This was a rough week for anyone in the U.S. who is an immigrant or looks like they might be, is trans, might ever need an abortion, is Palestinian, is a federal government employee, is a local government employee, is an employee of anything that depends on international trade, lives near sea level or in places that get hot or are at risk of hurricanes, likes democracy, or cares about a relative, friend, or neighbor who does. Not that it would have been an amazing week for most of those people if the presidential election results had gone another way, but a whole lot of folks are somewhere on the spectrum from anxious to terrified right now, so if you need to check in with each other right now before getting back to life as we know it, that’s not only reasonable, it’s a fine tradition.
And now, whenever you’re ready, back to sports stadium and arena life as we know it:
- The owners of Sacramento Republic F.C., who now include the Wilton Rancheria Native American tribe by are still led by minority owner Kevin Nagle, announced plans for a new stadium, and almost none of the news coverage bothered to provide details of how it would be paid for, even those that reported on how it was announced to the tune of “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Finally, way at the bottom of a KCRA-TV report, we learn that the city of Sacramento is expected to put up $92 million in infrastructure money from property taxes on 220 acres surrounding the stadium, plus provide free police, fire, EMS, traffic, and other services for the next ten years. The city council is set to vote on the plan Tuesday, so that leaves three whole days to gather feedback, two of which are weekend days and the third is a holiday when city offices are closed, this is fine.
- Bridgeport is considering a minor-league soccer stadium that would cost at least $75 million and which would likely include public funds, and Baltimore is considering a minor-league soccer stadium with no known price tag or details on how to pay for it, and Fort Wayne is considering a minor-league soccer stadium that is promised will be “100% privately financed” but we’ve heard that before.
- Cleveland and Cuyahogo County are continuing to look for ways to fill their budget gap for paying for future upgrades for the Guardians and Cavaliers, and county executive Chris Ronayne says options are “not yet concrete” because “it’s a conversation that’s probably also going to have to include the public.” Signal Cleveland speculates that this could include going back to voters to approve another tax increase, unless Clevelanders go back to drinking and smoking at their old rates, which might not be as likely as you would think.
- Nearly 95% of campaign donations by U.S. sports team owners went to Republican candidates or causes, according to a Guardian review of donor filings, which, duh, Charles Barkley could have told you that.
- How are Inglewood business owners around the Los Angeles Rams‘ new stadium and Los Angeles Clippers‘ new arena loving all the new foot traffic? Not so much! “One of my lowest sales days was on Super Bowl Sunday” because of street closures, said a local bakery owner at a press conference this week. “I literally made under $600 for the day. I had to send employees home, and you’re just looking around like, ‘What in the world?'” Checks out!
- Did a major news site just run an item reporting wild economic impact projections for a proposed Buffalo soccer stadium without saying who conducted the study, while the byline partly credits a City Hall press release? Sure did! Please give to support your independent nonprofit or collectively owned news media, we might just be needing them the next year or four.
I’m not sure I see the upside to building soccer stadiums with four-digit capacities in smaller cities that might not have the numbers to fill them anyway (primarily because the would-be tenants’ growth potential is highly limited due to the artificially blocked path to the “top flight” league, but I digress).
People might point to the non-soccer stuff that could take place there — college/high school football games, community events, concerts, etc — but it doesn’t seem like there’s any more of a “there” there with these projects. At least not any more than in cities that might actually fancy itself a contender for future MLS expansion (which, tbf, the bar for that at this point might low enough to include towns like Burlington, VT).
Yeah, and if your community needs a bandshell or a mini version of Red Rocks or a 400 seat version of the Hollywood bowl or what have you, then you should just build that… and not blow tens of millions on a soccer stadium that can also accommodate the occasional concert or open mike/jug band night.
Building sports stadia to “host” other events is quite a bit like opening an international airport with 4 10,000ft runways for a local flying club that owns a Cessna 150.
Don’t knock Sacramento…that’s now a two major league sport city…NBA and MLB!
If your city is going to act big league you’ve got to give away big league money!
And here I thought you were relatively smart.
You’re going to have to be more specific.
Well, saying people living near sea level need to be more or less stressed based on how a presidential election goes is mind-numbingly stupid. That’s one thing
Did you click on the link?
Florida and Arizona are going to be just fine because…people already live there. That’s logical, right?
Yes, it’s unhinged hysterical nonsense.
“did you click on the link” as if I have not already been following these things closely for years, far more closely than you
Not sure whether it’s the news that Trump plans to roll back limits on carbon emissions or the very fact of climate change itself that you think is “unhinged hysterical nonsense,” but either way, thanks for your perspective!
Here’s the link, for anyone who missed it above:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-climate-pollution-oil-gas-clean-energy-f6ad39e23613396a7536fb1dc25fca62
Continual increases in your housing insurance, or an outright denial of coverage, won’t be “unhinged hysterical nonsense.” And that was already happening under an administration with sympathetic policy! Even if you’re nowhere near affected areas, prepare to get soaked, because your carrier is paying more claims and choosing to renew smaller and smaller pools.
I’m sure those sources you follow ever-so-closely will have a convenient scapegoat ready for you, though. I understand Tucker Carlson was somehow trying to blame hurricanes on abortion…?
I thought Tucker Carlson said hurricanes were caused by demons.
Given that one side at least proposed reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, while the other side proposed even greater reliance upon them coupled with the complete elimination of pollution controls and the regulatory framework which enforces them, yeah, I think those of us who live near a coast and have just had our asses kicked by two very strong and damaging hurricanes that would have been unheard of 30 years ago have a lot to be worried about.
Those hurricanes would not be unheard of 30 years ago, how painfully ignorant and credulous are you? We have records of hurricanes, you know
Hurricanes are on average much stronger now than 30 years ago, and the science of how that’s related to climate change is extremely well established:
https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2024-05-31-hurricanes-stronger-climate-change
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42251921
https://thedaily.case.edu/how-climate-change-is-powering-stronger-hurricanes/
(etc.)
When the only thing you want is to read about the status of new sports stadiums in City X for Team Y, you learn to filter out the author’s injection of his personal politics. I’ve been tempted to donate to him multiple times but his diatribes keep getting in the way. Maybe someday he’ll learn that most people simply want unbiased information and the lack thereof is why journalism is a dying industry.
There is a conference underway in Baku, and every country in the world except one is participating. One country actually is proud to increase it’s dependence on fossil fuels while denying that global warming exists. By the way, what percentage of greedy sports team owners are tRump supporters?
The concern trolling season has started early this year, I see.
I think it’s really interesting to regularly patronize a site that demonstrates the manner in which the public is repeatedly stuck bearing the costs of private for-profit interests, ones who routinely lie about the actual impact of their interests on the public, and just not consider the larger implications of that knowledge.
So sorry that reality is not conforming to your prejudices.
Reporting science is not bias. It is the opposite of bias.
Journalism is “dying” because a huge portion of the population would rather be told comforting lies than face complicated truths.
And we are going to just keep sleepwalking into one disaster after another.
Before Sacramento gives away its taxpayers’ money for this minor-league stadium, they should consider that a brand new arena for minor league teams was just opened in Oceanside, using no taxpayer money. The investors paid the entire cost of more than $80 million. (Source: https://www.kpbs.org/news/living/2024/09/05/oceansides-frontwave-arena-nears-completion-with-a-lineup-of-events )
Sacramento’s politicians ought to tell the Sac Republic owners that they can do the same.
Thanks for the link… very interesting.
Why must city councils make decisions without community input? Sacramento is broke and has a major homeless issue. A soccer team is great. Why should the city pay for the rest? It’s not right to give away money without a least debating it. Gutless
We know the answer to these questions. City councils make these decisions with a minimum of open community input because they’re vastly unpopular with their actual constituents, and because the team ownership uses heavy pressure and scam tactics to push them to act without proper consideration. And the city “should pay for the rest” because it increases team profitability and shifts risk onto the city. It’s all a scam to funnel money at public risk to private interest, like almost everything else governments do these days thanks to the rise of oligarchy in this country.
Yup, that.
Pretty sure it’s mentioned in the book, but one super-instructive moment in our research was going to a stadium-builders’ conference and watching a panel of team execs debate whether it’s best to avoid any kind of public votes on deals, because you don’t want to be at the mercy of democracy, or embrace public votes because they give you legitimacy if you win and you can usually win if you throw enough money at a pro-stadium campaign. Welcome to the oligarchocene.
A foolish billionaire paid $1,300,000,000 for an NHL franchise that had been losing money for 30 years and later realized hockey wouldn’t fit in his arena. Easy solution, just ask the state legislature and city council for $1,000,000,000 in sales tax money. Forget the thousands of homeless, the motel taken over by drug dealers and that your city is overdue for a 7.5 earthquake and has hundreds of unreinforced masonry buildings. When you bluster how your billion dollar hockey scheme will revitalize downtown, you are either, 1. Totally delusional or 2. A total liar. You just took on the first billion in losses this hockey club will rack up, and don’tbe surprised when the owner comes back for more. What you did is so disgusting that I won’t even mention your city’s name, nor will most suburban residents who have fled from your city and consider your city to be Satan’s lair.
It may be a minor point… but it is possible to be both completely delusional AND a total liar.
Just sayin’
On the topic of the rays and the recent election…
Could Rays stadium plans fall through after Pinellas County Commission shakeup?
They have until March 31, 2025, to issue bonds to pay for the stadium or the deal will fall apart.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/2024/11/08/rays-stadium-deal-pinellas-commission/
… the salient point is that the new commissioners aren’t so keen on spending what with so much damage after the recent storms…
Or one, Chris Scherer, isn’t so keen, anyway. I haven’t been able to find statements by Vince Nowicki about what his position is on the stadium deal, though the fact that the Rays gave a ton of money to his opponent is certainly a hint.
More on this Monday.
Stick to stadiums and leave all your personal biases out. You’re ruining your own site.
We have our first “stick to stadiums”! Everybody drink!
Chin chin
L’chaim
Cheers
Prost
Bottoms up
Skull
kanpai
Slainte