Tag: NBA

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.
Arena Ballpark Stadium

Team owners continue to get out of paying for venue upgrades when they are responsible for keeping it at a “First-Class Condition”

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) to maintain, repair, and upgrade the venue so that it remains comparable to top-tier facilities in the league. This means Dundon is responsible for…

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

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.
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 has never come close to producing the revenue needed for venue updates. This means that the city has been forced to pay for venue…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena Ballpark Stadium

Buffalo is struggling to limit city leaders access to the luxury suites at the Bills new stadium

Last year, the Buffalo Bills beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in an AFC playoff game. The Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, billed taxpayers for almost $600 worth of wine and a total bill that day of $1923 and change. As the Buffalo News reported, it would eventually come out that taxpayers had paid “more than $6300” for the governor to attend four different games. According to the state and county, this luxury suite is “meant to boost economic development.” I wish someone would explain to me how this happens…in any way, shape, or form. The spokesman for the governor…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

Washington Wizards & Capitals owner wants everyone to know how much the community is atop his mind

Last year, local taxpayers provided Leonsis with $515 million of taxpayer money to purchase and renovate the arena. Washington, DC, an area that was deep into an economic crisis last year and still is this year, gave a man with a net worth of $4 billion that amount of money? In fact, why on earth is DC buying the arena? Oh, that is right..."so Leonsis and his partners won't have to pay taxes on the $515 million the city is giving them." When someone brought up the absurdity of this entire transaction, Leonsis claimed that he "shouldn't have to…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

San Antonio city council moves forward on a new arena based on “useless”, “incomplete” & “inadequate” economic report

This week, the city of San Antonio, Texas, voted to move forward with the November election that will decide the fate of the $1.3 billion arena (and other projects), called Project Marvel. This week, the team contacted every media outlet that it could find to discuss how great this deal was for the city. So residents heard that this deal will create $10 billion in direct spending! Or that it will create $350 million in new taxes for the city! Sounds great. Except, it is all bull. These numbers come from a CSL International report that the Spurs paid for.

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

In Oklahoma, some believe that an ownership group is proving their “commitment” to the area when they pay just 5% for a $900M new arena

In the NBA, the value of teams is rising at a rather insane pace. In 2006, the current owners of the Thunder bought the team for $350M. Now, the value of the team hovers around $3.5B. But that doesn't matter because these owners are committed to the area. Right? Some have even claimed that these owners bring a “tremendous selflessness” towards the team and city.

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Barely a decade after the Minnesota Vikings got their new stadium, they want a yearly source of taxpayer money for whatever they desire

All the economic activity promises made by the Minnesota Vikings, when they were negotiating for a new stadium, have been completely incorrect. The mayor of Minneapolis made a public spectacle of how the Vikings new stadium had "encouraged Wells Fargo to relocate 5,000 jobs" near the venue. The relocation of these employees preceded the announcement of the new stadium deal. Therefore, no new jobs were being created from the creation of this new stadium. The Governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, was very public in his support of getting something done with the Vikings. He touted the new stadium was the…

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

Houston Texans stadium continues to haunt local leaders as one of the worst financial stadium deals

Residents of Harris County should pay attention to this part because “taxpayers will have to pitch in to close that gap”. You better because the Texans, a team worth over $6 billion, are “frustrated” at the “lack of maintenance”. When Houston got the Super Bowl in 2017, the team got angry at the county because of their refusal to pay for expensive upgrades that would just be used for the Super Bowl. Don't you worry though, as city leaders got Super Bowl tickets for free, rather than having to pay the $3,000-$4,000 required for a ticket. Some people have argued that…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

For the 57th time, Detroit gives the Ilitch family taxpayer money only for them to not finish the part that benefits taxpayers

A few months into 2023, the Ilitch family decided that they had no gotten enough taxpayer money out of the city and state. So the city of Detroit gave them “significant savings on property taxes for the next 30 years”. You may be wondering why the city is giving them a tax break? Well, these tax savings, according to the city, will “be used to fund the development of the District Detroit project”. Excuse me? The project that the Ilitch family got millions for previously and did nothing? Some estimate that the total subsidy given to the Ilitch family…

William Neilson Jr.
Arena

As the San Antonio Spurs insist on a tax election this spring, they continue hiding almost all of the arena costs and details

Do people remember how the San Antonio Spurs tried to get a new arena built in 1999? One of their brilliant proposals included a plan to take money away from elementary schools that were teaching children on an already bare-bones budget. Screw the kiddies! Build it! Furthermore, it wasn't that long ago when San Antonio taxpayers gave the team over $100 million dollars for a massive renovation of the arena. I wonder what happened to those upgrades. At the very least, let us be happy that the team wants to leave their current arena for the right reasons. Their…

William Neilson Jr.
Ballpark

The Arizona Diamondbacks continue to demand that everyone else pay for their expenses

Eventually, in 2018, an agreement between Maricopa County and the Arizona Diamondbacks was finalized that essentially allowed the team to take over all Chase Field maintenance in exchange for the opportunity to seek a new ballpark at another location. The team quickly fixed all of their issues with their wallet, right? No. What about those massive problems listed by the team? For some strange reason, after the team took over management of the ballpark, “hardly any stadium repairs” were done within the first few years. The team miraculously was able to make the ballpark work to start the next…

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 course not. The Cavs and Guardians want $40M for new upgrades. According to Signal Cleveland, the lease agreement between the city and teams allows…

William Neilson Jr.