Joe Henderson: (Tampa Bay) Rays learn the hard way what it means to cross Gov. DeSantis

Florida Politics ^ | June 7th 2022 | Joe Henderson

[teeman8r]

Florida Man, Florida Man, tells disney to shove it up their can.
Florida Man, Florida Man, shows the devil rays he’s more of a man.

[griswold3]

Read “Stealing From Each Other” years ago. These Sports complexes built by taxpayers are not a good investment. Teams could cut player salaries for funding. Folks could use those tax funds for better infrastructure that benefits all.

[Jolla]

“But the other reason was more in line with his “think like I do, or else” agenda”

The dems have been doing this for 40 years, I hope the Republicans will try it more often.

[jmaroneps37]

Watching them squirm and cry is such good fun.

[glorgau]

Smart move. They spent $50,000 to lose $35 million.

[corkoman]

Everytown for Gun Safety is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Everytown was created in 2013 when Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America joined forces.

If the Rays have $50k sitting around to fund political advocacy...they don't need taxpayer monies.

Keep up the good work Heavy D.

[JudyinCanada]

Actually, when you cut the salaries somewhat to pay for their facilities, it is tantamount to “taxing the rich” to pay for their infrastructure. The left should LOVE it.

[Nateman]

The Left picks and chooses funding for Corporations routinely . The right generally believes in free markets. The result? Corporations go woke because that is where the public money is. DeSantis does not play that game so corporations learn it is best to be neutral in his state.

[airborne]

The one thing all these mass shootings have in common?

They're all "gun free zones"!

[NicoDon]

its a criminal waste of tax payers dollars to fund these projects. The owner\operator makes millions and never pay a cent back. They like to say it brings employment to the city and the city benefits from sales of goods at surrounding bars and restaurants. The fact is, the benefit the city receives via those sales do not amount to a billion dollar stadium that the owner wants replaced every 20 years. I have never seen a cost\benefit or ROI calculation on a big stadium project that showed it was in the municipality’s favor. Smaller projects I admit will be more likely to recoup government expenditures, but the big ones have no way to get there unless the stadium is used for a lot longer than 20 years.

[SharpRightTurn]

““We all deserve to be safe — in schools, grocery stores, places of worship, our neighborhoods, houses, and America,” the Rays posted.”

How are you going to be safe if you can’t protect yourself from all the freaks on the streets, you ninnies?

Kudos to Gov. DeSantis.

[Vision]

(Tampa Bay) Rays learn the hard way what it means to be lowlife human beings.

[ClearCase_guy]

You want to play sports? Go play sports.

You want to play politics? Welcome to the party, pal.

[joshua c]

the owners are billionaires

the players are multi-millionaires

but they want my last nickel?

go spit!

[jacknhoo]

With the sexual grooming of the pro sports organizations like MLB and NFL, it is best not to let them build “youth” sports centers.

Predators go to where the prey is, or they lure them in. Either way, don’t let our children around them.

[SamAdams76]

Using public money for sports stadiums have always irked me.

Basically the scam goes like this:

• Billionaire businessman buys local pro sports team.
• New owner decries "sorry state" of stadium said team plays in and threatens to move team elsewhere.
• Politicians trip over themselves getting a state-of-the-art new stadium built at taxpayer expense in order to "keep the team" for their constituents, i.e. Joe Six-pack.
• Once built, ticket prices skyrocket and new vendors introduce $10 beers and $8.50 hot dogs.
• Joe Six-pack can no longer afford to go to the games but his tax money did help keep the team in his hometown.

Let the billionaire owners build their own stadiums.

[OKITRUMP77]

Since revenue sharing started in MLB, the Yankees have contributed over 368 million back to less budget teams. TB got a good share of it for years. Even with teams for the past 6 years have been really competative, they barely have anyone come to the “tuna fish can” of a Stadium.

[Brian Griffin]

Corporate welfare should never have seen the light of day.

[Observator]

The first: the Governor said he doesn’t “support giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums, period.”

I wish all governors would take this stand. I've heard the counter arguments for economic development - but you notice that the profits owners make go directly into their pockets while taxpayers can hope for a very indirect trickledown effect, at best.