Tag: St. Louis

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.
Ballpark

The St. Louis Cardinals owners yet again want significant taxpayer funds while giving almost nothing

Let's move up to today. Guess what DeWitt II wants? Busch Stadium needs a “significant capital infusion” in the upcoming years at the latest. My guess is that he will get something substantial around the $500 million mark. I don't think they should but I am just stating that I don't think local leaders would stop them from taking this amount of taxpayer money. The spin would probably just be that the Cardinals are taking just $500M instead of $2B for a new ballpark.

William Neilson Jr.
Stadium

The Arizona Cardinals owner, Michael Bidwill, continues to price out fans and ruin any goodwill left

Michael Bidwill and his family are what I call a Rake Family. They love stepping on rakes and then seem surprised when it comes back and hits them in the face. The Bidwills first few years in Arizona are a perfect example of this. When the Bidwills moved the Cardinals from St. Louis to Arizona in 1987, they did so because St. Louis wouldn't build them a brand-new stadium. Cardinals executives claimed that people in Arizona would. Therefore, the team moved to Arizona, and nothing was built. The stadium builders never came through, and the team was stuck for…

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.
Stadium

St. Louis MLS owners required no “direct taxes” in 2019…now they are increasing the sales tax rate to 12.7%

The ownership group of St. Louis FC is increasing the sales tax rate to almost 13%. If the city board approves a new sales tax district near the stadium, then the sales tax rate will increase 1% because the team was recently forced to pay “extraordinary costs” to fix their field. The stadium land contained “contaminated groundwater” that was quite a pain to fix and replace. The team claims to have numerous and expensive costs to fix the field. Yet, they have not been asked to detail any of the expenses. So the public has no clue what the…

William Neilson Jr.