Arena

In the past, the Philadelphia 76ers have promised to hire locals in exchange for a new facility. They didn’t.

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…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Inter Miami continues making secret, non-written down agreements with former city officials

Maybe patience is the way to go. Inter Miami seems like a truthful organization. Even though they are a new MLS team, it isn't like this ownership group has already been involved in a major cheating scandal. Except two years ago, when they tried signing several world-class players and lied about their salaries. MLS would eventually penalize the owner of Inter Miami and other executives with million dollar fines.

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Charlotte taxpayers will be paying for a new stadium shortly

South Carolina House member John Ray Bradford stated that by keeping certain hospitality taxes in place until 2060, people should be happy because they are “not increasing any taxes”. Except, without this extension, locals would have paid less at hotels, bars, restaurants, etc… in the future. He also claimed that the city would have more confidence going to banks with more taxpayer money? Or something. My confidence is always sky-high whenever I see my “local…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

How dare the city of Chicago ask the Bears to pay property taxes like everyone else

The Chicago Bears publicly admitted to buying land in nearby Arlington Heights to likely build a new stadium. However, it appears that a Chicago (technically Cook County) assessor is now holding the Bears accountable for future property taxes on this land. The county assessor raised the property tax value of this land by six times (applies to tax year 2022 and beyond), and that does not even include the construction that will be done.

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

Las Vegas, be careful with Oakland A’s owner, John Fisher because he will NOT SPEND MONEY

The A's are trying to get at least $500 million in taxpayer money for the new ballpark. As the Independent points out, that alone is slightly lower than the total amount that the city of Las Vegas brings in YEARLY from gaming taxes. The Oakland A’s believe that they are worth this money because they will bring in “400,000 new tourists to Las Vegas”. This is crazy. The A's would not bring in anywhere near…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Milwaukee Brewers continue ballpark upgrades push, not moving very fast

In the last few months, the Milwaukee Brewers have been begging city/state leaders to give them money for ballpark upgrades. The Governor of Wisconsin proposed giving the Brewers almost $300 million in public money in exchange for an additional 13 years being added to the lease. This proposal really means that taxpayers will pay closer to $450 million in renovations over the next 20 years. Several Brewers executives did a PR tour and tried to…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

Richmond leaders approve Diamond District ballpark but seem unclear what they just agreed to do

Several days ago, the City of Richmond came to an agreement with the developers of the Richmond Flying Squirrels, a minor league baseball team. For years, the Squirrels have been threatening to relocate unless they were built a brand-new ballpark. When the owner wasn't threatening to leave, Major League Baseball (MLB) would step in and demand upgrades to the ballpark on the taxpayers dime. This year, MLB demanded that Richmond update the ballpark to the…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Buffalo Bills exec promises that, unlike last stadium, developers will flock to the new one

Last year, New York lawmakers gave the Buffalo Bills $850 million dollars in taxpayer money to help the NFL team build a new stadium. The New York Legislature managed to craft one of the worst stadium deals in recent memory. The $850 million dollar figure does NOT include a significant number of subsidies such as maintenance costs and property tax exemptions. Therefore, the bill will likely be at minimum $1 billion. Then again, since the…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

Hillsboro, Oregon continues to financially fumble their way to a new ballpark

In 2013, the city of Hillsboro, Oregon, built and paid $15 million in city bonds for the ballpark called Ron Tonkins Field so that their minor league team, the Hillsboro Hops, could have a home field. Now that 10 years have passed, both Major League Baseball and the owners of the Hillsboro Hops believe that the team needs a new home. Last year, MLB called on the city to substantially upgrade the ballpark or else…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

The Tampa Bay Rays avoid almost all public records when negotiating their new ballpark

So even though this is public land and the parties will be receiving significant taxpayer support, the city of St. Petersburg is denying all interview requests or interviews in general. A big reason for the secrecy is likely due to the hope that the deal can be done as quickly as possible. Out of nowhere several weeks ago, the Tampa Bay Rays owner stated that if a deal wasn't done by the end of 2023,…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena Stadium

Teams continue to make millions yet want their property taxes slashed

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.

William Neilson Jr.