Tag: Cleveland

Stadium

San Francisco 49ers owner, Jed York, continues spending millions to sway local politicians. When will it be called out nationally?

Recently, San Francisco 49ers owner, Jed York, created “two new political action committees” so that he could sway the public into electing a 49ers-friendly mayor and city councilmen. The team handed over $645,000 and $335,000 to the committees supporting the 49ers' preferred candidates. Nobody should be surprised by this. York has spent millions on every election since 2014, the year that the 49ers' stadium was built in Santa Clara. But it still surprises me how…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena Ballpark Stadium

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…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

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…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

Cleveland taxpayers voted to build sports venues, not pay for costly upgrades at the teams request

As I have written about in the past here, the Cavs and Guardians have all but hit their 20-year allotted amount (which totaled $260M for all three teams) yet still continue to demand more and more money from taxpayers. The city and county have gotten so desperate that they are approving team requests with no idea how or if the city could even afford it. Have things gotten better in the last few months? Of…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena Ballpark Stadium

Chattanooga’s ballpark costs continues to rise, supporters still claim the ballpark will pay for itself

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.

William Neilson Jr.
Arena Ballpark Stadium

Cleveland is consistently paying for arena, ballpark & stadium upgrades. Now, they are approving projects without knowing how or even if they can afford it.

The city of Cleveland is going to pay for upgrades to the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, the non-profit corporation who decides whether to approve these projects, Gateway Economic Development Corporation, also has no idea how, where or even if they can pay for it. Which does seem to be a slight problem?

William Neilson Jr.