If last Friday’s announcement that the Chicago Bears were “advancing” a stadium project in Hammond, Indiana was meant to end debate about where the team’s new home will be, it’s not working. If it was meant to stir up debate, by reigniting the bidding war that fizzled when the Illinois legislature declined to pass a big […]
It’s been two months since Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas announced plans for a new Kansas City Royals stadium development in the downtown Crown Center, using $600 million in city property tax kickbacks, $350 million or more in state money, and $400 million or more in additional tax exemptions, and we still don’t know much about […]
I unfortunately had to cancel my trip to this year’s sports economics conference at University of Maryland-Baltimore County starting today, but friend of Field of Schemes John Mozena of the Center for Economic Accountability generously offered to liveblog from there instead. Take it away, John, I will be following eagerly along with other readers! —Neil […]
I didn’t make it to this week’s annual sports economics conference in Maryland that starts this morning, but a special guest blogger has offered to report back on the stadium papers presented there, so please tune back in later today for that. (UPDATE: now underway!) In the meantime, I’ve taken on the task of figuring […]
Friday news dumps may not work anymore in their original purpose of hiding bad news, but they can still be useful when someone wants to influence the social media discourse without risk of anyone in an official capacity picking up the phone until three days later. That looks to be what just happened with the Chicago […]
You probably noticed, but it’s Friday! Which brings us, with no further ado, to the rest of the week’s news: MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has said that he’s “hopeful” that a Tampa Bay Rays stadium in Tampa will win final approval, given that “we think the polling runs about 60-40 in favor of the stadium.” Actual […]
This has been quite a week already for Dallas sports franchises announcing arena plans without quite committing to them: On Monday, the Mavericks owners declared that they had “entered into option agreements” to maybe purchase 104 acres at the former Valley View Mall site in north Dallas to use for a new arena. (The total […]
And in the latest sign that George Orwell is our national showrunner this season: Mayor Quinton Lucas told reporters that the city has projections for how much tax revenue a new stadium could generate based on what Kauffman Stadium in the Truman Sports Complex produces now — which city officials say is roughly $5 million […]
The Chicago Bears stadium bill saga is all over (for now) but the shouting, and there is So. Much. Shouting. Take your pick of the takes: Illinois legislators are to blame for fumbling the ball into the Bears’ hands. The Bears leadership is to blame for toying with Chicago’s affections. It takes a big pony […]
The clock ran out on the Illinois state legislative session last night at midnight, but the decision on whether to pass legislation for a Chicago Bears stadium remained alive until this morning, when the Illinois house finally stuck a fork in it by adjourning without a vote. After the collapse of the team’s preferred megaprojects tax […]
Lots of state legislative sessions are wrapping up this week, but it’s been oddly quiet around actual stadium news, leaving room for lots of spin doctoring and other questionable takes: Turns out today’s conclusion of the Florida legislature’s special budget session won’t be a deadline for a Tampa Bay Rays stadium deal, as everything appears […]
With four days left before the end of the Illinois legislative session, Crain’s Chicago Business reports (citing no specific sources) that state senators are “considering dramatically scaling back a sweeping megaproject incentive bill” to cut out everything except tax breaks for a Bears stadium in Arlington Heights. The idea here is to avoid debate on […]
Into the simmering Tampa Bay Rays stadium controversy, the Buccaneers owners the Glazer family have flung a significant bomb, telling the Tampa Sports Authority they want a $1 billion renovation of their stadium (original cost: $168.5 million in 1998), with the public covering two-thirds of the price. And sports authority members are already questioning whether Tampa should […]
Negotiating is a funny business: You simultaneously want to hold the line in hopes of getting the best deal for your side, while also offering concessions as an enticement to get a deal done. It’s a tricky dance, and requires knowing when to bluster and when to accede, in the hopes of vanquishing your enemy […]
The Cook County treasurer’s office released a report this morning on the fiscal impact of the proposed “megaprojects” tax break bill that Chicago Bears execs are pushing for, and concluding: “The benefits for the Bears and other megaproject developers are clear, while the benefits for Illinois residents are murky.” there are a bunch of interesting tidbits […]
If any of you were wondering what happened to this year’s sports economics conference at University of Maryland Baltimore County, it moved from April to June, so it hasn’t happened yet. I just booked my trip, so FoS readers can expect a liveblog on the day of stadium-related papers, at least. And if you’ll be […]
As expected, the Hillsborough County Commission voted yesterday to approve the nonbinding MOU put forward last week for a $2.3 billion Tampa Bay Rays stadium (and unspecified other development) on what is currently Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry Campus. The final tally was 5-2, with the two sure no votes, Donna Cameron Cepeda and Joshua Wostal, in […]
Chicago Bears execs presented the NFL with a stadium update yesterday, and what did they say, commissioner Roger Goodell? “There was a specific update on the Bears on the two sites that are viable in the Bears’ mind,” he said. “That process is going on.”… “I’ve spoken to the governor [of Illinois] recently and there’s […]
The Hillsborough County commission and Tampa city council look set to vote tomorrow and Thursday, respectively, on a nonbinding MOU for a Tampa Bay Rays stadium project requiring about $976 million in city and county tax dollars plus $839 million in property tax breaks and at least $250 million in free land for the stadium […]
Portland Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon gave a long podcast interview on Friday in which he mostly talked about how he’s not a cheapskate, he just genuinely thought towels were a cooler giveaway than t-shirts because that’s how he thought it worked at hockey games. But he also said this: “When I bought the Hurricanes, […]
Now that the Tampa Bay Rays stadium push has been pushed back to beyond the end of this legislative session, maybe we can get on with looking at some of the week’s news from other cities. Though wait: Could the Rays actually be on the verge of agreeing to an actual MOU with the city of […]
If Tampa Bay Rays owner Patrick Zalupski’s Plan B now that the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County won’t vote on stadium subsidies by the end of this legislative session is to go get state money first and figure out the rest later, uh, he may need a Plan C: Sen. Ed Hooper, a Clearwater Republican […]
When the Washington Commanders‘ record-shattering stadium deal that could end up costing D.C. $6.6 billion or more in cash, land, and tax breaks was approved last summer, one of the many unanswered questions was how to get 65,000 people in and out of the former RFK Stadium site on game days. The district’s Metro transit agency […]
I don’t want to make too big a deal about this trend of elected officials taking their time before voting on sports subsidy deals — looking stadium and arena demands in the mouth is literally doing their minimum job — but add Portland, Oregon to Tampa and the state of Illinois as local governments doing […]
Two weeks after megaprojects property tax break bill lead sponsor Bill Cunningham said that the Illinois state senate was “going to take our time with this” and “getting it right is more important than getting it done quickly,” the senate is continuing to (tries to think of football metaphor) run down the clock (nailed it!): […]