When KOAT, another local news station, got their hands on a lease agreement between the team and the city, they found if a stadium was built, there would be “a lot of taxes the New Mexico United soccer club will not have to pay”. Another subsidy would come from the team being allowed to deduct “equipment purchased in the construction” from their gross receipts tax bill. What else? We don't know, and the team won't show us. Naturally, they will have “details to share”…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Buffalo Pro Soccer Team first promised to pay for a stadium thru private investment. Now? Taxpayers need to pay 66% of it.

Buffalo Pro Soccer's owner, Peter Marlette, keeps urging the local government to make a decision immediately. In November of last year, Marlette talked about a supposed “time crunch” on the government with decisions related to the new stadium. Recently, Marlette told the Buffalo News that a decision must be made "any day now". Yet, it has been several months since he said this, and he is just now picking out a location? Perhaps there wouldn't be a time crunch if you had told us where you wanted to play months ago. As I have talked about before, this is intentional.…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Cincinnati Bengals officials tell the county that their current stadium lease is perfect and that the public loves it too

Hamilton county agreed to “guarantee 50,000 tickets sold per game”, agreed to give the Cincinnati Bengals all stadium management rights, agreed to give the team all advertising revenues, agreed to give the team all money made from food or beverages and agreed to pay for all stadium maintenance or capital projects. But best of all, the county agreed to give the Bengals a state-of-the-art provision that essentially allowed the Bengals to go to the county every off-season and demand the best and most expensive upgrades. That is not an exaggeration. The actual lease said that the county “must install…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Ohio State Politician slips in language to a bill at 1am so that the Bengals can save almost $10 million dollars in taxes

The new stadium has brought virtually nothing economically back to the city and therefore the stadium debt continues to account for more than almost 20% of Hamilton County's yearly budget. Did I mention that the lease agreement says that the stadium must be in a state-of-the-art condition? This means that every few years, Mike Brown will demand any number of new toys for his stadium, like a new scoreboard, and taxpayers are mandated to pay for them. Whenever this subject gets brought up, the team blames the county for trying “to hold somebody else responsible” for the agreement. Classy.…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

FIFA absurdity continues, this time they are milking New Jersey with no contract

This is intentional. This is how FIFA operates. They do not want the public involved in anything apart from going to the matches and watching it on TV. This is why host cities do not tell their residents beforehand about the many millions that will be spent on upgrading their venues or enriching FIFA members who are attending the games. So, I shouldn't be shocked when one day, I see New Jersey giving 25 million dollars of taxpayer money to upgrade MetLife for the World Cup. With zero public notice or involvement. Don't forget about the additional $17 million…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

The new stadium for Buffalo’s new USL soccer team was promised to cost $15 million and built entirely with private funds

Several days ago, Marlette spoke to the Buffalo Common Council’s Community Development Committee and again stated how excited they were to start soccer. He also reminded the city that he wants to see the new USL team playing during the 2026 season. But what really surprised me was when Marlette told the commission with a straight face that “there is a time crunch”. Time crunch? The city and state are waiting for the team to tell them basic things, and yet the team says there is a rush to this? How about the team tells us where the location…

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.
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.
Arena Stadium

Isn’t it great when sports owners announce upgrades to their arena while contributing little to nothing themselves?

In Utah, the Smith Entertainment Group owns the local NBA and NHL teams. In order for this group to get almost a billion dollars from taxpayers to pay for upgrades to the current arena, the Group pledged to pay $3B dollars of their own money on upgrading the arena and renovations outside the venue. Only problem? Nobody knows any details about this pledge to pay $3B dollars. Can he walk away from this? Is it in writing? Is it just something he may not want to do in a few years? Who knows?

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

The Chicago Bears continue to meet with local officials and tell them absolutely nothing

The Chicago Bears also forgot to add in the multiple billions that taxpayer would owe for stadium and infrastructure costs. This means that taxpayers would likely be paying 70% of the cost, if not more. What about the other sports teams wanting billions for their own stadiums? If the team had somehow gotten this deal to go through, the bill for taxpayers could have been so much higher than what the team claimed.

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Carolina Panthers officials swear their economic impact numbers are real, they just can’t prove it

Several weeks ago, the Carolina Panthers were given $650 million by the city of Charlotte to renovate their current NFL stadium. Nevermind that the Panthers owner has a less-than-perfect history of following through on commitments (then refuses to talk about it publicly). Nevermind that he is one of the richest men in the entire world. Maybe one of the worst owners too, but that is for another time. Anyway, since the deal was approved several weeks ago, some city leaders have been getting public pushback on their approval of it. This was the biggest public investment in Charlotte's history.…

William Neilson Jr.