April 30, 2005
Colts hit $600m stadium jackpot
It's all over but the shouting: After a rollercoaster day during which the Indianapolis Colts stadium deal looked to be on the brink of collapse, the Indiana legislature voted yesterday to approve a $900 million bill to build the Colts a new stadium and expand the Indianapolis convention center. As was previously reported, the stadium itself would cost about $687 million, roughly $635 million of which would be paid for by taxpayers - making it instantly both the most expensive stadium and the largest sports subsidy in U.S. history. (Unless, that is, the Jets somehow get their faltering $2 billion stadium underway first.)
To pay for all this, Indiana will use a mish-mash of different revenue streams: a 3% hike in hotel taxes, 2% increase in car rental taxes, hikes in Indianapolis-area restaurant taxes, and new ticket taxes, plus $11 million a year in existing state tax revenues. It's a staggering amount of money to be putting into an NFL stadium, especially considering that the trend has been going the opposite direction, with teams like the Washington Redskins and New England Patriots recently contributing two-thirds or more of the cost of their new stadiums.
The tax hikes still need to be approved by the Indianapolis City-County Council and local suburban counties, but these are minor hurdles compared to getting the stadium bill through the legislature. So congratulations, Colts fans: You just got yourself another guaranteed 30 years of football. Now you better enjoy it, because you'll be paying for it not just at the ticket window, but every time you order the Rise & Shine Duo at your local Bob Evans.
And don't forget that, when they're asked to enact all these tax increases, the city-county council just recently approved a $100 million, twenty-year bond issue to replace money borrowed from the police/fire pension funds. The hundred million will be used up in three to four years!!
Posted by: Fred McCarthy on May 6, 2005 09:43 PM
