Buffalo recently passed what is considered the worst public financing package in modern history.
Jackson County Legislature said “HOLD MY BEER”!!
I admit I am not totally up on what is going on in Kansas City, but at first glance it looks like $2 billion total for two stadiums and that the voters will have the chance to vote on it. If the people vote yes, I would see no reason to complain.
Back to the Bills stadium, one thing that did surprise me was that the agreement requires the Bills to cover all cost overruns. The original funding was $600 million from New York State, $250 million from Erie County, and $550 million from the Bills. I read articles saying that the project was now forecasted to overrun in the neighborhood of $300 ~$350 million, which would all be on the Bills. And, I doubt that is the extent of what the overruns will be either. I am waiting to see how this plays out and if Terry Pegula comes back and asks the State and County to cough up more.
That really isn’t too surprising, nobody is. There is literally nothing in place. The Royals don’t even have a site picke out where they want to build.
That is actually a plus. That is one of the things that was written into the building of the new KCI airport.
My reason to complain is that my elected officials should have a modicum of economic knowledge and not be beholden to special interest groups.
Well…part of it is this…they are being asked to extend a sales tax for 40 years. But if the Royals end up leaving, the sales tax still stays. The big issue in KC involves the Royals - they want a new stadium. The Chiefs want renovations. And the Royals want a stadium downtown.
I love KC and it’s gone a long way to revitalized downtown with an entertainment district and an arts district. But a downtown stadium would cause more problems than create more revenues. KC is very “car centric”. We have a steetcar that runs from Crown Center and WW1 memorial down thru the entertainment district and then to the River Market aera. They are expanding where the steetcar goes, but it’s already rather popular and would basically be unusable on a game day. there is not a lot of parking at most any of the sites they have proposed, and to be honest, the only time the Royals drew a significant crowd was during the run up to the World Series.
and the Royals have talked about moving to a neighboring county, either in Missouri or Kansas. I don’t think a tax would fly in Kansas because the county with the space to build one is one of the poorest in the metro area, and the county I live in might enjoy a Royals or Chiefs game, but I don’t think that they would want to pony up any new taxes
That sounds like a reason to vote no.
The people of San Diego voted no several times on taxes for a new stadium for the Chargers. The final vote was for an increase on the hotel tax and was sold as a way to get visitors to San Diego to pay for the Chargers’ new stadium. It still did not pass, the Chargers left, and by all accounts San Diego is doing just fine. Of course, being able to laugh at how the team has done in Los Angeles, both on the field and at the gate, makes that a lot easier.
I am optimistic that the citizens will pull their heads out this time around. But nobody ever got rich by betting on people not being stupid. And there will be a full court press by the Royals and Chiefs to get this free money.
That is what got the Sprint/T-Mobile center built. That one actually made sense.
Exactly
The real stupid thing is (amongst many) is the proposed lease is only 25 years for the Chiefs (with the team getting the option to extend three times for five years each). We could literally be paying for a team for 15 years that just leaves, or decides they want more upgrades.
Just my opinion, but raising hotel taxes for thinks like this is lame. It is the easy way to try to push a cost on visitors rather than the local residents who will supposedly benefit from the white elephant - er, stadium. I have told the story about the time I was in Houston in the late 1990s when I rented a car. The attendant pointed out the football stadium tax on the invoice and thanked me for my contribution to their new stadium.
I don’t mind it as long is the cost is laid out up front.
And to be fair, a lot of the hotel tax is paid for literally by the people using the place it is paying for.