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.
Sports owners are trying to negotiate their new stadiums in secret and then refuse to negotiate once the agreements are in the public eye. Recently, the owners of the Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Commanders have used this tactic, although in slightly different ways. Residents of both Tampa Bay and Washington DC were never involved in stadium talks before an announcement was made on a new stadium. Once their deals were announced, the Rays claimed…
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…
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…
According to Port St. Lucie city leaders, this agreement “is designed to bring economic growth, entertainment, and new opportunities to the community.” In this instance, the taxpayer money given to ESC will come from the TIF revenue. However, for the last few weeks, many city leaders have been trying their best to express one specific thing: taxpayers will not pay for the stadium. This message has been expressed time and time again whenever this subject is…
In January 2019, a man named Kyle Krause announced his plans to bring a United Soccer League Championship team to Des Moines, Iowa. This project included a new $60 million stadium (early draft documents show the taxpayer paying $45 million of the $60 million). Over the next few years, this project would dangle around because of disagreements between the owner and local governments. Meanwhile, local taxpayers were told very little of the actual details.
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…
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…
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…
This is not going to shock anyone. Sports owners hate when their plans are released and looked at intensively. Have you ever read a sports venue agreement? Try reading the Potomac Yard Economic and Fiscal Impact Study from the failed Capitals/Wizards to Alexandria, Virginia proposal. The agreements are almost impossible to read and understand unless you read these types of documents daily. This is why billionaire owners aren’t always forthcoming with initial sports venue details.…
The new developer, Vernon Krause, talked to the Forsyth County Commission and had public engagement listening sessions. One commissioner called this project an “economic driver like no other...(that) will create a halo effect that will raise the County’s visibility”. Forsyth’s local leaders were on board with this plan. They even visited NHL headquarters recently. To show their commitment, the country voted to give $350 million to the arena and $40 million for a new parking…
The Tampa Bay Rays are lucky that the package passed the city council, as it was approved barely. Apparently, language was put in very late that gave developers “more flexibility in opting out of creating affordable housing units” and gave developers a required 10% participation from minority-owned businesses, instead of the previous language stating it was 30%. When the Community Benefits Advisory Council met to agree to the package, they had several changes that they…
Fans coming to the stadium for this year's Minnesota United FC home opener found “very little changed” from past years. Additionally, the stadium was still surrounded by a “barren landscape of surface parking lots”. This is likely why fans continue coming to games and complaining about the “lack of activities around the stadium for before and after games”.
Over the last few months, more and more stories have been popping up online that discuss whether Salt Lake City or the state of Utah should build a ballpark for some future MLB expansion team. Utah residents have therefore been asking local leaders who exactly would be paying for such a project. Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, has an answer. He wants residents to know that local taxpayers will not be left on base holding the…
The Chicago Bears have already talked about what they want to do on this land. Was I dreaming when I read the following: “The team has sketched out designs on a new entertainment district anchored by a $5 billion domed stadium”? Why would the city, much less anyone, allow the team to peg this land as vacant or residential land? Well, the Bears have an answer for that too.
