Bread and Circuses, my FRiend.
Do you think Sunday afternoon in Buffalo or Green Bay is much different than it was in Rome back in the day?
Slightly less blood...
back in Rome.
Seattle taxpayers don’t have to worry. Seattle doesn’t have a team. ;)
You're talking about Terry Pegula and I want to ask you why you would say such a thing. He has been generous with his money here in Buffalo and has sparked a renaissance in the downtown area. He is no "Jerry Jones". He is an honest man. He has even said that there is no urgency to build a new stadium.
Here in Indianapolis we (thanks to former Democrat mayor Bart Peterson) are the biggest sports suckers.
Not only did the Colts and Pacers get free stadiums, but they get the profits from all the other events held in them like concerts and college games.
Nothing inspires the heart of a politician like the computer simulated view of the field from his club seats in the proposed new stadium.
Aren’t the taxpayers the ones who approve these subsidies? If so, there is nobody to blame but the majority who pass the funding expenditure.
How do you think they get to be billionaires,not by using their own money?
It’s not the cost of the stadiums that kills the taxpayers ... that’s just the wound.
The nasty infection that kills the taxpayers is the interest that is paid on the bonds to fund construction of the playgrounds. I’m quite sure numerous shenanigans are played to keep those loans alive for decades if not centuries. Hell, Three Rivers Stadium was nowhere near paid off when they demolished it.
They hyped up the fact that the stadiums here in Pittsburgh were to be constructed using “zero interest loans” from the state after taxpayers vetoed the initiative to use sales tax to build them (this was after we were force fed a 0.5% sales tax increase for a “Regional Renaissance Initiative” ... at the time, Pittsburgh’s 3rd failed renaissance).
The Steelers and Pirates each paid a small fraction of the costs of the playgrounds. Heinz Field might be used 20 times a year (I understand the offices are occupied year round, but it’s still a sick joke that taxpayers fund these toys).
The Pirates/PNC Park is a bigger joke ... the scummy owner won’t even buy players needed to win it all ... they might luck out this year, but they’ll have all sorts of excuses for the times they fail to sign top talent. He’ll continue to line his pockets and idiots will still fork over cash to keep his taxpayer funded company lining his pockets.
Finally, the Penguins got a free arena. This was after the University of Pittsburgh got a new state-of-the-art facility for basketball game shows. It would make more sense for taxpayers (assuming you believe that playgrounds are important) that Pitt and the Penguins share the facility ... nobody wanted to do that since that would mean control was split.
I can’t watch any sports with a straight face anymore. The amount of time, money, and emotion wasted on these frigging games is sickening. I see no difference between “The Price is Right” and “NFL” anymore. At least “The Price is Right” doesn’t pick money out of my pocket nor do they change the rules every year to make the game show easier to control for TV purposes.
I used to love listening to baseball on the radio ... these days, I couldn’t care less if the Pirates win or lose due to these stadium deals.
I do have to admit that it’d be funny if they knock the scummy Cubs out of the playoffs thus continuing their 100+ year tradition of World Series futility :-). If kicking players in the knees and injuring them for the season on purpose is part of baseball’s tradition, I hope to see the Cubs continue the 100+ year tradition of no World Series title for baseball’s perpetual losers ;-).
Blame the local politicians, not the owners - if someone is stupid enough to offer you a boat-load of free money because you can field a team of 300 pound guys playing a kid’s game, wouldn’t you take it?