Agreed. It looks like AEG is planning on spending $80/92.5/100 million of their own - depending on what source you're reading. All other costs will come from the taxpayers at some point. The largest chunk is the free real estate. Additionally, the federal government is picking up the tab to have I-280 upgraded to handle gameday flow, and some non-AEG entity will be either adding a station to PATH or expanding the existing Harrison station.

AEG, apparently, will foot the entire cost of construction, and they will guarantee the bonds used to finance the land acquisition.

I haven't heard the specifics, but it looks like fees/taxes from stadium events will be dedicated to paying off the bonds - as opposed to filling Harrison city and Hudson county coffers directly. AEG will keep all other revenues.

While posited as a "Soccer Specific Stadium.", The creation of "AEG New York" is more telling. The AEG owned MetroStars will be renting the facility - which really is a 20,000 seat outdoor concert/entertainment venue from AEG New York. Look for AEG and their new partners Televisa Group of Mexico (two of the three largest concert/events promoters in North America) to keep the place busy. A look at what's currently happening at AEG run Home Depot Center in Carson, California is just a preview of what's to come in Harrison, New Jersey.

So what you are saying is that it's a bad thing for AEG to front the stadium costs of over $90 million? The town of Harrison and Hudson County are paying for the land because they want the stadium there as part of their waterfront renewal project. They recognize that the increase in quality of life and the job opportunities created by the stadium will reap them a profit far in excess of their initial investment. And wow, the federal government is providing public roads to a major developing economic center in New Jersey. What ogres. This is the most ridiculous website I've ever seen. I can only assume that the author is a pasty, pimple-faced dork who got hit in the head too many times during dodgeball in gym and now wants to make a life's mission out of getting revenge on athletic people.

Philip Anschutz is an athlete?

It is funny how angry people get when you tell them that their local gov't is stealing their money. Shoot the messenger.

Dude, obviously you're not a true fan unless you let your team's owner fleece you out of your tax money and then charge you more to attend a game all the while neglecting on-field talent (until, of course, it comes time to ask for a new stadium).

You people don't understand. AEG is paying for the stadium. Taxes are paying for roads. Everyone wins in this deal. It's not like the $600 million from tax revenue the Jets wanted for the West Side stadium. The Metrostars need this stadium, because the NJSEA was quite literally purposefully trying to kill the team in Giants Stadium. New Jersey should be proud to invest in such a great stadium in Harrison and they should be happy that AEG is paying nearly the entire bill. All I see here are a bunch of crybabies who want the land in Harrison to remain crumbling disused industrial buildings instead of improving the area for everybody.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but it doesn't make free land and property-tax breaks any less of a taxpayer subsidy. Just as with the Jets stadium, and the Nets arena, and so on, there's an opportunity cost here: Once you replace the "crumbling disused industrial buildings" with a stadium, you forever rule out using the land for something that will actually pay taxes, or at the very least rent.

It does make it less of a subsidy if it's the type of arrangement a city can legitimately make money on (and we just don't know enough of the real details to commment on that).

People get confused a lot between what's the 'efficient outcome' for the world, and what's efficient for a municipality. "The world" knows that the efficient amount of business activity, including sports, is going to be allocated somewhere regardless of if special incentives are provided for them.

But the key word there is *somewhere*. With no such help, it isn't likely to be in Harrison, NJ. Their calculation is only on possible profit, and the sources of such increased profit is new tax revenues from satellite businesses and emplyees that wouldn't be there otherwise.

You simply weigh that against the amount of tax break. It's a relatively straightforward calculation, and does not appear to be based on such airy past promises as "more recognition" for the town. (The town is actually quite small, and probably doesn't have the money to spend on such intangible and speculative benefits).

It's hard to imagine the city of Harrison doesn't come out ahead, unless there's a heck of a lot hidden in the fine print that even this article hasn't found.

And as far as roads go, roads are a public good, and it's hard to believe only the stadium will use them.

Having looked at a lot of these deals, I'd be very surprised if Harrison came out ahead just on the basis of new tax revenues. (Look across the river at the Newark Bears ballpark, and tell me where the "satellite businesses" are.) If the MetroStars will actually be paying off the bonds, that's another story - which is why I'm curious what the actual PILOT figures are, as noted in my original item.

And as for roads, I'm pretty sure I-280 through Harrison was just redone in recent years, so I'm not sure what the improvements would be. If it's just an off-ramp to the new stadium, or expanding it from six lanes to ten so that it's less crowded on game days, that's more of a benefit to the MetroStars than to the general public.

Seems like a lot of $ for a stadium for a team in a league that has almost nonexistent TV ratings and declining attendance. What will happen if the league folds? Who will get stuck with the bill? I remember watching Cosmos games with 60,000 other folks in the late 70's; within 10 years the league folded. I'm a soccer fan, and I wish the MLS well, but it's been 10 years now and so far the product they put on the field hasn't garnered much interest from the public.