This is definitely a piece of bi-partisan legislation I can get behind. Trump will veto, because what next? No public funds for Kushner to build luxury condos? Here in Detroit, we now have three stadiums downtown, on the best real estate in the entire state, that were partially or totally funded by taxpayers. And now the Pistons want to move into the new Red Wings arena (from their current home in the burbs), but their owner (a multi-billionaire) is demanding $34 million for the move that he initiated. And the city (a couple years removed from bankruptcy) is probably going to pay. Fuck these guys so hard.
We were paying for the Kingdome 15 years after we blew it up. Because Paul Allen wouldn't buy the Seahawks if we didn't.
In Missouri we had a law written that said all the stadium finance bills have to be put to a vote. And then the city of St. Louis said that their stadium finance bill didn't count, and decided not to have a vote. They got sued, but by then the Rams had left. Pretty obvious around here at the time that mortgaging schools and police to pay for stadiums for billionaires was not a popular move. Same thing just happened with the scocer statidum that MLS was going to require to move in an MLS franchise expansion. A dedicated core of soccer fans found it within their hearts to spend other peole's money helping out poor little billionaires who just couldn't make the math work despite this being an overwhelming opportunity. That also failed hard with the people and is not giong forward. That's the crux. Cities are told that the billionaires just can't make the finances work. If I went into a bank and said that my business plan doesn't work unless I get a huge amount of money from someone else, they would tell me that something in the business plan had to change. But there's no problem when team owners won't make the investment themselves.
The NFL is particularly nauseating given that their TV deal is so lucrative that every team makes money before a single ticket is ever sold. Tickets and concessions are just gravy for every NFL owner. The lowest values franchise in the league according to Forbes is the Bills, at $1.4 billion, and pretty much every team has annual revenues in excess of $300 million. So a $500-700 million stadium can't be mortgaged against your multi-billion dollar franchise? Gimme a break. I only wish the Lions would have threatened to leave Detroit. Good riddance you hacks.
If Madison Square Garden cannot make a profit without the city chipping in tax money, how the fuck is St. Louis going to make that work? I am opposed in full to the use of any and all tax dollars for sports complexes. The NFL, for example, is sitting on a fund of $40 Billion and is making the California taxpayers build its stadium in Los Angeles.