December 23, 2002
D.C. mayor adds $100 million to stadium pledge
D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams says he didn't mean to pledge $200 million for a new stadium to lure the Montreal Expos - he meant to pledge $300 million. "I don't know how he put that number together," one city council member told the Washington Post. "We also don't know how we're going to fund the operations of the District government, so I don't know what he's talking about."
December 20, 2002
D.C., Portland officials wary of Expos' cost
MLB's attempts to start a municipal bidding war between Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., for the Montreal Expos aren't exactly off to a roaring start. "They're looking for corporate welfare from the state of Oregon," Oregon state senator Lenn Hannon told the Associated Press. "They can seek their welfare from somewhere else." Portland mayor Vera Katz has said she'd like to see the Expos come to town, but not at the expense of city services.
In D.C., meanwhile, the city council has likewise balked at spending scarce municipal tax dollars on a baseball stadium. Instead, the city may use tax increment financing (TIFs) to help finance a new home for the Expos. Because, you know, it's worked so well for them in the past.
Send money or I'll shoot this team (reprise)
"There's no question the franchise will complete the season," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told The Associated Press when asked about Buffalo Sabres situation. "What happens beyond that will depend on if we can complete the sale. It hinges on a lot of things, but it will hinge, in some measure, on whether this is a good investment for the community. And that's something that only the government leaders will decide. ... If everything comes together, it will be promising. If none of this comes together, I can't predict what will happen." Bettman then failed to add: "It'd be a shame if anyone set fire to those paratroopers, Colonel."
December 16, 2002
New depths in chutzpah
Just when we thought we'd seen everything, along come Buffalo business honchos Mark Hamister and Todd Berman, who are hoping to buy the Buffalo Sabres NHL franchise from the smoking ruins of the Adelphia empire. The only catch: they want $15-20 million in public money to help them do it. "This isn't a subsidy," Hamister told the Buffalo News with a straight face. "It's an appropriate participation of government in the operation of the arena."
December 15, 2002
MLB: Show us the stadium money
Major League Baseball appears to be set to start the bidding for the league-owned Montreal Expos franchise - not among prospective owners, but among prospective host cities. The league has notified government officials in several locales, including Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and Portland, Oregon, that they will be invited to meet with an Expos relocation committee by late February.
Potential ownership groups, said the league, will not be invited - the first hurdle, apparently, will be the willingness of cities to cough up public stadium dough. "MLB wants to know, 'What evidence do you have your market can support a franchise?' and 'Where are you going to play and how is that stadium going to be paid for?' " an MLB source told the Washington Post. "In a perfect world, jurisdictions should have all approvals in place and money set aside." Lack of cities eager to finance a new stadium has been the main obstacle to moving the Expos before now; it will be interesting to see whether MLB's attempts at fomenting a bidding war will lead local officials to be looser with the public purse.
December 12, 2002
K.C. vote planned on sales tax hike for stadiums
The Kansas City Chiefs and Royals, together with Jackson County Executive Katheryn Shields, pitched their latest plea for public dollars on Monday: a 1/4-cent sales tax hike in the K.C. area (covering parts of both Kansas and Missouri) that would generate $177 million apiece for the teams to renovate their current stadiums.
Team owners hit all the usual patterns in the stadium-demands playbook: the competitiveness argument ("In small markets like Kansas City," Royals owner David Glass said, "it's important that we grow our own revenues. And whatever we get, we've got to put that back into payroll"); the obsolescence claim (Glass: "Kauffman Stadium is a great place to watch a ballgame. But it's 30 years old, and we need to take steps to keep it up to current standards"); the non-threat threat (Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt: "From our standpoint, stability in the market is important. I've seen the Baltimore Colts go off in the dark of night and move to Indianapolis, and now there's talk about them going somewhere else because they have an unsettled stadium situation"); and the contraction threat (Royals VP Mark Gorris: ""Contraction threats come back in 2007. We want to make sure Major League Baseball doesn't look our way at all"); with a bit of misdirection thrown in for good measure: while half the sales-tax money would go to the sports teams, the other half would fund the performing arts. The tax hike could go before local voters in August or November of 2003.
Whatta deal!
Through the mail slot today came Doug Pappas' indispensible SABR Business of Baseball Committee newsletter, "Outside the Lines," which included this observation on the St. Louis Cardinals' plans for a new stadium: "At the end of the club's 29-year lease in the new park, the Cardinals must either repay the money with interest or give the state an ownership share in the stadium. Given the likely value of a 30-year-old stadium whose sole tenant will almost certainly be demanding a new facility, I hope those legislators aren't expecting a check..."
December 08, 2002
Chargers: Us, too!
The San Diego Padres are getting a new stadium. The San Diego Chargers, not content with a lease that pays them for unsold tickets to nonexistent seats, now want a new stadium too. San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Don Bauder would just like a working sewer system.
December 06, 2002
Green Monster seats move ahead
The Boston Red Sox received preliminary approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority for adding 240 seats on Fenway Park's right-field roof, and an additional 312 seats (stools, actually) on a platform above Fenway's famed Green Monster left-field wall. Assuming the plans are approved by the other necessary city agencies, team owner John Henry hopes to complete the additions by the start of the 2003 season. Henry is still officially undecided on more sweeping plans to renovate or rebuild Fenway.
December 04, 2002
Texas Rangers trim ticket prices
It's not the bubble bursting yet, but the Texas Rangers have followed in the footsteps of the Detroit Tigers in slashing ticket prices on some seats in hopes of boosting attendance. Both ballclubs play in new, high-priced stadiums, and both were coming off last-place seasons that had seen attendance dips when they made their moves. Meanwhile, several other baseball teams have raised ticket prices this offseason, indicating that despite the sinking economy, the subsidy-inflated sports ticket market (and subsidy-inflated athlete salary structure) is still in full effect. (It's also further proof that high payrolls don't cause high ticket prices, though the reverse is true.)
