[grania]

So the county builds the stadium and can forever be blackmailed by the team with the threat of moving?

Great plan. Except for us taxpayers whose towns and cities aren't getting enough of that tax money to fund local services.

[discostu]

Nobody wants to be the city council that “lost the team”, so they bend over backwards to keep the team. And make bad stupid deals. Could be worse you could be Glendale AZ, they mortgaged their future to build the NFL and NHL stadiums. And the NHL team is so broke all the time they’ve had to go completely rent free (otherwise the building will just sit empty). And both the Super Bowls played in the NFL stadium were publicized as being in PHOENIX, which is also where the teams and most of the press stayed, but Glendale was on the hook for the additional police protection.

When it comes to stadium deals government officials always forget that once you’ve established yourself as a whore all that’s left is negotiating over price. And everybody looooves cheap whores.

[MinorityRepublican]

So the county builds the stadium and can forever be blackmailed by the team with the threat of moving?

Yep and St. Louis Rand's stadium was built in 1095 and it is already obsolete so the owner is threatening to move the team to L.A.