Posted on 11/22/2017 3:36:36 PM PST by jazusamo
Take-a-knee protests spark conversation on whether public investment in teams pays off for communities
The Cincinnati Bengals threatened the unthinkable in 1995. Team owner Mike Brown vowed the team would move to Baltimore unless a new stadium was built.
Taxpayers in Hamilton County, Ohio, where Cincinnati is located, feared something greater than wounded civic pride if their football team left. They worried that the Bengals departure would spur an economic crisis throughout the region. A University of Cincinnati study released at the time estimated that the Bengals added $77 million to the local economy.
Hamilton County residents could avert disaster, however. All they needed to do was vote for a modest half-percent sales tax increase. The tax increase and municipal bonds would cover the estimated $287 million needed to build the Bengals new home.
Residents overwhelmingly approved the tax, and the Paul Brown Stadium for the Bengals opened in 2000 after cost overruns pushed the construction tab to nearly $450 million.
The Bengals worth has leapt from $423 million before the stadium to nearly $1.8 billion today, according to data from Forbes. The team is raking in cash from luxury boxes and other revenue streams the stadium has provided. The Bengals pay no rent, but they keep the income generated from advertising, tickets, luxury suites, concessions and most of the parking.
The deal hasnt been as good for Hamilton County taxpayers, though. Revenue from the sales tax increase came in below projections for more than a decade, while the cost of maintaining the stadium has skyrocketed. Paul Brown Stadium is now estimated to cost taxpayers more than $1.1 billion by 2026.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
[Way past time for these NFL taxpayer subsidy ripoffs to end]
Right there with ya.
Die, NFL. Die.
NFL needs to fire the Clinton crony Joe Lockhart who is their Director of Communication..
Joe Lockhart was Clintons Press Secretary during the Monica fiasco and the impeachment.(When Monica took a knee for Bill)
He rented his house in Washington DC to the Obamas when they moved from the WhiteHouse.
His wife is an Exectuive Editor with Glamour Magazine and Conde Nast, who also owns GQ Magazine. Thus the Colin Kaepernick GQ A-Hole of the Year..
Same Company owns the Alabama newspapers blasting Roy Moore.
Its all part of the swamps tentacles.
Well said, couldn’t agree more. I’m also sure that Monica wasn’t the first or last to take a knee for the horn dog.
“Way past time for these NFL taxpayer subsidy ripoffs to end, let these multimillionaire owners provide their own stadiums for the players to exercise their first amendment rights in.”
NFL owners are not multi millionaires, they are multi billionaires and in most cities taxpayers are more than happy to subsidize the NFL owners with hundreds of millions of dollars.
That is the choice of the taxpayers.
AGREED
Fixed it.
No, in most cases, the votes must approve subsidies for NFL owners.
And in every other case, the state or local legislatures approve such funding.
And in no instance has any proposal been voted down, nor has any politician lost their job for approving funding to the NFL.
Also no profits and some churches.
Are you saying if the local, county, state politicians were against these subsidies the people would still vote for them, I don’t think so.
Politicians have much sway over the voters in these ripoffs.
“Are you saying if the local, county, state politicians were against these subsidies the people would still vote for them, I dont think so.”
I’m saying that voters have free will and no one holds a gun to their head in the voting booth.
Lets git er done, folks!
It cost taxpayers in Atlanta $700 million for the new Mercedes Benz Stadium. Arthur Blank, owner of the Falcons, in worth $3 billion.
Here’s a good article from The Guardian explaining how the Atlanta taxpayers got ripped off.
So the NFL is like many other Corporate Welfare Queens.
Thanks, a very good article and Blank is laughing all the way to the bank.
Bump!
All so a bunch of illiterate adult thugs who contribute nothing of tangible value to the collective knowledge of the human race can make millions chasing after a childrens ball.
“Politicians have much sway over the voters in these ripoffs.”
Spot on! And as always, the “business community” is all lined up with the pols to “two-step” these financial disasters past the gullible voters. This also explains how the downtown streets get repaved, but somehow not the neighborhoods.
Don’t we expect to be ripped off by the Negro Felons League? Let them get jobs instead of playing games with little balls.
No, the NFL produces nothing useful. It’s a game for crying out loud not some useful household product.
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