The St. Louis Cardinals owners yet again want significant taxpayer funds while giving almost nothing
Let's move up to today. Guess what DeWitt II wants? Busch Stadium needs a “significant capital infusion” in the upcoming years at the latest. My guess is that he will get something substantial around the $500 million mark. I don't think they should but I am just stating that I don't think local leaders would stop them from taking this amount of taxpayer money. The spin would probably just be that the Cardinals are taking just $500M instead of $2B for a new ballpark.
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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…
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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…
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The Kansas City Royals owner keeps promising to be transparent in the future yet never seems to follow through
The survey asked questions about the ballpark being located in downtown, near downtown, Clay County/North Kansas City and Johnson County/Overland Park. The Royals claim that this survey is meant to “optimize fans experiences” in their new ballpark. Whatever that means. In addition to the survey, Sherman released a statement where he claimed that the Royals were “constantly engaging and listening to” their fans. Really? Maybe Sherman can answer the fan who told KSHB that when he received the…
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“Business groups” in Kansas City push local officials to build the Royals a new ballpark…without disclosing the Royals connections to the groups
When the Kansas City Royals tried to garner some support for the sales tax vote last year, they paid a company, Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago-based real estate company, to write and release an economic impact report on a potential ballpark. But, it didn't take long for problems to come out of this idea. The Royals paid Jones Lang LaSalle to write this report without caring or realizing that Jones Lang LaSalle had no experience with economic impact reports for ballparks or even sports venues.…
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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…
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Yet another “historic” community benefits agreement…this time in Chattanooga
In July, the Chattanooga Lookouts, a minor league baseball team, reached an agreement with the city to build a new ballpark. Although the price was originally going to be $79.5 million, the final price tag was actually $120 million. Not to worry, though, as the public contribution amount is capped at…$112 million? Ever since 2022, local groups in Chattanooga have been pressuring local officials to make sure that the community was represented whenever a community benefits agreement (CBA) was…
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The Kansas City Royals screwed themselves yet still blame everyone else
The Kansas City Royals held off on telling the public about the location of their new ballpark until just months before the sales tax election. This meant that when the team did announce the location, the people who live in or around the area of this proposed ballpark were likely to be quite shocked. The Royals proposed a new ballpark on a big piece of land that at the moment had “as many as two dozen businesses and organizations” currently operating and open. They would need to be removed.
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The Kansas City Royals ask taxpayers to give them $1 billion. Then ask for additional $700 million…maybe more?
The Kansas City Royals must love keeping secrets. After announcing to everyone in 2022 that they were leaving their current ballpark, it took two years for them to finally tell us where the new one would be built. But anything else? Good luck. Things got so bad last year that the team owner had to write a public letter telling everyone to relax and just wait for the new ballpark to be announced. Months later, we still know very little. This week, KRPS did a fantastic story detailing the…
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The Kansas City Royals are showing how NOT TO go about asking for taxpayer help with a new ballpark
In November of last year, the Kansas City Royals finally told the world that they would be leaving their current ballpark for a new one in 2030! The plans included the ballpark being downtown and the total cost being around $2 billion. The Royals owner, John Sherman, claimed in a letter to fans that a […]
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