Free Republic

Colorado's Empower Field at Mile High, which is home to the Denver Broncos, is set to require football fans to wear masks while they are in the stadium's indoor spaces. The Broncos made the announcement on Wednesday, saying that masks will be mandatory in all restrooms, elevators, indoor areas of the stadium clubs, suite corridors, as well as the Broncos team store and in the press box regardless of vaccination status. The NFL team specified that masks will not be required in suites, which it deems private areas, and that fans will not have to wear masks while they are...

COVID-19 testing site reopens at Dodger Stadium © Getty Dodgers Stadium reopened its COVID-19 testing site this week amid an increase in demand in the Southern California area, CW affiliate KTLA reported. The site is run by Curative and offers drive-through PCR testing seven days a week, according to the news outlet. Curative spokesman Pasquale Gianni said the "site is relaunching due to increase demand in testing coupled with an increase in positivity across the state of California.”

A woman and her 2-year-old son died Saturday afternoon after falling from the stands at Petco Park before the Padres game, investigators said. The 40-year-old woman and her toddler were at a dining and concession area on the concourse level of the San Diego, California, stadium when, for an unknown reason, they fell three floors down and hit the sidewalk, the Padres said in a statement Sunday. First responders rushed to the stadium but weren't able to save the mother and son, according to the team. Investigators said the victims’ deaths "appeared to be suspicious." Although the victims have been...

CINCINNATI — University of Cincinnati head baseball coach Scott Googins said Tuesday afternoon he supports the players who've started a petition to change the name of Marge Schott Stadium. Googins said the Bearcats have discussed the petition as a team. "To me, it's a great ballpark and we're very lucky to have it," Googins said when asked if the name should be changed. "To me, it should be a positive place. I want to make sure when people talk about our stadium that it's a positive because it should be."

Major League Baseball (MLB) could hold the entirety of the 2020 season at the Arizona Diamondbacks' stadium in Phoenix, Ariz., without any fans attending if officials go through with a plan that has reportedly been discussed by top league officials and members of the MLB players' union. The Associated Press reported that the two groups are in talks about potential plans for the 2020 season, which is supposed to be already underway but has been delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak that has swept across the U.S. and around the world. One of the plans being discussed involved teams meeting...

This new Los Angeles Rams stadium better be good. We know it will be expensive, to a record level. Sports Business Journal reported that costs for the new stadium in Inglewood have passed $4 billion. You read that right. Stadium costs have gone way up through the years, but no other stadium in the United States has come anywhere close to this. SBJ said the most expensive stadium previous to this was MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, and that cost $1.7 billion. The Raiders’ new stadium in Las Vegas is expected to cost more than $2 billion. That’s still less...

That's billion with a big, old capital B The Los Angeles Rams are currently engaging in one of the more aggressive construction builds in modern sports history, erecting a palatial tribute to west coast football out in Inglewood, California. The NFL also recently announced it would be moving its NFL Media headquarters to the facility, and rumblings persist about the combine being shipped out of Indianapolis to Los Angeles. In short, this facility is not going to be just a stadium: it's going to a complex and headquarters for a billion-dollar industry. The price tag for that HQ is skyrocketing,...

Nevada taxpayers shelled out $750 million to build a stadium for the soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders — and the deal may prevent the state from being able to recoup that money by imposing new taxes on the NFL team. An unusual provision in the Raiders agreement with the state allows the team, currently playing its final seasons in Oakland, to break the lease and look for another home if Nevada attempts to impose new taxes over the next three decades on the team, stadium, fans or players. That includes visiting teams and fans as well. The provision applies to any...

The (ISIS) jihadists' last remaining strongholds are the central hospital and a nearby stadium – but they are holding civilian hostages in both of them, and both buildings are surrounded by snipers, booby traps and tunnels that emerge behind SDF lines. Raqqa's hospital, a big complex pocked with bullets holes, lies just 200 yards/metres from the SDF's frontline base. Beyond it is a roundabout where the jihadists once displayed the heads of their enemies, crucified people and held military parades at the height of their expansion. Commanders say seizing these and the stadium from the few hundred remaining militants is...

The San Francisco 49ers Thursday night game against the Los Angeles Rams kicked off in front of a nearly empty stadium. Los Angeles Times reporter Lindsey Thiry tweeted a photo at the time of kickoff, which showed thousands of open seats. In fact, most sections in the photo have more empty seats than fans.

[snip]Subsidizing ballparks for billionaire owners and millionaire players, however, shouldn't be part of the equation. According to the Brookings Institution, the stadium loophole has cost federal taxpayers $3.2 billion for 36 professional sports facilities since 2000. Maybe bringing together two senators from vastly different states and from widely different ideologies — U.S. Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican, and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat — will help inspire a fractious Congress to work together on a bipartisan bill to cut federal subsidies for sports stadiums. The bill would end the federal tax giveaway for municipal bonds used...

The Arkansas Legislature has passed SB 724. It rolls back a number of reforms passed with HB 1249 only 10 days ago.  SB 724 had overwhelming support in the House and Senate. So did HB 1249. The final vote in the House on March 30th was 71-20 with 9 "other". In the Senate, on March 31, it was 23-7, with 5 "other".  From the NRA-ILA: SB 724 would undermine some of the key concealed carry advancements made with the recent passage and enactment of House Bill 1249, which was signed by Governor Asa Hutchinson on March 23 as Act...

A badly burned body found on the floor of a River North parking garage early Tuesday has been identified as a 60-year-old real estate attorney, officials said. Louis S. Cohen, 60, was of the 200 block of Ivy Lane in Highland Park, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Wednesday was pending and did not determine a cause and manner for Cohen’s death, the office said. Just before 6 a.m. Tuesday, police and fire crews responded to a fire in the 11th floor of a parking garage in the 300 block of North LaSalle Drive and found...

A car bomb followed by a suicide bombing left 29 people dead and 166 wounded Saturday night outside a soccer stadium in central Istanbul. Authorities said that a car bomb detonated by remote control was followed 45 seconds later by a suicide bomber. All but two of those killed were police officers, authorities said.

Chargers’ stadium vote fails miserably, clouding future in San Diego A ballot measure in San Diego that would have raised hotel taxes to pay for a new Chargers stadium came up far short of the required two-thirds vote Tuesday, leaving the team with an uncertain future in the city. Measure C, as the initiative was known, would have allowed city officials to raise hotel-room taxes from 12.5 percent to 16.5 percent and use that revenue to pay for a new downtown stadium and convention-center annex next to Petco Park, where the Padres play baseball. But the measure received support from...

After a slowdown in the past few years, crony capitalism — whereby politicians give special favors to politically connected businesses — is on the move in Michigan. The state racked up nearly $10 billion in liabilities during the tenure of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, with the backing of Republican legislators. The state will be paying the cost of these favors for decades. It already consumes more than $1 billion of the current state budget. But Gov. Rick Snyder came into office and worked to wean the state off the practice of giving out tax credits (though not many other subsidies)....

A bill to raise hotel taxes to fund an NFL stadium for the Oakland Raiders and a convention center expansion has crossed its first hurdle in the Nevada Legislature. The Nevada Senate voted 16-5 on Tuesday to approve the measure. Democratic opponents have said they oppose putting public funds to a project backed by billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, while Republican opponents oppose raising taxes.

The Chargers stadium ballot measure is falling far short of the support needed for approval on Nov. 8 and backing for the initiative is shrinking instead of growing, according to a Union-Tribune/10News poll released Friday. The survey shows 41 percent of likely voters say they are certain to vote against Measure C and 36 percent say they are certain to vote for it. The remaining 23 percent describe themselves as “not certain.” If uncertain voters are removed from the results, the measure is opposed by 53 percent and supported by 47 percent, far short of the two-thirds support — 66.7...

Over 15,000 Muslims gathered in the parking lot of Angel Stadium on Monday morning to celebrate Eid al-Adha (the “Sacrifice Feast”), the second of two major Islamic holidays that occurs during the time of the annual hajj pilgrimage. The hajj is a mandatory religious pilgrimage for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in each Muslim’s lifetime. Eid al-Adha is a four-day festival marking the end of the hajj pilgrimage. “We had two services, and many people ended up praying outside the fence because there was no room,” Nicole Bovey Alhakawati, spokeswoman for the Islamic Institute of Orange...

When Detroit's semipro soccer team needed a bigger stadium to accommodate its growing fan base, it did something unusual. Instead of seeking tax breaks or subsidies to support its ambitions, it turned to private supporters, mostly fans. It did so with the help of the Michigan Invests Locally Exemption or MILE Act. Detroit City FC raised $741,250 from 527 investors to refurbish Hamtramck’s Keyworth Stadium. The team’s first game at its new home, on May 13, was a sellout with 7,410 tickets sold. That was more than double the 3,500 tickets it was limited to selling when the team played...