Posted on 01/14/2024 9:03:44 AM PST by MtnClimber
Sports fans like me love gleaming new stadiums. But few of us are aware that the deals made to secure their financing now come with discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) quotas attached. I was relieved last year when officials reached a deal to keep my beloved Bills in Buffalo, where I grew up. But I was unaware of the associated DEI requirements until I noticed recent news coverage on stadium concessions preferences for women, minorities, and other groups. Apparently, such quotas are now common not just in New York and California but also in “purple” states like Nevada, and even red ones like Florida and Tennessee.
Buffalo’s stadium deal—whereby taxpayers pick up more than half of the $1.4 billion tab for a new Highmark Stadium—came with a community benefits agreement (CBA) that outlines a program to “encourage participation” from “targeted groups,” which include “people of color, women, veterans, LGBTQ+, low-income, and other targeted members of the community.” The deal stipulates that “thirty percent of all monies paid to retailers, vendors, and service companies used in stadium maintenance and operations be paid to MWBE [minority- and women-owned business enterprises] firms.”
The agreement cites New York state law, which stipulates that minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises can be categorized as such only if their owners have a “personal net worth that does not exceed fifteen million dollars.” It’s unclear how they chose the $15 million figure, but it’s striking to consider that businesspeople approaching that net worth would be given advantages over their competition.
Thirty percent of the food products used by the stadium concessionaire under the CBA must also be from MWBE food-service companies, which must be at least 51 percent owned by . . . well, essentially anyone but a straight white man who isn’t a veteran or disabled. Wondering how a business becomes a “certified LGBTQ business enterprise?” The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce offers certifications that it says give LGBT businesses a “a competitive advantage to succeed.” The chamber chapter in Tampa Bay, where I live, charges an $899 certification fee and advertises a “matchmakers program” that introduces members to corporate supplier-diversity representatives.
I contacted both groups several times to ask about the verification process and how certification helps LGBT businesses win stadium contracts, but neither responded. I also tried to determine if LGBT businesses bidding on jobs at the new stadium near Buffalo need to be verified to gain MBWE status. The press secretary to Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz didn’t answer my questions but instead provided a lengthy statement asserting that “inclusive participation” in the construction of the new Bills stadium will “remain a priority for all stakeholders.”
Other recent stadium deals also come with DEI strings attached. In my adopted hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida, the development team that’s building a new baseball park for the Tampa Bay Rays has pledged to use 10 percent–30 percent small and/or minority business enterprises (SBE and MBE) for the project. The city council passed an ordinance in 2019 expanding the SBE program beyond ethnic minorities to include LGBTQ business owners. The mayor’s LGBTQ liaison said that such businesses will have SBE status for stadium-related procurement but didn’t confirm whether verification through an LGBT chamber was required.
Meantime, in Tennessee, the NFL’s Titans described their new $2.1 billion domed football stadium as “the largest opportunity for inclusion in Tennessee history.” The team promises an “open and inclusive” process that will result in at least 25 percent “DBE [Disadvantaged Business Enterprise] inclusion,” as per city of Nashville procurement code requirements. To be eligible for DBE in the state, a business must have gross receipts of less than $10 million and fewer than 99 employees. Nashville mayor David Briley signed an executive order in 2019 extending many of the same benefits that women- and minority-owned businesses receive to LGBT-owned businesses, including contracting and procurement programs. A spokesperson for the mayor said that the executive order didn’t apply to the stadium deal because it wasn’t a contract with the Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County.
In Oakland, an African American-led sports and entertainment consortium made a $5 billion proposal to turn the Coliseum complex into what it calls a “vehicle for economic equity and social justice.” The Oakland A’s rejected the proposal and plan instead to move to Las Vegas, where the Democrat-controlled Nevada Assembly recently voted to contribute $380 million toward a new $1.5 billion stadium on the Strip. Republican governor Joe Lombardo signed the public-financing package into law, but others on the right and some on the left dissented. “Using taxpayer money on pet projects instead of private capital is socialism,” lamented Republican state senator Ira Hansen, who represents Sparks.
The conservative Nevada Globe reports that the deal passed thanks to a DEI-heavy CBA that swung the votes of some Nevada Democrats. Among other things, it stipulates that 51 percent of construction work hours and 60 percent of event-operations work must be performed by minority, female, or veteran workers. Nevada law defines minority groups as “racial or ethnic minority groups, the disabled, or persons who identify as LGBTQ.”
I’ve attended many football and baseball games at the stadiums deemed antiquated by team owners in Buffalo and St. Petersburg. I was excited about the prospect of the new facilities—though I know that public financing is almost always a bad idea—because I want these teams to stay in my real and adopted hometowns. But the more I learn about the deals that ensured their funding, the less I like them.
Pro sports are about as pure a meritocracy as you’ll find in this increasingly equity-obsessed country. DEI quotas are antithetical to athletic competition not only because they are openly discriminatory but also because they ensure equal outcomes rather than equal opportunities. Maybe the politicians who push them as part of stadium deals should extend the quotas onto the playing fields, too, so that each team has lots of members from disadvantaged tribes. At least then the public would have a chance to boo.
When will sports franchises commit suicide by following their own demands that hiring preference should be driven by diversity of superficial characteristics instead of ability?
“Sports fans like me love gleaming new stadiums”
But tax payers don’t; these are big money losers that the tax payers end up subsidizing. Voters will vote against them but the politicians still shove them down everyone’s throat. City and county local politicians are very easily bought off.
Except that they all play in fancy new stadiums funded by taxpayers.
So it's corporate welfare.
It'll be interesting to see if the new Bills stadium sells out in Buffalo. They'll raise the prices. $500 for seat in the new stadium?
Sports are raciss!
Where be da asians?
They’re going to need those sports stadiums. They don’t have anywhere to store their illegal aliens.
How many NFL or NBA players are Asian women?
NATIOANL FOOTBALL LIBERALS
“They’ll raise the prices. $500 for seat in the new stadium?”
And people will pay it. That’s the problem.
As for the “diversity” to garnishing money to pay for it, it is no different than a singing group or a rodeo. They play to where the money is going to come from. Don’t expect a string quartet at a rodeo playing Mozart. On the same note you wouldn’t expect many night club comedy performers to use the material they use in night clubs on television. They play to an audience. And if the audience is willing to pay the price, they’ll charge it. That’s entertainment. And it just so happens that professional sports entertainment works at a different level.
Ever heard of a cheap major university? They charge exuberent prices to “educate” students who in most cases don’t have enough money to buy lunch. But people are stepping over others to get in there. It all has to do with the piece of the pie. If the pie is good, the public supplies another pie. If it isn’t, they serve cupcakes and figure out ways to broaden their offer like free coffee.
But diversity comes with a price. Diversity is the recognition of differences. Improperly handled, that turns into mistrust and hatred through idiots that make it so. That’s how our politicians work now. Heard much about what Biden is going to do for you in the next term except get Trump? If Trump died tomorrow, the libs wouldn’t be able to make a sound. That and the fact that their policies are destructive and it isn’t wise to advertise harm. Won’t sell very much.
wy69
Good Lord, I thought I'd heard it all. The Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce charges an $899 certification fee and advertises a “matchmakers program.”
How do you pass the certification exam? Do they match you up with another random homo and send you into a back room with a video camera and a jar of lube?
So far. Yes.
But all the stadiums are getting replaced right now. You have enough wealthy people in LA and NYC to pay $500 per seat.
But for cities like Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Kansas City? Probably not. They will all get new stadiums or get we extensive renovations in the next 10 years.
Maybe they'll relocate.
Eventually the loss of taxable income from the for-profit entities will become noticeable, when the government defined-benefit pension funds have nothing domestic to invest in. Other than government debt, of course.
Taxpayer rape in the name of diversity.
I'm still not sure why so many people can't see that professional sports are not real. I mean, they hid it pretty well until about the time Obama took office, but anyone paying attention today can see that they are watching WWE-class "entertainment products" and not athletic competitions.
Buying a $12 hot dog will be proof of an addadictomy.
“You have enough wealthy people in LA and NYC to pay $500 per seat.”
Until it goes to $600, or maybe a round number like $1000. It’s the old adage, until it bites you on the arse, you can live with it if the rewards are enough. And they will continue to stretch the envelope if they think they can get it.
wy69
Thus, they're killing the golden goose.
“...professional sports are not real.”
Oh, they are real. But they are very limited in their use. Show me a defensive lineman that can play quarterback or a right fielder that can play second base. Few and far between. It has become a specialty application on almost every sport. And that specialty is being used for the diversity issue to put butts in the seats. And just look in the end zones or the bleachers. Some of them should be locked up for public safety and anyone around them better be ready for a possible need for a rabies shot. There’s a problem with beer foam out there. Or is it beer foam.
wy69
They're real to the Gamblers.
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