NM United owner says maybe he’d chip in a little something toward $70m stadium, if people really want

New Mexico United execs held a public Zoom meeting on Tuesday night to discuss its planned $65-70 million new stadium, virtually all of which would be funded with public money. According to the Daily Lobo:

At the meeting, public concerns included the potential capacity of the stadium, the historic status of the Barelas neighborhood, getting the surrounding community involved and how much the team will be willing to contribute on top of the city’s bond sales. [team owner Peter] Trevisani said listening to the community would be a priority and confirmed that the team would contribute if needed.

“If it’s an issue of getting from $60 million to $70 million, the team will step in, and we will have skin in the game,” Trevisani said.

Aw, how generous of him!

The issue of how much city taxpayers should spend on a new soccer-specific stadium is shaping up to be the big question surrounding the stadium plans, as it should be: This would be easily the priciest USL stadium subsidy ever. (I’m still trying to tally the final numbers for Louisville City F.C.‘s stadium, but it likely wasn’t much over $30 million, and nothing else comes close.) Which is why it’s interesting that as soon as the public price tag started becoming clear, the city stopped asking residents about it:

[A 2019 survey] asked respondents if they supported using public funds to build either the multipurpose arena or soccer stadium.

Half – 50% – said they supported the public investment, while 38% said they opposed it. …

But the city did not include a separate question about using public money for a new venue in the 2020 survey as it had just the previous year.

That’s still a pretty good level of support for public funding of a United stadium, though it’s important to note that nobody has ever asked if $60-70 million is the right amount of public funds to spend on one. (Albuquerque residents are overwhelmingly in favor of a new soccer stadium if you don’t ask them who should pay for it; the city has not surveyed locals on whether they feel the same way about a pony.) I’m going to be part of a panel discussion on KUNM-FM from 8-9 am Mountain Time this morning, along with Trevisani and some local elected and unelected officials; this should be interesting.

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4 comments on “NM United owner says maybe he’d chip in a little something toward $70m stadium, if people really want

  1. Update: I got to ask Trevisani if he really intended to pay back the city via something real like rent or revenue sharing or just meant it would get “economic impact” or something vague like that, and he said the city would get its money back by “various means.” And then didn’t describe any.

    1. I wish I had thought of this kind of scheme when I was a kid and got caught stealing candy. The store owner really should have been obligated to compensate me because I was voluntarily advertising his products to dozens if not hundreds of potential customers around the school yard.

      Or, I mean, I would have been if I hadn’t been caught.

  2. Too bad you didn’t get to ask Peter Trevisani about NMU’s scheme as to 4 federal SBA PPP loan requests for a total of $856,975.00. Two for United (LLC) and two for United Players (LLC).

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