Monumental Sports was trying to claim on social media that the financing for the proposed arena would include the most amount of private funding for any project in recent memory and one of the least amounts of upfront state cash. One problem? It isn't remotely close to being true.
Mexico, the United States, and Canada will jointly host the 2026 World Cup. As the event approaches, cities are getting prepared for the upcoming games. It is rather surprising to see how different cities are reacting to the World Cup approaching. Some cities are outraged at the rising costs, some cities are falling in love with their economic impact projections, and some are just happy to have the games coming to their city. Unfortunately, some…
Back in 2014, the city of Detroit was debating what to do with their old arena that the Detroit Red Wings played in. On one hand, they could do nothing and let the Red Wings figure out what to do on their own. On the other hand, they could give the Red Wings owners, the Ilitch Family, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to build a new arena. When the Ilitch family initially proposed a…
According to the article, the Jacksonville Jump Shrimp discussed how the “team plans to build” a facility in right field and center field, a souvenir shop and a concourse level. Towards the end of the article, a fan is quoted saying that he loves the improvements because it shows that the team was “putting that type of money” into the ballpark. The team is really putting their wallet on the line. Except, they are actually…
When the Stadium Community Inclusion Task Force started, numerous local businesses mentioned to them that they were concerned about the construction companies' previous outreach, confused about the application website, and worried about how cumbersome the prequalification process would be. In addition to addressing the above issues, the task force still had to elect a chairman, draft a letter asking for the latest minority business numbers, and review a draft proposal on best practices to include…
Over the last few months, more and more stories have been popping up online that discuss whether Salt Lake City or the state of Utah should build a ballpark for some future MLB expansion team. Utah residents have therefore been asking local leaders who exactly would be paying for such a project. Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, has an answer. He wants residents to know that local taxpayers will not be left on base holding the…
For the third year in a row, FC Cincinnati co-CEO, Jeff Berding, has gone in front of the Cincinnati Regional Chamber and pushed for a new arena to be built, with or without a sports team attached to it. This year, Berding spoke about how the size of Cincinnati and the fact that many other cities of Cincinnati's size have arenas.
According to the Milwaukee Brewers, the new main scoreboard will be one of the biggest in all of baseball “boasting full-screen, edge-to-edge coverage, and is more than twice the size of the current display at 5,940 square feet”. The bill for these purchases was $6.45 million. But not to worry as it all is fully paid through the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District, i.e., taxpayers.
The Chicago Bears have already talked about what they want to do on this land. Was I dreaming when I read the following: “The team has sketched out designs on a new entertainment district anchored by a $5 billion domed stadium”? Why would the city, much less anyone, allow the team to peg this land as vacant or residential land? Well, the Bears have an answer for that too.
We know that FC Cincinnati has plans for an entertainment district, a 150-room hotel tower, 450+ apartments, 85,000 square feet of commercial and retail space and up to 600 parking spaces. Last year, FC Cincinnati asked the city to make major changes to the stadium agreement. The team wanted additional land to be deemed as “planned development” and for the boundary of the development to be increased further north. FC Cincinnati also asked the city…
In Chattanooga, the price of their new ballpark continues to skyrocket. If you remember, two years ago, the city was facing fierce opposition from locals who didn't want to give any taxpayer money towards a new ballpark. But the city decided that this new ballpark would be a “home run for the community” and approved the deal. This meant the city would be putting up roughly $80 million dollars for the project.
Let's say your local sports team wants a new stadium and is trying to get public opinion on their side. Or one of your local city leaders wants to get the public ready for taxpayer money being used on a new sports venue. One of their first calls will be to their local Chamber of Commerce ("CoC").
Several years ago, Major League Baseball decided to eliminate numerous minor league baseball teams. They also updated the ballpark facility standards for minor league baseball teams. What does that mean exactly? What things must be upgraded or built? It is now mandatory for a ballpark to have “larger clubhouses, brighter stadium lights, covered batting and pitching tunnels and other details”. Let's not forget the price of these upgrades, which “will be quite high”.
The new team will be called Connecticut United Football Club and will compete in MLS Next Pro, essentially the minor leagues of Major League Soccer. At the initial press conference, the team announced that they intend to play in a new stadium for the 2025 season. Like every other owner of a sports team, the new millionaire owner made sure to give us ridiculous and completely baseless promises on how their new stadium will perform…
There are so many things that annoy me about the Las Vegas Raiders owner, Mark Davis. He is the type of person who gets $750 million from taxpayers yet still charges taxpayers almost $700,000 to renovate his never-been-used-before stadium suite. Mark Davis comes off as the type that thinks it is hilarious to fleece taxpayers for almost a billion dollars and then spend $14 million building a mansion that looks like the stadium that taxpayers…
