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City-By-City

Last update: December 1999. While we work on updating this page, please see our news updates page for up-to-date information on stadium battles.

Anaheim

The city contributed $30 million toward a $100 million renovation of Anaheim Stadium.

Arizona

Scottsdale will be building a $535 million arena and mall complex, largely with public money, for the Phoenix Coyotes after voters passed a pair of referendums in May and November 1999. Mesa voted down a proposed football stadium for the Arizona Cardinals in May 1999, but negotiations continue nonetheless.

Baltimore

The state has spent more than $400 million in lottery money on building Oriole Park at Camden Yards and PSINet Park, for the Orioles and Ravens respectively.

Birmingham

Rejected a proposed $700 million stadium/convention center complex in an August 1998 referendum. The project would have been funded by a 1% sales tax hike.

Boston

Historic Fenway Park may not be long for the world as the Boston Red Sox seek a new stadium with more luxury seating and concessions revenue. The team has proposed a larger "replica" of Fenway, to be built across the street from the old park, which would be partially torn down. Meanwhile, the New England Patriots continue to seek state funding for a new stadium of their own. (See also News.)

Chicago

The state of Illinois spent over $200 million to replace historic Comiskey Park with an inferior namesake for the Chicago White Sox in 1991. The Bears, meanwhile, continue to seek a new stadium either in the Chicago or the neighboring suburbs, with little success.

Cincinnati

Local energy company Cinergy bought the naming rights to Riverfront Stadium in 1996, only to see both the Cincinnati Reds and Cincinnati Bengals announce plans to jump ship to new buildings. Cost: $500 million, paid for by city taxpayers via a one-half-cent sales tax hike.

Cleveland

While a ticket to an Indians game at Jacobs Field remains the hottest item in town, Cleveland-area taxpayers are facing a public contribution that, when the dust clears, may top three-quarters of a billion dollars for three new sporting facilities in one decade. Next on the horizon, joining Jacobs Field and Gund Arena (the town's basketball facility) is a new home for the yet non-existent Cleveland Browns football team. What was initially pitched as a $220 million stadium is now estimated at $247 million -- with controversial cost overruns one of the project's numerous question marks.

Denver

With the Colorado Rockies already playing in $215 million Coors Field (paid for with a sales tax hike), the Denver Broncos, Denver Nuggets, and Colorado Avalanche are next in line for subsidies. Denver voters, after a $2.3 million lobbying campaign funded mostly by Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, approved a replacement for Mile High Stadium in November 1998, with a six-county sales tax hike contributing $260 million toward the $360 million facility. The new Pepsi Center (for the Nuggets and Avalanche) opened in 1999; the old McNichols Arena, renovated in 1986 at a cost to the city of $12.5 million, was deemed necessary to replace because its luxury boxes were too cramped. (See also News.)

Detroit

Little Caesar's Pizza owner Mike Ilitch has received approval to abandon Tiger Stadium, a national historic site, and move his Detroit Tigers into the new Comerica Park (opening in 2000) built on downtown land donated by the city. In all, the state, county, and city will provide $320 million for two new stadiums, one for the Tigers and one for the Detroit Lions, which still have several years remaining on their stadium lease in suburban Pontiac. Ilitch is scheduled to kick in $145 million in private money, but should be able to pay that off from the lucrative parking rights granted to him by the city as part of the deal.

Houston

Enron Field (renamed from the Ballpark at Union Station after the sale of naming rights) is scheduled to open in 2000 as the new home of the Houston Astros, at a public cost of $180 million. Discussions continue on new homes for the Rockets (voters rejected a proposal to pay for half the costs with public money in November 1999) and a proposed NFL expansion franchise.

Los Angeles

Local officials and the NFL could not agree on a plan to build a new stadium to lure an expansion football franchise; the league subsequently pulled the proposed team, and granted it to Houston.

Miami

Broward County spent $212 million to build the new National Car Rental Center hockey arena (opened in 1998) for billionaire (and ex-Blockbuster Video CEO) Wayne Huizenga's Florida Panthers, while neighboring Dade County is paying for three-quarters of the cost of a $162.5 million basketball arena for the Miami Heat and their owner, billionaire (and Carnival Cruise Lines CEO) Mickey Arison. Along with the soon-to-be-vacant Miami Arena (built in 1988 at a cost of $53 million, and currently shared by the two teams), this will leave the region with three nearly new publically funded arenas for just two teams. New Florida Marlins owner John Henry, meanwhile, is demanding a new stadium for his baseball team, possibly funded by hotel taxes.

Milwaukee

Despite voter rejection of public financing for a new ballpark for the Milwaukee Brewers, Gov. Tommy Thompson went ahead in 1996 with a five-county sales tax hike to build Miller Park. (Angry voters responded by recalling the state senator whose vote secured the deal.) Originally proposed by Brewers owner (and baseball-commissioner-for-life) Bud Selig as a privately funded stadium, the ballpark's public funding grew over the years to encompass virtually all of the $250 million project, which with cost overruns could reach $400 million. A fatal crane accident in July 1999 has delayed the opening of Miller Park from 2000 to 2001.

Minneapolis-St. Paul

After a year-long battle over a proposed new ballpark to replace the 17-year-old Metrodome (itself only just finished being paid off by city taxpayers), the Minnesota Twins appeared headed to North Carolina, until voters there rejected a public stadium funding referendum in May 1998. The Twins subsequently signed a lease extension on the Metrodome, and continue to badger the state legislature for a new stadium. The latest proposal, for a publicly funded ballpark in St. Paul, was rejected by voters in November 1999.

The Minnesota Vikings want their own new stadium, but prospects are uncertain after the rejection of the Twins' ballpark. The Minnesota Timberwolves are happily ensconced in the Target Center (after a $74 million city bailout in 1994), while the Minnesota Wild NHL expansion franchise is receiving a new $130 million arena of its own, paid for jointly by the city and state. (See also News.)

Montreal

The Montreal Expos' drive to raise $100 million in private funds toward a new $250 million downtown ballpark has come up millions short, and neither the city of Montreal nor the province of Quebec has shown willingness to provide public subsidies. Recent plans call for a "bare-bones" ballpark paid for largely with private funds. (See also News.)

New Jersey

Both the New Jersey Nets and New Jersey Devils are threatening to abandon the Meadowlands, the Nets for Newark and the Devils for Hoboken.

New York City

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has apparently abandoned plans for a new Manhattan stadium for the New York Yankees, instead pushing for a new football stadium on the West Side railyards site (estimated cost: $1 billion), while arguing for a new Yankee stadium near the current site in the South Bronx (estimated cost: at least $700 million). Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer has countered with a $535 million renovation plan for Yankee Stadium (already rebuilt in the 1970s at a cost of $125 million in city money) and the surrounding Bronx neighborhood. The New York Mets have proposed their own new stadium in the parking lot of Shea Stadium (estimated cost: $500 million). Meanwhile, the city is spending at least $100 million on new stadiums for minor-league affiliates of the Mets and Yankees. (See also News.)

Madison Square Garden, the home of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, already receives property tax breaks for the teams' owners (currently Cablevision) so long as they remain in the city.

Neighboring Nassau County has proposed an even three-way split between county, state, and team for a new $210 million Islanders hockey arena; the team is insisting on a higher public subsidy.

North Carolina

Voters in the Triad region (Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point) rejected public funding for a new baseball stadium for the Minnesota Twins in a May 1998 referendum. Discussions are still underway regarding a proposed ballpark in nearby Charlotte. (See also News.)

Philadelphia

Both the Phillies and the Eagles are demanding new facilities to replace Veterans Stadium, but neither local funding nor sites has been agreed upon.

Pittsburgh

A November 1997 referendum rejected a proposed tax hike to fund new stadiums for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates, but in summer 1998 local officials agreed to a "Plan B" that would use existing tax revenues for the projects. In February 1999 the state legislature approved a $300 million "loan" for the Steelers, Pirates, Phillies, and Eagles, which the teams would be able to "repay" through sales taxes collected on the sites. (See also News.)

San Antonio

In November 1999, Bexar County voters approved $146 million county hotel and car rental taxes to pay for 84 percent of the cost of a new arena for the Spurs. (See also News.)

San Diego

The Chargers received $76 million worth of improvements to Qualcomm Stadium in 1996 -- plus a sweetheart lease that actually pays the team more for unsold tickets than for those sold. The Padres are planning a $411 million ballpark of their own in downtown ($275 million in public money); the project was approved in a November 1998 referendum, but has recently run into financing and environmental problems. (See also News.)

San Francisco

3Com Park at Candlestick Point is slated for demolition, with both the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco 49ers having new stadiums built. The Giants, after four failed attempts to get public funding, are building their new Pacific Bell Park (opening in 2000) mostly with their own money, but the city is kicking in millions a year in land costs and "tax increment financing." The 49ers won a narrow referendum victory in June 1997 that grants them $100 million in city subsidies for a $525 million stadium/mall complex on the Candlestick site, but the legal troubles of team owner Eddie DeBartolo and projected cost overruns have put the project in jeopardy.

Seattle

In September 1995, Seattle-area voters rejected a proposed tax hike to pay for a new stadium for the Seattle Mariners; a month later, the state legislature approved the money anyhow. (Safeco Field opened in July 1999.) The Mariners' Kingdome roommates, the Seattle Seahawks, were purchased in 1997 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who spent an additional $4.2 million to win a referendum guaranteeing him $300 million in state money for a new football stadium.