Kansas City officials plan to go around taxpayers to build a new Royals ballpark
I want to congratulate the mayor of Kansas City (State of Missouri) for making one of the most ridiculous arguments that I have seen so far this year. But first, let me back up slightly. Presently, things do not look good for the Kansas City Royals. They keep missing deadlines. Last week, the Kansas House Speaker noted how the Royals had missed a December 31 deadline, which would have allowed the team to use a state of Kansas funding package for sports venues. This week, one county official told the Kansas City Star that he had given the Royals a January 8th deadline to make a new ballpark proposal that could be put on the April 2026 ballot. This week, that deadline passed, and the official mentioned to the newspaper that he was “done” negotiating with the team.Continue Reading
Cavaliers CEO: People should “make sure” to “celebrate” when we ask for $400M
Now that the Browns are moving out of the downtown area, residents are left to deal with two billionaire owners demanding countless amounts of money for upgrades. Most rational people would look at this situation and wonder why an owner like the Cleveland Cavaliers Dan Gilbert, with a net worth north of $20B, is not paying for 100% of his arena upgrades. The answer is because he knows that he doesn’t have to pay for much, if anything at all, when it comes to his sports properties. He used his ownership of the Cavaliers to lower his taxable income and save himself close to $400M in taxes. Continue Reading
The Arizona Cardinals owner, Michael Bidwill, continues to price out fans and ruin any goodwill left
Michael Bidwill and his family are what I call a Rake Family. They love stepping on rakes and then seem surprised when it comes back and hits them in the face. The Bidwills first few years in Arizona are a perfect example of this. When the Bidwills moved the Cardinals from St. Louis to Arizona in 1987, they did so because St. Louis wouldn’t build them a brand-new stadium. Cardinals executives claimed that people in Arizona would. Therefore, the team moved to Arizona, and nothing was built. The stadium builders never came through, and the team was stuck for the next 18 years using Sun Devil Stadium (where Arizona State University plays football games).Continue Reading
When will city and state leaders learn that their new sports venue will not magically increase tax revenues?
This week, the Kansas City Chiefs announced they were relocating to the state of Kansas for a brand-new $3B stadium. The term sheet agreed upon by the team and state is outlandish. Joe Pompliano (who is one of the best at sports business news) has gone over the term sheet and claims it is the “Most Lopsided Stadium Deal In NFL History” thanks to $1.8 billion in taxpayer money being included. But the details of many important parts of the deal are still unknown. For example, we still don’t know where the new stadium will be located. In a recent press conference, the Chiefs president claimed that the team will decide later on the location. The look of the stadium? The look of the entertainment district around the stadium? Nothing. Heck, the team hasn’t even hired an architect. Yet, even with plenty of details still left unanswered, I found it odd that I continued to see the governor of Kansas go from media outlet to media outlet claiming that taxpayers somehow were protected with this deal.Continue Reading
LA28 promised Los Angeles residents a zero-cost Olympics, now want several hundred million in taxpayer money
In 2017, the International Olympic Committee awarded the City of Los Angeles the 2028 Olympics. Right after being awarded the 2028 games, the mayor of Los Angeles signed a host contract, which forced the city to be the “financial backstop” and therefore responsible for “paying off any debts” that arose from the games. Even better, as the Los Angeles Times wrote in a 2017 story, the city will have “more than a decade to prepare.” Most importantly, the Olympic Committee from Los Angeles was clear that taxpayers would not pay for the games and that instead “they expect to cover all expenses through revenues from broadcast rights, sponsorships, ticket sales and other sources.” Continue Reading
The city of Cleveland continues to see little sin tax revenue all the while the Indians & Cavaliers are demanding $400M in upcoming repairs
Over the last few months, plenty of articles have been written about how exactly the city of Cleveland is going to pay for the millions and millions of upgrades that their local sports owners are demanding. Gateway Economic Development Corporation, the owner of the Cleveland Indians ballpark (Progressive Field) and the Cleveland Cavaliers arena (Rocket Arena), is supposed to pay for venue upgrades with revenues from a 1990 voter-approved sin tax. But the sin tax has never come close to producing the revenue needed for venue updates. This means that the city has been forced to pay for venue upgrades through other city means, the general fund included.Continue Reading
The Kansas City Royals continue to push forward on one of the worst organized ballpark plans ever put together
A few months ago, I wrote a story on the Kansas City Royals and their crazy ways of trying to convince taxpayers to give them a billion dollars through an increased sales tax (for a new ballpark). As I said in the story, the Royals decided that the best way to do this was by making sure that residents were “confused about every detail of their potential ballpark.” Rather than finish important deals months before the vote on the new sales tax, the Royals were completing them “just a week or two before the sales tax vote, leaving people with little opportunity to read or review (any) documents for themselves.” Mind you, all of this comes after the owner wrote a letter to everyone stating how much he values residents and transparency.Continue Reading
In Mesa, Arizona, city officials did not want residents to know about a stadium agreement so they had a 12 minute meeting right before Thanksgiving
The day before Thanksgiving, the Mesa City Council held a 12-minute meeting (with no residents in attendance) that allowed for 80 acres of land to be classified as a “theme park district.” Moving forward, this land will now be called “Palo District.” The big prize of this deal was how it sets up for a new soccer stadium to be built on this land. For years, the city of Mesa has been trying to figure out a way to get either an MLS or NWSL soccer team to their city. When the city attorney went in front of the council to explain this project, he made “multiple references” to a stadium. A summary by the city states that this land can be developed with “restaurants, retail, lodging, offices, and a multiuse stadium that could include soccer.”Continue Reading
Denver NWSL owners demand city give them $50 million without limits or else they will leave
The Denver council delayed voting on the release of the $50 million because of a “lack of key information.” For example, council members still do not have a specific breakdown of how and where the money will be spent. The council president seemed flustered that she “had to ask several times” why the team wasn’t giving them all the information. When the team’s attorney was asked for the project’s final cost numbers, she told the council that she didn’t have them due to their construction estimates not being finished.Continue Reading
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 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?Continue Reading