The KC Royals and Chiefs were asking for about $3 billion for a new downtown stadium and upgrades to Arrowhead.
It went down like a rock!!
58% against to 42% for.
My faith in humans is partly restored.
Now I have to stay off Twitter for a while.
That’s why I like referendums, its the most direct form of democracy in the US.
And, for the latest on my team’s new stadium:
No offense, but I think you supported that
So long as the representatives in our representative republic abide by the will of the people.
No, I did not take a position on it one way or another. I did say that my heart wants the team to stay there, but I did not say that I favor spending the money for the new stadium. I did say that if they did not put up the money they did they would have lost the team. That is a fact.
Here is my first post on the subject:
Here is one snippet from that discussion:
What are you, a commie. Support your local billionaire!
Here’s the thing - had the initiative been for the Chiefs upgrading the Truman Sports Complex, there is a good chance it would have passed. Even with a billionaire owner. It got voted down because the Royals, it’s been a decade since they have had a winning team, were asking for money to build a new stadium downtown. IT would have been a tough sell for a last place team… But the Royals did a very shitty job with this proposal. IT was going to displace several businesses. It also had plans for a entertainment district. The thing is - the proposed location was 3 blocks from an existing entertainment district that the city is still paying for. There are areas of downtown that might accommodate a new stadium that is in need of redevelopment - the area they chose has already been redeveloped and is a fairly popular arts and entertainment area.
And the Royals kept making changes as the feedback got more negative. There were enough changes that people who DID plan on voting yes changed their vote because it was obvious we weren’t being told everything. At one point they said that some local businesses could relocate inside the stadium complex. One of the impacted businesses was a strip club that has been in that area for a LONG time. A yahoo commenter said "I wonder how much a lap dance would cost at stadium pricing’>
Fair enough, the economic review of the Buffalo proposal was actually used by the opposition here to show how bad of an idea this was.
The reason this was such a landslide is because there was opposition from inner city socialist organizations and libertarian leaning suburbanites alike.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Didn’t want to copy and paste your entire post.
But it is spot on!
IT was actually pretty shrewd of the Royals to use the Chiefs the way they did…most of the vitriol is being directed at Clark Hunt and the Chiefs threatenng to move. I don’t know if there was anything in Lamar Hunt’s will directing that the Chiefs would not be moved from Kansas City. I was concerned they might move once he died. I think Lamar would roll in his grave if they Chiefs ever moved. And there were some lean years where he could have easily moved the team.
Also, as I mentioned earlier, per the terms of that deal the Bills are solely responsible for any cost overruns. The latest has the overruns at $300 ~$350 million, and we know they will only get higher.
And, there is a limit to how much the Buffalo area can afford in PSLs before they are priced out. As I read, the Bills were figuring on funding their share through PSLs. I have a feeling that PSLs won’t cover the entire share and Pegula will end up shelling out a lot of his own money. I wonder if he comes back later crying for more help, which I would not support at all.
I don’t agree to any government funding of sports stadiums or even factories.
If you give it should be on the condition that whatever percent of the cost the government provides they get that percent of seats to own and they can sell season tickets for those seats and recoup their costs. This means in all sections not the government get the worse seats only.
Same with factories they should get same percentage of profits to recoup.
The thing is, there are public/private ways to partner that make sense, and there are very local examples.
The Kansas Speedway was built that way and the new KCI airport was financed that way.
There were petition gatherers yesterday at the polls, and I told my daughter (who went and voted with me), that even if I don’t agree with what they are proposing, I will sign a petition to put it on the ballot.
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Ah, I amend my statement. Support your local winning billionaire.
My issue is it’s not tied to cheaper tickets. Otherwise it’s subsidizing the rich.
Tickets have become insane. Why have a poor person pay for a stadium they can’t afford to go to ?
Hell, with the idiotic MLB TV deal, I would have to pay $20 a month just to watch the Royals on TV
Before Mahomes started, I took my daughter to a Chiefs game. We were able to get single tickest at Hy-Vee for $25 each. Nosebleeds, but they were tickets. Then it cost us $60 to park. Lunch - 2 hamburgers and 2 cokes was almost $50. Since the Super Bowl wins, I don’t think any tickets are under $100.