I was out last night seeing the even-more-excellent-than-usual The Scene Is Now and Antietam, so forgive me if I’m a little groggy as I round up the week’s leftover stadium and arena news this morning. Fortunately, there’s only … (checks Instapaper) … seriously? Well, we better get started:
- When we last checked in on Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper, he was rumored to be looking for about $500 million in public money toward a new stadium, since his old one is almost 27 years old and hasn’t been renovated since last year. Now it’s being reported that the Charlotte City Council met back in January to discuss a $1.2 billion stadium renovation, with $600 million of it paid for by a 30-year extension of food, hotel, and car rental tax surcharges that were initially put in place to build the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles responded to the report by saying that “it is unfortunate that discussions that happen in closed session are shared publicly because it undermines our ability to deliver the best deal for our community” — yep, sunlight makes it hard to get things done under cover of darkness, that’s how Louis Brandeis put it, right?
- Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office says he’s “working on a package for the A’s” and “it’s our preference to see this happen before the legislature adjourns but we will consider different options if that is not possible.” The deadline for bills to be submitted during this legislative session in May 26, which would give the legislature a whole week, one day of which is Memorial Day, to read and then debate an A’s stadium funding bill; those “different options” would presumably mean calling a special session over the summer, though maybe Lombardo has something else in mind.
- In a poll of registered Nevada voters, 41% said they supported “the State of Nevada spending taxpayer money to assist the A’s in covering a portion of the costs to build a baseball stadium in the Las Vegas area,” 38% were opposed, 14% said they neither supported nor opposed it, and 7% said they had no opinion. There was apparently no option for “Wait, how many hundred million dollars is ‘a portion,’ exactly?”
- In a poll of Oakland A’s fans who brought banners to the game, a majority said “Fisher Out” or “Kaval = Liar,” which MLB.com initially edited out of game highlights until somebody noticed and called them on it.
- The owners of the Chicago Bears are appealing Cook County’s appraisal of their newly purchased Arlington Heights land they hope to use for a new stadium, saying valuing the land they bought for $197 million at $197 million is “excessive.” The Bears could be on the hook for an additional $15 million a year in property tax payments if the appraisal stands, so prepare for lots of high-priced tax lawyers making arguments why a dollar is not really a dollar.
- Speaking of lobbyists, the Washington Commanders management (still Daniel Snyder as of this writing, but reportedly soon to be Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils owner Josh Harris) is pushing Congress, and particularly Sen. Joe Manchin, to turn over the site of RFK Stadium to Washington, D.C., so it can be used for a new stadium. Is this because D.C. is Snyder’s, or Harris’s, or even Manchin’s, preferred location for a new Commanders stadium? Who knows! Is it because having another option to play off against Virginia and Maryland is a good way to get a bidding war going? Now yer talkin’!
- Calgary Herald columnist Rob Breakenridge confirms that the city of Calgary would own a new Flames arena and thus it would pay no property tax, so pile on even more public cost on top of the CN$837 million already reported. How much exactly is beyond my math powers this morning, but if you want to guesstimate a round billion loonies, I certainly won’t stop you.
- How did that huge windfall of spending Kansas City was expecting from hosting the NFL Draft work out? Not great, with a local vintage clothing store saying their business dropped 50%, and a nearby cafe saying sales were down 60%. Sure is a good thing they closed the schools for that!
- If you were wanting a good article on the history of Philadelphia’s Chinatown, how it was torn in two by a highway in the 1960s, how the highway may now finally be capped over, and why what happened to Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown after the new Wizards arena was built there has Philadelphia Chinatown residents overwhelmingly opposed to a new 76ers arena there, the Guardian has got you covered.
“…undermines…to deliver…for our community…” of billionaires?
I don’t know why I’m surprised Nevada would allow themselves to be duped into building anything for such a terrible franchise. New arena for an NHL team I get. Football stadium I get. A baseball field that isn’t getting extra events because there’s too many other options in the area that will cost too much will be a bitter pill the citizens of Nevada will have to swallow.
Wasn’t T-Mobile privately funded for the most part? I know the original AEG/Caesar’s plan required a special tax district etc but I don’t recall that being a significant part of the MGM/AEG project.
Apart from that I completely agree. If an MLB venue had been first in the door (and had a fixed roof) it might have made sense… but given the venue glut in LV at present I don’t see any need for one outside of the MLB team (which presently doesn’t exist, of course).
You are correct, T-Mobile Arena was entirely privately financed by MGM/AEG. It makes sense because it’s Vegas and such a sized that it can be used pretty much every day.
Building owners pull that trick here in Austin all the time!
I paid $100 million for that hotel and you want to appraise it at $100 million for tax purposes? Have you lost your mind?”
I guess it’s like buying a new car, once you drive it off the lot the value magically shrinks. Or use the building bathrooms for the first time I guess…..
So amazing, or disgusting, that John Fisher is seen as a villain in the Bay Area for the A’s (potentially) leaving Oakland. But the Warriors Joe Lacob?! Have NEVER heard an ounce of criticism from the San Francisco-centric media for him taking the Warriors out of Oakland and moving them to SF. Why? Because it benefited San Francisco! The media bias for SF in the Bay is real Neil. If anyone is to blame for the A’s eventual relocation to the desert it’s 20+ years of Oakland politicians, the $#@! Giants and the ultra-biased SF media! Happy Cinco de Mayo..
1) Fisher is already a villain for what he’s done to a historic franchise. Lacob has spent money, built up a model franchise, and even paid to build his own arena.
2) Lacob moved the team across the bay. And he didn’t rebrand them SF rather than GS. Does it really matter to a fan in Oakland that a team that never was branded as Oakland in the first place is across the bay?
The Warriors played in SF for their first 10 years before moving across the bay to Oakland. Plus, with the arena location in the Coliseum complex, it’s not like local businesses would be greatly impacted by the Warriors moving back to SF.
Antonio2020: because they only moved a few miles away? The people of Oakland can still enjoy a game relatively easily
(after they get a loan to pay for the tickets/food/drinks/merch).
I wish the team would change their name back to the San Francisco Warriors…..
Weren’t they called that years ago? Ugh, my memory…..
Indeed, they were the San Francisco Warriors upon relocation from Philadelphia with Wilt Chamberlain in tow in 1962, until becoming the Golden State Warriors in 1971 as part of the transition to playing in Oakland. I say “transition” because they started playing some home games in Oakland as early as 1966.
It’s small potato’s but the Warriors tried to retain gameday staff from Oakland, I believe they were running a private bus service for them as well
Thanks Mitchell!
Interesting factoid Al!
Thanks!
“…If anyone is to blame for the A’s eventual relocation to the desert it’s 20+ years of Oakland politicians…”
No, just no. Politicians have zero responsibility to give in to the kinds of demands they regularly face from their major sports teams.
I would hate to see the A’s leave Oakland. But I am still happy the Mayor is standing up to them (a little). I hope she continues to do so. In the end Fisher is the owner (for better or, as is currently the case, very much worse). He can move his franchise wherever MLB will agree to let him.
Oakland (or any other prospective host city) would be fools to try to bribe him to stay – especially when they appear to be bidding against themselves, there being no other bidders in the game at present.
Not sure if you have seen this Neil, but up here in Washington state, the legislature is tapping a taxpayer funded youth athletic fund that we just are able to access to pay for minor league stadium upgrades. This was part of the money that went to the Seahawks stadium and was the left over money after the debt was paid.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-looks-to-tap-youth-athletic-funds-for-minor-league-stadium-upgrades/?amp=1
Lots of interesting stuff here like how the owner of the Spokane Indians is the senate majority leader (apparently recused himself from the vote), the mariners owner John Stanton also owns summer league teams in walla walla and yakima which are getting $500k each for upgrades (he’s worth $1.1 billion), and Everett needing an entirely new stadium due to the promotion to high-A with the minor league realignment. Can’t find the owners net worth (Tom Volpe), but did find he used to be CEO of the Dubai group which has $60 billion worth in investments. Probably doing just fine. State is giving $7 million for that from the fund and I’m sure the city will be on the hook for a bunch. And that’s not even all of the teams getting things.
Also a local radio host brought one of the state senators (now potentially running for governor!) to take him to task on it.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/59-puck-27459121/episode/senator-mark-mullet-joins-114379772?cmp=ios_share&sc=ios_social_share&pr=false
Yes, did see that — if all the major-league teams would quit announcing billion-dollar plans for a minute, maybe I would have time to cover more of the minors…
Yup Neil, you are busier than ever and I find that heartbreaking (and infuriating-at the process, not you of course!).
To be fair on the Bears deal, assessed value for property tax purposes rarely mirrors the current market value. I say this as someone who has worked in municipal property taxation for 5 years.
Oh, sure. But to be fair to the assessors, they say their assessed value matches other area assessments for similar properties, so it’s not like they just stuck the Bears with an outrageously high number.
They sure don’t do that in Austin. Your neighbor sells her/his/them/its property for $500,000 and all of a sudden your property is half a million adjacent…..
It depends on the jurisdiction especially with respect to how often they are reassessed. In Ontario (where I work) assessments are every 4 years and if you build new your assessment is based on the last reassessment date. So let’s say you built a house 3 years after the last assessment identical to one across the street. Your tax assessment would be the same. So without knowing the rules in Illinois we can’t say if they are wrong here.
aqib: in Texas it’s crazier. Home sales are top secret so assessors have to guess! “Oh, there was an article somewhere that prices in Austin are super high, so we will go with that!” The politicians obsession with secrecy here bites everybody!
It’s certainly not an unfair assessment, and the assessor is an honest man.
But it’s in the backdrop of continued shenanigans in the state legislature, since the Bears have suddenly discovered that Chicago votes.
“A state representative from the northwest suburbs is working on a proposal that would send Chicago millions of dollars to compensate for the loss of the team and provide the Bears financial help too.
“I want to make Chicago whole. I think we should make Chicago whole if they’re going to leave, and it’s not gonna cost the Bears anything and it’s not going to cost the state anything,’ said state Rep. Martin Moylan.
Rep. Moylan says he is talking to stakeholders about a $3 tax on all tickets sold at the new stadium in Arlington Heights. The tax would not just be for Bears games but for concerts and other events held at the stadium as well.“
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/pritzker-bears-dont-need-taxpayer-funds?taid=6449acfb4a2bbb00016895b5&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter
https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-bears-arlington-heights-stadium-legislation-20230421-quebyeig6jcodnzd6f4me7jxgq-story.html
As I recall, Foley bought a small share (15%?) of the arena for $30m or so the same year it opened… with a construction cost of $375m or thereabouts.
In other words, just as they were paying for the last dollar of construction the facility’s market value was about $150m less than it cost to build.
But these places are tremendous for the community and have untold economic impacts….
I sincerely doubt if you called up AEG and MGM and offered them that price for the arena they would take it. They gave Foley a discounted price to get him to put the team in their arena as opposed to one of the others in Vegas
Doesn’t matter. If they sold 15% of the asset for that price then the valuation is an easy calculation.
And as an assessor (I believe you said above you either are or were one, is that correct?) I’m sure you know that single purpose sports facilities are often assessed at a value significantly below construction cost as they (unlike most commercial buildings) tend to have very, very limited sale potential. Vegas may be a bit of an outlier in that regard given the sheer number of acts/shows that need a venue to perform in, but it also has quite a number of options (growing all the time) as you point out above.
No it does matter. This wasn’t an arms length transaction. Valuations (especially for tax purposes) are based on arms length transactions. If you sold your house to your wife for $1 that’s doesn’t mean thats what your house is worth
For a guy with (supposedly) no leverage, the owner of the A’s certainly got the governor of Nevada dancing to his tune.
“Madam, we have already established what you are. All we are doing now is haggling over price”.
Awesome screen name
Mr. SDnH!
Wow Neil! Followed the link for “The Scene is Now” and I must gasp, they
are…..something!
As Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo memorably wrote in liner notes 30+ years ago: You can never say enough about The Scene Is Now.
Once again, thanks for the great links! They are always
* checks notes * incredibly ‘something’…..
On the RFK site, if Manchin is so hot on it, I think he can find some space in Charleston.
Also why would Manchin be involved here. Most people in WV seem to follow the Steelers and not Washington. Seems like a silly thing to waste time on, considering his constituents.
Because for reasons that are too depressing to explain, the District of Columbia is not a state, and therefore congress gets to make a lot of choices for the citizens of the district, even though the district has no voting representation in congress. And, in this case, it’s because the RFK site is on Federal land.
Manchin is the swing vote on this, apparently. It has nothing at all to do with his constituents or which team they like.
Because, we’re told, that’s what the Founders wanted and, of course, the Founders were never wrong. Even though, of course, they were wrong about a lot of things.
Manchin is such a guttersnipe.
He’s got a popular challenger who I hope wipes the floor with his oneself…..