Tag: Arizona

Stadium

Rhode Island FC’s soccer stadium continues to disappoint financially, leaving taxpayers in a deeper hole

This maintains a pattern observed with Rhode Island FC. In 2019, the owners revealed plans for a stadium project estimated to be worth $400 million, which included over 400 residential units, commercial space, and a parking garage. The developer of the project, Fortuitous Partners, asserted that it would allocate $27M of public funds that were initially intended for housing expenses in the neighborhood. The company will spend the $27 million on the development of the soccer stadium. Remember that Fortuitous also obtained an additional $43 million in taxpayer funding through "subsidies, tax breaks, and infrastructure improvements." Even so, the…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena Ballpark Stadium

Does your sports team need help convincing the public to give the team billions of taxpayer dollars? Call the Seidman Research Institute

The Phoenix Business Journal wrote a story on a recently released study by the Seidman Research Institute that discussed how a women's final four tournament held in the area generated a huge economic impact for the state of Arizona. Apparently, this tournament created $42.2 million for Arizona's Gross Domestic Product for Phoenix, while the State of Arizona saw a $71.5 million overall impact. However, the report appears to be missing a lot of information. The report admits to JUST using “new dollars” that Arizona may have received during the tournament. What about expenses? What about the substitute effect? Or…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena Ballpark Stadium

Will news sites ever properly label people who are clearly biased or have an interest in the venue?

Yesterday, I saw an opinion piece in the Sports Business Journal. The point of the piece was just how great the World Cup will make our stadiums look for future events. The article claims that the current stadiums that are hosting World Cup matches shortly are all in top-notch form and can handle any future “World Cup (matches), Super Bowl(s) & specialty events, concerts, and more.” About here is where I started to wonder whether this was an actual opinion piece or essentially an advertisement by a financially biased individual/group. It is the latter. Before we go into that,…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

The Arizona Diamondbacks just got $500M of taxpayer money yet now want even more

Recently, Arizona Diamondbacks officials have issued several public statements that seem to suggest that the team will demand more taxpayer money. Since the lease agreement between the team and county expires after the 2028 season, the Diamondbacks are apparently using this as a reason for more taxpayer money to be given to them. This week, the team opened up to being shocked at how much it costs to repair and upgrade equipment at their ballpark. The team admitted that the cost of recent repairs to things, like a new air conditioner, were “much higher than we thought.”

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

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…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

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…

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.
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.
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.
Stadium

After being told that a Final Four would bring trillions to the area, the city of Glendale accepts that they made almost nothing off it

Last year, Glendale, Arizona was told that it could make $270 million dollars in economic impact from hosting a Final Four event in 2024. This year, some groups mentioned the possibility of the state making an impact between $250-$300 million from the Final Four. Others believed it was possibly for the state to bring in over $400 million dollars. The 2017 Final Four in Arizona brought the state $324.5 million dollars of economic benefits. Where did that money go?

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

The Super Bowl continues to suck cities in with false promises of economic glory

Why are cities not making more money off this big event? Because they are paying millions upon millions in expenses mandated by the NFL. In 2016, local taxpayers in San Francisco paid the bill for hosting the Super Bowl and its many off-field festivities. The NFL, a multi-billion dollar company, pays nothing, let me repeat that, nothing during Super Bowl weeks because of a deal between the city and the NFL Host Committee. If you were wondering, local taxpayers did pay for the construction of the stadium in Santa Clara. There is a vast amount of evidence that suggests…

William Neilson Jr.