Field of Schemes

30/01/2025

Cutting the D-Backs owner a check in the same amount as the check he would pay in sales and income taxes has a kind of Odd Couple Casino Night logic to it, but to quote myself two weeks ago: No, no, no, no, no. That is not how taxes work *at all*.

It was hinted at earlier this month, and now the legislation has officially landed: A bipartisan group of Arizona state legislators has proposed funding renovations to the Diamondbacks' Chase Field by adding up all the sales and income taxes collected at the stadium and handing them back over to the...

28/01/2025

Sternberg's "I just can't deciiiiiiiide" pairs best with the universal hand gesture for "moar money pleeze." It's dicey gamesmanship, but Sternberg may figure he stumbled into his first $1B subsidy despite no leverage, maybe lightning will strike twice?

Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu Sternberg has opened his mouth again, this time to admit that the ball's in his court to decide whether to commit to his end of a proposed stadium deal by March 31, or else the city of St. Petersburg can walk away from it. And he will absolutely make that...

27/01/2025

One analyst added he's concerned about the "cascading effect": "You do something in Cleveland, what's the next thing to happen? At some point Cincinnati is going to want to add something, and you got the baseball teams that are going to ask for things."

The Statehouse News Bureau asked three budget watchdogs what they thought of the idea of spending perhaps $600 million or more in state money on a new Cleveland Browns stadium, and the headline that resulted was "Possibility of state money for new Browns stadium leaves Ohio funding experts skeptical...

27/01/2025

Allen Sanderson is best known for his remark, "If you want to inject money into the local economy, it would be better to drop it from a helicopter than invest it in a new ballpark," but he should be remembered for much more.

If Allen Sanderson, who died recently at the age of 81, will be remembered most for one thing, it will likely be a single remark: "If you want to inject money into the local economy, it would be better to drop it from a helicopter than invest it in a new ballpark." That statement, which...

24/01/2025

It was back in 2018 that the Bengals first agreed to forgo $30m in disputed county game day payments in exchange for added parking — though if they were "disputed" it's not clear that this was ever team money to begin with.

Note to reporters seeking help with your research into sports economics issues: I'm more than happy to talk with journalists from all over the political spectrum, as the great stadium swindle is, as has been discussed here time and again, one that neither Republicans nor Democrats have a monopoly on...

23/01/2025

It's kind of hilarious that Rays owner Stu Sternberg is falling victim to sloppy wording of a stadium agreement, which is usually city lawyers' signature move.

If you're wondering what's going on with repairs to the Tropicana Field roof, Tampa Bay Rays execs are waiting on the city of St. Petersburg to tell them when work will begin. Team co-president Matt Silverman wrote to city officials on December 30 declaring that a "partial 2026 season in Tropicana F...

23/01/2025

One city councillor said of a counterproposal for a $29m scaled-down stadium, "I don’t hear much about solutions” — maybe not for BOS Nation F.C. owner/VC CEO/Celtics co-owner daughter Jennifer Epstein, but that all depends on how you define the problem.

The projected public cost of tearing down a public high school soccer stadium and turning it into a home for the women's soccer team BOS Nation F.C. (which public high school students will get to use when the NWSL team is on the road) has now reached $100 million, out of a total cost of...

22/01/2025

One recent Bengals proposal was for the county to spend $300m on renovations in exchange for a 5-year lease extension, which at $60m/year would be easily a new record for most expensive lease extension — and only kick the can down the road until 2031.

Negotiations between Cincinnati Bengals execs and Hamilton County on a lease extension continue, and as a bunch of emails that emerged last week reveal, they've been at times contentious: "It is very clear that we are talking past each other" is one typical missive. Yesterday Hamilton County commiss...

21/01/2025

If you're wondering why The Beacon/KCUR chose to ask the local pro-business advocacy group CEO if giving public money to local businesses is a good idea, you clearly weren't the editor of this piece, because that's the only kind of source heard from here.

17/01/2025

Now the Browns stadium situation is in the hands of the courts, though also in the hands of the Ohio state legislature being asked for $1.2B to help build a Brook Park dome, hey guys, I think I came up with a way to save a bunch on lawyers' fees!

Weeks keep happening, and we keep making it to the end of them! (Well, most of us.) If you ever need a break from the general state of everything, you might want to check out this other project I'm involved in, where you can immerse yourself in great live music of the recent past to...

16/01/2025

After Tempe resoundingly voted down the Coyotes arena plan, the state AG found officials had illegally met privately with a consultant to investigate arena opponents. A newly released recording of one meeting has shown what politicians say in private.

Tempe Mayor Corey Woods and the city council have not been coming out looking good after their failed campaign to give Arizona Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo about $500 million in tax breaks for a new arena: After Tempe residents resoundingly voted down the plan, the state attorney general found the cit...

15/01/2025

The question remains why Sixers owner Josh Harris took the bait: Either something changed his mind about a Market East area, or that was always a dodge to get Comcast to the negotiating table, or Silver truly has the power to cloud men's minds.

I figured eventually we'd get one of those insider journalism articles about why the Philadelphia 76ers owners switched from a planned Market Street arena of their own to sharing a new building with their current landlords, the Flyers, I didn't figure that "eventually" would mean two days, but here....

14/01/2025

What will Market East's "revitalization" look like, and will it still get tax breaks? Will the teams seek tax breaks or infrastructure cash for a South Philly arena district? Once the excited press conferences die down, we may learn exactly who got played.

It's Tuesday morning, and here's what we know about the plans for a joint Philadelphia 76ers-Flyers arena in South Philly: Sixers owners Harris Blitzer and Flyers owners Comcast Spectacor have entered into a "binding agreement" to go halfsies on a new arena to replace the Wells Fargo Center, which C...

13/01/2025

Pretending that adding up the amount collected in sales taxes and writing a check for that amount to the D-Backs is "fans paying for the stadium" is pure Casino Nightism, and taxpayers should respond by grabbing their money and glaring at Felix in horror.

One giant sports subsidy proposal leaves, one enters: Two Arizona Republican legislators and a spokesperson for Gov. Katie Hobbs all say that Diamondbacks representatives have approached them about kicking back city, state, and county sales tax receipts from Chase Field to pay for future renovations...

13/01/2025

This could end up a win-win all around, emphasis on "could": The Sixers owners may still end up seeking tax breaks on whatever they do build at Market East, plus Comcast has hedged on whether its arena district plans would require public money.

This was not on anybody’s bingo card: Officials with the Philadelphia 76ers revealed to Philadelphia city council members yesterday that they were turning their back on the planned arena adjacent to the city's Chinatown that they had spent the last four years getting approved. Instead, the Sixers ...

10/01/2025

This is clearly a push poll, yet the K.C. media is reporting it as a way to "decide the Chiefs stadium debate," add journalism to the list of things that are on fire.

It's Friday of another week, and at this writing Los Angeles is still extremely on fire. For a good writeup that also has a sports spending angle, check out yesterday's excellent article by the excellent Alissa Walker, in her excellent 2028 Olympics newsletter Torched. Her takeaway from the fires da...

08/01/2025

Finding a "win-win" in funneling an unknown but huge amount of money to the local NBA owner to replace a 22-year-old arena seems like a challenge, especially when one main argument for is "locals bring visitors because of the authenticity," but sure, okay.

Good news, everyone! Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai says he's not going to put a tax subsidy for a San Antonio Spurs arena on the May 3 ballot, because nobody knows how much tax money would actually be involved: State law allows the county to raise the hotel portion of the tax to 2%. Asked Tuesday.....

07/01/2025

The Arizona Coyotes don't have an arena to play in or an actual NHL franchise or an owner, really, but they have one thing you haven't got: a friend in Maricopa County Board of Supervisors chair Tom Galvin.

The Arizona Coyotes don't have an arena to play in or an actual NHL franchise or an owner, really, but they have one thing you haven't got: a friend in Maricopa County Board of Supervisors chair Tom Galvin, who plans to form an "advisory committee" to "explore options" to bring the Coyotes back from...