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i say it depends on how much skin the owners have in the game. for instance the cowboys built their own stadium. back in the day, the dodgers built their own stadium when they moved to LA.
i say if a team wants a new stadium, they need to pony up at least half of the cost of the stadium, and any money the taxpayers put in should be offset by building the stadium to allow the public to use it when the team isnt playing there, or during the off season.
No. Absolutely not. Many times tax payers take a loss on these investments no matter how much smoke and mirrors owners love spew out. See the Florida Marlins:
It's absolutely atrocious and it should be a crime that we use tax payer dollars to build stadiums and teams that are privately owned instead of using tax payer dollars for funding schools, repairing roads, and paying for other community services.
On the flip side, if the city/state pays for the stadium then they own the stadium therefore the profits from other events would go back to the city funds.
Many times, this is NOT the case.
You need to look at some of the stadium building tax districts and the agreements that the fools who want their "team" to have a home have agreed to; not uncommon to see that the team owners get ownership of the facilities while the taxpaying suckers get the costs of maintenance and repair and overhead expenses. In many stadiums, "skybox" ownership is sold by the team owner and the income/revenues from this source go to the team owner, not the tax district.
Worst recent example I saw of this was Denver tearing down a perfectly functional/serviceable stadium to build a new one for the team. While one may point to somewhat enhanced facilities, the stadium held only a miniscule number of more seats. What increased was the number of skyboxes that the team owners had to sell and the ownership of the facilities was held by the team owner.
The greed of the sports team owners knows no bounds. They also have operating contracts where the revenue from add-on sales, such as clothing and memorabilia is all part of their income. That includes non-sporting events, too ... such as a concert where these items are sold on the stadium premises. Of course, the team owner is getting the facilities rental fee, too.
I saw this trend starting in the 1960's back in San Diego when the stadium bond issue for the baseball team was passed. All the costs were borne by the taxpaying bondholders and all the benefits and revenue went to the team owners. Sold to the taxpayers on the premise that "we ain't sh*t for a city unless we got us a major league ball team". It wasn't too many years later that the team came back to the trough to have the stadium torn down and a newer, larger, more extravagant facility built ... paid for by the suckers again, with all the income benefits to the team owners. A "hidden" aspect of all the costs was the infrastructure that had to be built to support the facilities; these multi-million dollar costs of acquisition and operations in perpetuity were solely borne by the taxpayers.
My vote has always been "NO" on these tax issues. But many fans can't imagine life without having their own "team" to root for and are happy to pass those costs on to everybody else. Frankly, I've never understood the societal glorification that we pass on to these "celebrities" ... sports "heros", indeed. I've had to sit in break rooms at work for years and listen to the mob argue about who gonna' do what to whom, and who is the best or the greatest or folk rattle off every minute detail of statistics about a given player, team, or sport. Frankly, I don't give a dam*, what a waste of time, energy, and ... money.
For those of you who love "your team" and live for those moments of gratifications from these, I say "hooray" for you if that's how you want to spend your time and money. But I'd ask that you spend your money for these pursuits, not mine by taxing me to support your passion. When I see the budgets of player, coach, an supporting staff salaries in this industry, there's no shortage of funding for reasonable facilities costs on the income stream from admission tickets, TV broadcast rights, etc. This is an industry which rips me off and has the audacity to come back for more. You have to look at this from the perspective of an entertainment business. At least with other performers, I can choose to spend my money with them or not as it pleases me ... movies, singer, actors, theme parks, casino's ... the entire gamut of "entertainment" unlike "sports teams, where I get to pay them whether or not I partake of their product.
PS: back in the day when I was more actively selling/installing industrial epoxy products, I was repeatedly asked to BID on stadium repair or installation projects. The facilities management made it clear that it was a "privilege" to do such a project for "FREE" because of the advertising value of the project to my business. Even in the back rooms of the facilities which would not be seen by the public ... and who notices the fixtures or the floor coatings or the repairs to the structures or the roofs on a game day ... the managers made a big deal about how "all the movers and shakers of the area" would see my project on those monthly luncheons that they attended as fans of the team. I finally quit responding to the RFP's because they always wanted my work for FREE ... to support their multi-billion dollar franchise. I got a serious laugh out of the whole scam; asked one of my competitors one day if he'd ever gotten any business from having done some major projects in the stadium for FREE. He acknowledged that he'd never gotten a lead or inquiry from having done the work, but he felt really good about having had the arm's length contact with THE TEAM and THE PLAYERS. Right, bud ... how many of them did you rub elbows with for having done a $30,000 project for FREE? um, well, none of them. But it's MY TEAM and they NEED MY SUPPORT. Uh, right, OK, whatever you say ... hope you felt good when you wrote the checks to your product supplier and to your employees for the work.
Those stadiums are used for far more than just sporting events. They become community expo centers. They attract big events to the city, which are immediate economic boosts. Taxpayers indeed reap the benefits.
Those stadiums are used for far more than just sporting events. They become community expo centers. They attract big events to the city, which are immediate economic boosts. Taxpayers indeed reap the benefits.
Have you actually seen data on these facilities? The numbers are carefully and fraudulently crafted to show ROI - but it is crap.
A modern football stadium is a $1B or more project. It will host 8 home football games, maybe one or two more if they make the playoffs. They may host a half dozen or a few more events that need a football stadium. One day of concession sales, and ticket sales that doesn't go to the taxpayers. The gas stations and hotels nearby get one day of boost.
We should not be taxing ALL taxpayers in the area to benefit the few.
Have you actually seen data on these facilities? The numbers are carefully and fraudulently crafted to show ROI - but it is crap.
A modern football stadium is a $1B or more project. It will host 8 home football games, maybe one or two more if they make the playoffs. They may host a half dozen or a few more events that need a football stadium. One day of concession sales, and ticket sales that doesn't go to the taxpayers. The gas stations and hotels nearby get one day of boost.
We should not be taxing ALL taxpayers in the area to benefit the few.
So your argument is reduced to the economic data is "faulty" because you say so...
If a stadium cost $1 billion and exists for 50 years, it has to have a $1 billion net economic benefit to taxpayers to be a positive "investment." That's easy.
Depends on if I am a fan of that team or whether or not it would benefit my community.
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