As Charlotte residents debate Panthers stadium plan, city leaders inflate how much team owner would kick in

The Charlotte city council yesterday held its sole public comment period on its proposed $650 million Carolina Panthers subsidy before the day of its final vote, and apparently local residents had as hard time as me figuring out when and where exactly it was being held, because only 23 people showed up to speak. (It was also in the middle of a work day.) Of those, 15 were in favor, six were opposed, and two had mixed feelings, with comments ranging from that this would be an “investment [that] directly benefits our community” to “if [the current stadium is] good enough for Beyoncé, it’s good enough for half the city.”

That doesn’t tell us much about overall public sentiment, so I want to instead focus on this paragraph from the Charlotte Business Journal’s article on the public comment session:

While Tepper Sports is slated to pay 19%, or $150 million, of the four-year, $800 million renovation tab spanning 2025 through 2029, both parties calculate Tepper Sports’ investment at $688 million overall. That figure includes $117 million spent on improvements between 2018 and 2024 as well as an estimated $421 million more for anticipated stadium investments over the rest of the deal between 2029 and 2045.

A bunch of things here:

• “Both parties” here means Panthers owner David Tepper and city officials, I guess, but since those are the two who are both in favor of the stadium project, it’s not really as universal an opinion as this makes it sound.
• Crediting Tepper for $117 million in money he already spent on upgrades over the last six years is an odd way to calculate a deal — it’s not like he’s going to travel back in time and undo that work if he doesn’t get $650 million in fresh city money. Also, Charlotte taxpayers put in at least $25 million toward those renovations, if we’re counting past private spending shouldn’t we count past public spending too?
• It appears that the $421 million in future improvements would be spread out over time from 2029 to 2045, meaning Tepper would only have to set aside about $250 million now to pay them off, while Charlotte taxpayers would be on the hook for their $650 million right now. (I also can’t find confirmation that Tepper would be committing to all that spending as opposed to just “expecting” to do it, though I’m still digging for the actual language.)
• Tepper owns the stadium and would receive all revenues from it, while Charlotte would just get a commitment that the team would stay put for 15 more years.

This is an excellent example of how to torture numbers until they show what you want them to: In this case, that the public covering between 60% and 80% of future renovation costs for a privately owned and operated football stadium is somehow an even split. Not that it particularly matters — the public doesn’t get a vote here, only the council will — but it’s probably always a good idea to cover your butt so as to avoid getting shot in it.