So that’s five straight posts about the Buffalo Bills owners’ plans to get around a billion dollars in public subsidies for a new stadium; what else is going on in the sports world, you may ask? Why, here’s a little news item in Sports Business Journal talking to Kansas City Chiefs president Mark Donovan, wonder what he has to say:
Chiefs President Mark Donovan said the team is evaluating pitches from developers to build a new stadium in Kansas, across the state line from its historic Missouri home of Arrowhead Stadium. “Pretty consistently, we get inquiries from the state of Kansas, [that] if you’re going to make a change, what if you brought the stadium here?” Donovan said at the NFL annual meeting. “So we’re looking at that as well.”
Well, then! Donovan didn’t mention anything about public funding, but then, he didn’t have to: Talking about moving the Chiefs from Missouri to Kansas, even if it’s only a matter of a few miles, can’t be anything but the prelude to an attempt to prompt a bidding war between the two states for the team’s presence. That’s working pretty well for Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder, so why not?
The idea that the Chiefs owners might demand stadium money is nothing new: It was already reported last year that the NFL team might piggyback on the Royals‘ owners’ own request for a new stadium with a “hey, us too!” plan. But after a couple of high-profile football stadium projects that were mostly paid for by the teams themselves — the New York Jets and Giants‘ new stadium, and the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers‘ new stadium — it looks like NFL owners are determined to get back to business as usual, which means a whole lot of taxpayer cash and a little something thrown in by the billionaires who would actually benefit from the project. In addition to the Bills and the Chiefs and the Commanders, we have the Tennessee Titans owners’ call for at least $300 million in public money for stadium renovations and possibly more if they instead choose to go with a whole new building, plus a plan for $600 million in taxpayer funding for improvements to the Baltimore Ravens‘ stadium. And hey, the Denver Broncos‘ 21-year-old stadium just caught fire, causing damage to part of the steel superstructure — wouldn’t it be simpler to just tear it down and build a new one?
The sad fact of the matter, as I told a series of TV reporters Zooming me from their cars yesterday, is that sports team owners are not going to stop demanding public money to underwrite their private profits until they start getting “no” for an answer. So every billion-dollar Bills subsidy that sails through will only increase the desire of their fellow billionaires to get a cut of that boodle — understandably so, as the best way to turn a big fortune into an even bigger fortune is to get somebody else to pay for your business expenses. I feel like a broken record on this sometimes — it’s literally the subtitle of our book, after all — but if sports owners are going to keep on working the same grift, I guess it’s my fate to keep pointing it out, in hopes that either someone in a position of power will take notice or somebody will get out the torches and pitchforks.
The San Jose Chiefs sound pretty good…
LOL!!
The Niners will soon need a new stadium; Levi’s is nearly a whopping 10 years old!
…and Candlestick Point is still empty.
They wouldn’t be moving across country, they world just become the Kansas chiefs
Lol No they would still be the KC Chiefs. KC is split in two by the state line. There is a kck and a kcmo.
It’s not sports team owners trying to get others to cover their business expenses. It’s owners not wanting to risk the collapse of their business.
An NFL team in Buffalo or KC can’t get the same level of revenue as an NFL team in Austin. And just like with any hospitality business, customers won’t keep showing up to outdated facilities. (Winning alleviates some of that, but like a wise Hollywood producer once said, “the one thing you can’t guarantee is a good film”.)
Fact-check: In the last non-pandemic year, the Bills turned an $82 million profit:
https://www.forbes.com/teams/buffalo-bills/?sh=5177528b625d
“And just like with any hospitality business, customers won’t keep showing up to outdated facilities.”
So we need to subsidize all the hotels in the nation? Bowling alleys? Bars?
Absolutely. And don’t forget to include stadium grift investigative websites on the list of businesses needing federal, state and county subsidies.
Remember, it is always the taxpayers job – and no-one else’s – to make sure every single business in America is as profitable as possible.
I find this odd as I don’t remember the Soviet Union winning a war over America. But since the name of the Washington NFL team is the Commies, I guess they must have.
Because I work blue, I call them the C-Men. Beware when they’re in all-white.
What a great comment. This is why I find Japanese public spaces so beautiful. The taxpayers take care of public spaces.
This is asinine – NFL teams get money from TV, and we’re not talking about regional TV deals like the other major sports. It’s all national deals chopped up.
“It’s not sports team owners trying to get others to cover their business expenses. It’s owners not wanting to risk the collapse of their business.”
Even if there was even the slightest chance of collapse, your two sentences are not mutually exclusive.
Of course, they’re trying to get others to cover their expenses. Asking = trying.
NFL teams split broadcasting and merchandising rights and half of ticket sales in a revenue sharing agreement. They can move to Butte Montana and the biggest revenue they’ll lose is selling parking at the stadium.
There’s no paid parking in Butte?
As an Illinois resident I am concerned about the precedent this sets for the Bears proposed stadium.
Bears have less leverage. No one would take a threat to leave the Chicago area seriously. They could move to Northern Indiana, but I’m not sure Indiana taxpayers would be up for subsidizing an Illinois team.
At the end of the day, it’s all about the money, plain and simple. Owners don’t WANT to spend their own money, because it cuts into THEIR OWN POCKETS, and after all, how do the rich stay rich? By taking money from everyone else, of course. FANS will come, TRUE fans, regardless of the conditions (obvious safety issued excepted) as they have for decades…. how many FANS do you hear say….. “I love that team because they have a cool stadium”…. not many! We, the FANs, love our teams BECAUSE of our teams, NOT the “profit center” of someone’s business model! Give it a rest, if the public WANTS to pay for it, LET THEM, but, if they don’t, can’t, or WONT, let the OWNEES foot the bills (no penny intended) after all, they ARE BILLIONAIRES! They aren’t gonna lose EVERYTHING THEY HAVE, it’s an INVESTMENT IN THEIR OWN BUSINESS, it’ll come back to them the old fashioned way, by earning the returns they desire over time, not instantly.
They’re not gonna be leaving. Their lease they have now goes till 2031, so even if they did want to leave it wouldn’t happen for another decade
This article is pure clickbait BS.
So, the Royals are wanting to move ok… When they build their new stadium ️ downtown and move…. sell seats and other keepsakes…. Emplode IT.
Build NEW Chiefs Stadium with ROLLING TOP in it’s place… then do the same thing with existing stadium, sell seats, field goals, then tear it down and build place to tail gate… Music venues…. Bar-b-que
The parking lot at Arrowhead has been a problem for a while. It’s filled with enormous potholes! You’d think with as much as you have to pay for parking it would be repaved and repaired.
Most of the lot is used what 8-10 times a year. It’s not that big of a deal.
And to be honest they should do like the Speedway and just let most of it be grass until it’s the winter.
Kansas City isn’t in Kansas?