August 10, 2007
Mets, Yanks stadium subsidies top $1.25 billion
Field of Schemes has obtained new figures from the New York City Independent Budget Office (I'm sure they'll give them to anyone, but I asked) on the cost to taxpayers of publicly subsidized tax-exempt bonds for the new Yankees and Mets stadiums. The verdict: The $930 million in Yankees stadium bonds will cost the city $10 million in lost tax revenue, the state $18 million, and federal taxpayers a whopping $200 million; for the Mets' $528 million in tax-exempt bonds, the figures are $6 million city, $10 million state, and $115 federal.
Add this to the numbers from Good Jobs New York's recent "Insider Baseball" report, and the combined taxpayer subsidies to the two projects are now $1.267 billion: $799 million for the Yankees, $468 million for the Mets. That's almost double what the two teams themselves will be on the hook for, after revenue-sharing deductions.
The breakdown, for those interested:
City State Federal Public Total Yankees $381m $171m $247m $799m Mets $256m $97m $115m $468m Total $637m $268m $362m $1,267m
That's what we in the sports economics business call "one whole assload of money." But New York taxpayers, look on the bright side: According to this week's Fortune magazine, at least your elected officials will get their own luxury box out of the deal. Maybe if you vote for them, they'll let you sit in it.
May we refer to "City Officals Luxury Box" as the "BRIBE BOX" ?
I must say I'm disappointed in the lack of vision/originality in this project. Perhaps future stadium deals will be more revolutionary and feature revenue streams that are direct deposited into re-election campaign accounts.
Posted by: Thomas on August 10, 2007 01:29 PM
What we all knoew was coming.... another scam....
Posted by: Mark from NYC on August 12, 2007 10:21 AM
Sure. The politicians and the owners who made those deals deserve a lot of the blame. But we can't ignore the complacency on the part of the major media, the ones who really made those deals possible by not saying much about them, assuring that only a few voices of protest are raised. Then again, being that this town is obsessed with the two baseball clubs, are we really surprised that other than the alter-media and a few columnists there isn't much protest on the part of the Fourth Estate?
If Steinbrenner knew something (other than how to turn $10 million into $1 billion) it is that it pays to find ways to get himself (and Yankee players) on the back pages of the dailies. And as long as enough moro...I mean customers are willing pay a King's ransom to watch a ballgame involving any team with A-Rod in the lineup you can guarantee that the dailies won't be too critical of the dealings of said organization. Oh, yeah, some sports columnist would say something unflattering about Steinbrenner (not really a stretch) on a certain day but it doesn't pay for the dailies to ignore him, either.
Let's face it. It's a New York Yankees town! And the major dailies have helped in no small part in making that reality.
Posted by: El Socio on August 13, 2007 08:56 PM
