August 18, 2004
Arlington stadium breakdown
More details have emerged on Arlington's plan for a $650 million Dallas Cowboys stadium, which passed the city council yesterday and will now head before voters in November:
- 89% of the city's $350 million contribution, or $19.6 million a year, would come from a 0.5% sales-tax hike. The rest would come from hotel and car-rental taxes.
- The Cowboys would pay about $2 million a year in rent, plus another $500,000 from naming-rights fees.
- The Cowboys would get an additional $5.5 million in parking surcharges and ticket taxes, which would be counted as part of their "private" contribution. Since these fees are generally considered by economists to come out of team revenues - a 10% ticket tax means a team can get away with charging 10% less for tickets - it's actually defensible to consider this not a public subsidy. If it is counted as part of the taxpayers' share, though, the public cost would rise to more than $400 million.
(Incidentally, if you see the Dallas Morning News' statement that the stadium would cost taxpayers $648 million, ignore it, as it's nonsense: Much of that would be in year 2030 dollars, so it's comparing apples to heavily discounted apples. Present value: It's not just a good idea, it's ... well, it's a really good idea. Journalists, take note.)
Posted by Neil deMause
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