Tag: MLS

Stadium

Why are the Jacksonville Armada suddenly ghosting everyone on their promise to build a new stadium?

In 2025, the Jacksonville Armada received approval from the city to start building its new $18.2 million stadium. The owner of the Armada even pledged to move his real estate firm to Jacksonville to be close to his new soccer stadium. Nothing happened. In late 2025, the Armada announced that a new owner has bought the team. The new owner claimed that “he still intends to build a stadium.” But he never gave a starting date, completion date, or timeline of when Armada would be joining their MLS Pro league. Furthermore, this change in ownership was never finalized.

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

D.C. United threatens to leave if not given $300M from a city facing a projected deficit of $800M

This means that MLS teams will now be playing games later in the year and therefore in cold weather. For this reason, the MLS team in Washington, DC, named DC United, is asking for $300M so that a roof can be added to their home venue, Audi Field. According to the CEO of DC United, this money is “necessary” because the team will be playing more matches in the cold and because this addition to Audi Field is “the next steps in our partnership”…whatever the hell that means.

William Neilson Jr.
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 little attention York gets for his constant attempts to destroy any semblance of a democracy.

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Chicago Fire owner was praised for not “asking the city for money” when he proposed his new stadium…yet now he wants $425M of taxpayer funds

Last year, the owner of the Chicago Fire, Joe Mansueto, announced that the MLS club was moving forward with plans to build a new stadium. While the costs varied between $650M and $750M, the stadium would be “privately-funded.” Local media and other news outlets praised Mansueto for not forcing costs onto taxpayers.

William Neilson Jr.
Arena Ballpark Stadium

San Antonio editorial wants taxpayers to follow the “spirit of the agreement”, yet teams never seem to care about it

The Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E) owe the city of San Antonio and Bexar County $5 million because of a failed 2015 MLS bid. The city, county, and SS&E were all involved in the bidding for a team and signed an agreement stating that SS&E would pay $5M if the bid didn't produce an MLS team. Yet, to this day, SS&E has not paid for it, nor has the city tried to push the team to pay what is owed to taxpayers. Even so, the city did find time to help pay for a large part of the new…

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 Stadium

In Chicago, Kansas City & Tampa Bay, sports owners are trying to push new venues without any public input or review

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 purpose is clearly to pressure local leaders into agreeing to the project without any time to properly review and vet it. Most local politicians…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

Since Portland passed a law to help bring an MLB team, the Trail Blazers would like some more money for Moda Center

Now, the Portland Trail Blazers would like some of that money. According to OregonLive, the Blazers want an “estimated $20 million per year” to be given to them “from the state’s general fund.” The team claims that this allows them to start a $600 million renovation of the current arena. However, as OregonLive notes, the Blazers' situation is not similar to last year's MLB giveaway. The NBA team's players/staff have already been paying “into the state’s general fund” since 1970. If the Blazers want money for their arena, it will need to come from “essential services” for a new…

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.
Stadium

St. Louis City SC owners do not need or want public money…just the many millions of taxpayer dollars they get every year

Washington University in St. Louis wrote a piece titled “Stadiums don’t have to be a drain on taxpayer dollars − 4 lessons from St. Louis”. This article was pushed to any outlet willing to publish it. Here it is retitled “St. Louis MLS Stadium Offers Alternative to Taxpayer-Funded Sports Venues.” Here are the authors pushing the article in local newspaper comment sections titled “How to build a stadium and keep taxpayers happy.” I have to read this article and understand how these Saints owners did the financially impossible. The article makes sure to include just how much money professional…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

Years later, Columbus taxpayers continue to be used and abused by the Blue Jackets

Just last year, the FCCFA spent $13.1 million in taxpayer money on arena projects such as a roof replacement, a cooling tower installation, a fire alarm system replacement and more. Yet if we come back to today, the FCCFA executive directory admits that recently released plans are “still being worked out” in negotiations that have involved the “team, its private partners and city, Franklin County and state officials”...just not the public. When asked by WOSU about the finances of these upgrades, the GM of the arena told them that the FCCFA was hopeful about the state of Ohio kicking in…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

“No Tax Dollars” will be spent on a New Mexico United stadium, except this $30 million and multiple other tax breaks

Let's not forget the millions spent by taxpayers at the current home of New Mexico United. When KOAT, another local news station, got their hands on a lease agreement between the team and the city, they found if a stadium was built, there would be “a lot of taxes the New Mexico United soccer club will not have to pay”. Another subsidy would come from the team being allowed to deduct “equipment purchased in the construction” from their gross receipts tax bill. What else? We don't know, and the team won't show us. Naturally, they will have “details to share”…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

Did the cities of Fort Lauderdale & Miami actually stand up for themselves against a professional team?

When the city reminded the team of this contract agreement, Inter Miami had the nerve to ask the city to pay for the park. Why would the team do this? Especially when the lease agreement says nothing about the city paying for the public park? The team claims that during stadium negotiations, an unknown city person at some unknown time gave the team “certain agreements…but not all made it into the written contract”. After some time, the city told the team that they must build the park by July 2023 or else the city will build it and give…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

The new stadium for Buffalo’s new USL soccer team was promised to cost $15 million and built entirely with private funds

Several days ago, Marlette spoke to the Buffalo Common Council’s Community Development Committee and again stated how excited they were to start soccer. He also reminded the city that he wants to see the new USL team playing during the 2026 season. But what really surprised me was when Marlette told the commission with a straight face that “there is a time crunch”. Time crunch? The city and state are waiting for the team to tell them basic things, and yet the team says there is a rush to this? How about the team tells us where the location…

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.