The debt rests solely with Kansas City taxpayers, not the Royals. In this situation, when the new ballpark fails to magically create the amount for the required debt payments, the city will be forced to go into their general fund at the expense of services including police, fire, public transit and neighborhoods.
The new owner of the Portland Trail Blazers, Tom Dundon, told Portland city leaders that he won't negotiate with them until language is changed in the lease agreement between the city and the team. Dundon is demanding the removal of language that requires the team to keep the Moda Center in first-class condition. When an agreement includes a “First-Class Condition” or “State-of-the-Art” clause, it requires the facility owner (either the city/county or the team itself)…
Now that the World Cup is over, I went looking to see how businesses did in host cities. FIFA made $15B in revenue from the current World Cup. That is a considerable amount of money to be taking in from this event. Surely the host cities will see some of that money, right? No, host cities get none of this money. Before I could even look into how local businesses did during the matches, I found…
If you are a sports owner, massive projects should and do get agreed upon in weeks, if not a month or two…max. I have written numerous times about how almost every sports owner runs the same play every time. The sports owner will come out and demand a new stadium and mandate that a deal must be done within weeks due to…reasons unknown. If this isn't good enough, then the team will possibly relocate. The…
Essentially, the state of Kansas allows for lawmakers to use a “special incentive program” that was started just two years ago to fund a project like the Kansas City Chiefs. The lawmaker who wrote this law (not including language allowing for the public to vote) claims that the public doesn't need to vote since the sales tax is not increasing. I really do hope that this politician understands that while the sales tax will not…
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…
This week, the Kansas City Chiefs announced they were relocating to the state of Kansas for a brand-new $3B stadium. The term sheet agreed upon by the team and state is outlandish. Joe Pompliano (who is one of the best at sports business news) has gone over the term sheet and claims it is the “Most Lopsided Stadium Deal In NFL History” thanks to $1.8 billion in taxpayer money being included. But the details of…
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 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…
Today, Boston 26 argues that the city is in “jeopardy” of losing the matches unless $20 million in taxpayer money is given to them. Keep in mind that Boston 26 was first trying to demand almost $40 million but they have since brought that down to $20 million mark. But didn't Boston 26 say they wouldn't ask taxpayers for help? That everything was already in place?
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
