Stadium

LA28 promised Los Angeles residents a zero-cost Olympics, now want several hundred million in taxpayer money

In 2017, the International Olympic Committee awarded the City of Los Angeles the 2028 Olympics. Right after being awarded the 2028 games, the mayor of Los Angeles signed a host contract, which forced the city to be the "financial backstop" and therefore responsible for "paying off any debts" that arose from the games. Even better, as the Los Angeles Times wrote in a 2017 story, the city will have "more than a decade to prepare." Most importantly,…

Stadium

The San Francisco 49ers promise to pay for all World Cup expenses…somewhat…kind of…maybe?

Last week, the San Francisco 49ers publicly vowed to cover Santa Clara’s expenses for the World Cup games. The 49ers will use money that they received from their NFL operations to cover the costs. One estimate claims that it will cost Santa Clara about $50M to stage the games. Except, as the mayor reminded everyone, the 49ers promised to only cover all “approved costs”. That can be interpreted many ways, considering the terrible history between the…

Stadium

Pawtucket stadium drama continues with mystery investor who will never be revealed?

Poor Pawtucket. Several years ago, they wanted to find someone to help them build a new stadium for their soccer team, the Rhode Island FC. Then in 2019, this mystery group, called Fortuitous Partners (FP), told city officials about their $400 million plan that involved building a soccer stadium downtown along with other amenities. Brett Johnson, a developer for FP, got everyone excited with talk of creating a “365-day-a-year destination with sports entertainment, retail, food,…

Stadium

San Francisco 49ers continue to find new ways of screwing over Santa Clara

Santa Clara continues to claim that the 49ers are hiding financial information from the city. A civil grand report from last year claims that the city of Santa Clara hadn't seen any revenue from…events in six years nor have they seen any money from…events from the stadium's most recent fiscal year. When it was announced last year that a report was being done by a civil grand jury, the 49ers responded with an unusual act…