Posted on 09/27/2017 4:48:05 AM PDT by Kaslin
I'm calling foul on all the leftists rushing to protect the NFL's protest crusaders from President Donald Trump's criticism of their national anthem antics.
Their shabby line of defense? The NFL is a "private enterprise" whose "rights" are being violated by those who dare to challenge the league's political radicalization. The anti-Trump Democratic Coalition has even filed an ethics complaint alleging that the president's comments constitute a criminal violation against using government offices "to influence the employment decisions and practices" of a private entity.
Funny. These fair-weather friends of corporate free speech and the First Amendment were nowhere to be found when Boston Mayor Tom Menino and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel were vowing to shut down Chick-Fil-A in their towns as government retaliation against the founders' private religious beliefs.
As for the NFL's status as a "private" enterprise? That's some Super Bowl-sized audacity right there. I first started tracking publicly subsidized sports boondoggles with my very first watchdog website, Porkwatch, back in 1999. Since then, taxpayers at all levels of government have foot the bill for football stadiums to the tune of an estimated $1 billion every year.
Over the past decade, new tax-supported NFL stadiums rose up for the Indianapolis Colts (the $720 million Lucas Oil Stadium), the Dallas Cowboys (the $1.15 billion AT&T Stadium) the New York Jets and Giants (the $1.6 billion MetLife Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings (the $1.1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium), the Atlanta Falcons (the $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium), and the San Francisco 49ers (the $1.3 billion Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara).
Next in the works: a whopping $2.6 billion stadium for the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams and a $1.9 billion stadium for the Oakland Raiders when they move to Las Vegas. Left behind? An $83 million taxpayer debt on two-decade-old renovations to the Alameda County Coliseum that the Raiders are abandoning.
Both political parties have supported massive redistribution of taxes from working people to the gridiron's spoiled 1-percenters. Public-private sports palace boosters employ the same bogus economic development math as the federal government's infamous Solyndra green energy loans, stimulus rip-offs and jobs programs. Citizens are promised an enormous multiplier of jobs and benefits in return for their "investments." But instead they've been saddled with a field of schemes.
Sports economists have concluded repeatedly that the effects of stadium subsidies on employment and economic activity are negligible -- or even negative. Scott Wolla of the St. Louis Federal Reserve reported earlier this year, "In a 2017 poll, 83 percent of the economists surveyed agreed that 'Providing state and local subsidies to build stadiums for professional sports teams is likely to cost the relevant taxpayers more than any local economic benefits that are generated.'"
Yet, the NFL, its teams and its sponsors continue to benefit from a bonanza of tax-free loans, municipal bonds, rent waivers and property tax exemptions. Congress provided the league with an antitrust exemption that protects its monopoly broadcasting rights. Localities have raided "emergency" funds to help pay for stadium construction. And corporate benefactors write off their expenses for luxury boxes, tickets and naming-rights purchases.
As long as the NFL has its hog noses buried in the taxpayer trough, I'll keep speaking up about all the football militants who backed former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick and his disgusting cops-as-pigs socks.
You wanna raise your fists on the field? Get your grubby hands out of our pockets first.
Good to hear from you, Michelle.
.
Nuther Felon Loose —— NFL
Excellent!
I am glad to see the NFL being exposed to be a welfare league.
There wouldn’t be $100+ million contracts if the NFL had to pay for their own stadium. These rich NFL owners need to get off the welfare.
Great article.
Thanks.....
You could say that it is a blessing.
The NFL is giving back Sunday for other more responsible family oriented events.
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Would appear that the NFL has awakened quite a few sleeping giants and filled them with a terrible resolve.
“Over the past decade, new tax-supported NFL stadiums rose up for...the Minnesota Vikings (the $1.1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium)...”
I could go on and on about what a screw-over the taxpayers of Minnesota got with this new stadium.
The worst part of all is that the new stadium bill passed thru a GOP-controlled House and Senate. Hell, we had GOP legislators falling all over themselves to support it. They fell for the mantra chanted by the Chamber of Commerce “We’ll be a cold Omaha if you don’t build it” or “People won’t wanna relocate her for jobs unless we have this stadium”.
The owners (the Wilfs - billionaire grifters) did the obligatory “If we don’t get a new stadium, we’re gonna leave”. Roger Goodell flew in on his private jet and told the legislature “You’ll never get a Super Bowl again unless you approve this bill”.
Our assclown governor rattled on and on about this being “The Peoples Stadium” in spite of the fact that the public will derive little or no benefit from its existence.
This bill passing caused me to come out of political retirement. I worked for several GOP candidates who challenged incumbents in the GOP primary. We managed to knock off only two of them. I wanted more political dead bodies - a lot more. But I was satisfied with what we did get.
When are we gonna learn to say NO to these people?
Either that or pressure has been brought to bear to shut the site down.
And why do the politicians vote for this? Because they are paid off. Not always with cash. Often all it takes is for starry-eyed sports fan politicians to be offered season tickets, sky box seats, or the chance to rub elbows with their sports heroes.
Pathetic. Truly pathetic.
Good one from Michelle
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