[cripplecreek]

While putting all the major sports facilities together downtown is probably a good thing, its just not vital infrastructure and taxpayers shouldn't fund it.

If anyone wants to be added to the Michigan Cap Con ping list, let me know.

[youngidiot]

One should not anticipate that a team or a facility by itself will either increase employment or raise per capita income in a metropolitan area

We shouldn't have taxpayer funded stadiums, but this is a red herring. The argument for taxpayer funded stadiums is always that it'll increase tax revenue via taxes on tickets, parking, hotels, etc.

[puppypusher]

Let these sports franchises pay for their own damn stadiums. Why the hell shoul the taxpayer be forced to subsidize them?and then be forced to pay exorbitant ticket and parking prices.

These guy’s get you coming and going.

[puppypusher]

Let these sports franchises pay for their own damn stadiums. Why the hell shoul the taxpayer be forced to subsidize them?and then be forced to pay exorbitant ticket and parking prices.

These guy’s get you coming and going.

[Fair Paul]

NY State just threw some goodies to keep the Buffalo Bills so the cycle continues.

[MasterGunner01]

I have never understood why a private business enterprise, such as an NFL team, can say to a city “we need a new stadium” and expect the taxpayers to pay for it. Why doesn’t the team pay for their own stadium? After all, the venue is being run for the owner’s profit isn’t it? The city does get taxes that are generated as the result of the stadium’s operation, but it never recoups the amount the city fathers, if they’re stupid enough to buy into this bilge, spend on the construction of a new stadium.

Usually these “requests” for a new playpen are accompanied by the threat of the team moving out of town. My response is: “OK. Don’t let the door hit you in the butt when you leave. Remember to turn out the lights and lock the doors.”

[Daveinyork]

http://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/research/detail/stadiums-dont-deliver-on-promises

duh

“The United States has become a place in which professional athletes and entertainers are mistaken for people of significance.” Robert A. Heinlein

[anoldafvet]

In a lot of cases the local taxpayers aren’t paying the costs, tourists are. Go to a city like Indianapolis and check your hotel room bill or your rental car bill. The smallest item on the bill is the cost of the service, the rest is taxes.

[Responsibility2nd]

San Antonio taxpayers paid nearly 200 million for a football arena (Alamodome) and we didn’t even have an NFL franchise. Still don’t.

Yet that arena has brought us billions in return.

Good investment, wouldn’t ya say?

[central_va]

This is part of the Government’s desire to supply bread and circuses to the masses. We are New Rome in so many ways.

[SeminoleCounty]

Sad part is that we have a lot of Liberal PhonyCon GOP who support this taxpayer funded welfare program for pro sports teams

In Orlando we built a new arena for the Magic.....which was supposed to lure new players.

It lured Dwight Howard to LA.

And Magic owners, the DeVos family, are one of the biggest donors to the GOP

[kevintime]

I am tired of these big corporations having unlimited ability to influence society. If unions are a problem so too are corporations and more importantly their influence on the political process. someday these corporations will be relegated to the ash heaps of history. “speak softly and carry a big stick” the red wing stadium is a symbol of that