Category: Southern Maryland Blue Crabs

Maryland approves $1.8B in stadium subsidies one day after New York approves $1B in stadium subsidies

access_time personNeil deMause

Anyhoo, time to come down from the daily Buffalo Bills watch and take some time to decompress from the mad rush to a billion-dollar-plus subsidy in under two weeks, let’s take a look at today’s news for WHAT TH—

I am pleased to announce that over this weekend and on the eve of Opening Day in Baltimore, the Maryland State legislature passed an historic initiative committing $1.2 billion in public funding from the State of Maryland for reinvestment in and reimagination of the Camden Yards Sports Complex. This marks the second-largest public commitment of funding to a Major League Baseball public-private sports partnership, second only to the 2009 construction of the new Yankee Stadium.

That’s an oddly phrased flex, Baltimore Orioles CEO John Angelos — “We got the public to cough up more money than anytime since the Yankees snookered New York out of even more” — but the basics of it are more or less accurate: The Maryland legislature over the weekend approved $600 million in bond capacity for renovations to the Orioles’ stadium, and another $600 million for renovations to the Ravens‘ stadium. They also okayed $400 million for “infrastructure” around the Washington Commanders‘ stadium in Prince George’s County, though according to the Washington Post, “early conversations between the county and the stadium authority” would “curtail” the cash from being used for things like team offices and a training center; and also approved $200 million in minor-league baseball stadium money, because it wouldn’t be fair to leave the Delmarva Shorebirds out of the fun.

What will the Orioles and Ravens owners do with their loot, given that both have stadiums that are well-liked and are 30 and 24 years old, respectively? They don’t know yet, and they don’t have to know: The legislature didn’t approve bonds for anything in particular, it just granted the Maryland Stadium Authority the right to sell $1.8 billion in bonds for stadium thingies, to be repaid by future state proceeds from lottery ticket sales. (Or, if people stop buying lottery tickets between now and 2052, state general funds. Gamble like your state finances depend on it, Marylanders!) It’s a set of stadium slush funds, in other words, that the teams can draw from for whatever they like — any Commanders curtailment by the county excepted — so long as the Maryland Stadium Authority approves. (Spoiler: The Maryland Stadium Authority will approve.)

The Maryland stadium deals share more in common with the Bills deal than just a billion-dollar-plus price tag: In both cases, governors pushed through legislation in a matter of days at the tail end of the legislative session with little public debate. The Bills subsidy has its slush-fundy aspects, too — New York state’s “maintenance” funding can be spent on things like security costs if the Bills owners want. (Spoiler: The Bills owners will want.)

It wasn’t that long ago that people were legitimately asking whether the golden age of stadium subsidies had passed, now that Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke had built a multi-billion-dollar stadium largely with his own money, and the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland A’s owners were struggling to get public cash for their stadium dreams. Then, in one weekend, upwards of $2 billion in government money went toward paying for goodies for billionaire sports team owners. I think it’s fair to say that we’re only going to see more stadium demands from other team owners in the near future: The ante has been upped, and the only thing that can stop this or even slow it down is if the nation’s legislative officials collectively put their hands on the public purse. (Spoiler: … you know.)

Share this post:

Maryland house approves $600m in Commanders and minor-league baseball subsidies for, you know, stuff

access_time personNeil deMause

Okay, enough about art, let’s get back to the stadium news, where the Maryland state house yesterday voted 121-10 to approve $400 million in subsidies for development around the Washington Commanders‘ stadium, but not actually for a new or renovated stadium. What does this mean, exactly? Let’s let the Washington Post attempt to explain:

Maryland’s plan would use the Maryland Stadium Authority to funnel cash from the state lottery to Prince George’s County, which could use the $400 million to build infrastructure and a “sports entertainment facility” in the area surrounding the team’s current home.

Okay, not a stadium, but a “sports entertainment facility.” What’s that, exactly?

The current Maryland proposal does not directly invest in the Commanders or team owner Daniel Snyder, who already owns more than 200 acres surrounding FedEx Field and has a complicated relationship with Maryland power brokers.

Got it, not for a stadium. But what would the money be used for?

The Commanders and governments are exploring building a mini-city around a new stadium, with homes, restaurants, retail, office space and public amenities to make the area a year-round destination. The pitch Maryland officials developed included a bikeway, an elevated pedestrian bridge and a field house with basketball and volleyball courts. The vision relocated the stadium within a 15-minute walk of the Metro system.

Who would build this? Who would own it? Who would get the rents or sale prices from the homes, restaurants, etc.? Argh, we’re going to have to go read the damn bill ourselves, aren’t we? Fine, here it is, what’s it say:

“PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY BLUE LINE CORRIDOR FACILITY” MEANS A FACILITY LOCATED WITHIN THE PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY BLUE LINE CORRIDOR THAT IS:
(1) A CONVENTION CENTER;
(2) AN ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT AMPHITHEATER; AND
(3) ANY OTHER FUNCTIONALLY RELATED STRUCTURES, IMPROVEMENTS, INFRASTRUCTURE, FURNISHINGS, OR EQUIPMENT OF THE FACILITY, INCLUDING PARKING GARAGES.

So, could be new parking garages for the Commanders, despite all the talk of making the stadium more mass-transit accessible. Beyond that, though, the bill appears to mostly kick the actual spending proposal to the county, which surely will not look at this $400 million as a windfall of state money and therefore not spend too much time worrying about who it goes to benefit.

But wait, there’s more! The bill also includes $200 million for “sports entertainment facilities,” which turn out to have nothing to do with development around the Commanders stadium, but rather are minor-league baseball stadiums throughout the state:

(1) “SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT FACILITY” MEANS A STRUCTURE OR OTHER IMPROVEMENT IN THE STATE AT WHICH MINOR LEAGUE GAMES ARE PLAYED OR OTHER NON–MAJOR LEAGUE SPORTING EVENTS ARE HELD. (2) “SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT FACILITY” INCLUDES PARKING LOTS, GARAGES, AND ANY OTHER PROPERTY ADJACENT AND DIRECTLY RELATED TO A FACILITY DESCRIBED UNDER PARAGRAPH (1) OF THE SUBSECTION.

This minor-league slush fund, which could benefit the Aberdeen IronBirds, Bowie Baysox, Frederick Keys, Hagerstown Suns, Delmarva Shorebirds and Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, was first proposed by the Maryland Stadium Authority back in February, to accompany a proposal to spend $1.2 billion on renovations to the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles stadiums. It now appears to have been severed legislatively from that plan, which is still being pushed by Gov. Larry Hogan, and sutured onto the Commanders development bill.

All this is happening very fast, because — stop me if you’ve heard this one before — the legislative session only has a few days left to go, so this needs to be voted on fast, no time for reading or debating! The bill now heads to the state senate, which hasn’t even held a single hearing on it, but no worries, plenty of time for all that before the session expires on, uh, Monday night? Yeah, it’s all fine, there’s nothing good on TV this weekend anyway, this is democracy as it’s supposed to work, yup.

Share this post:

Maryland authority wants to spend $1.4b in state money on Orioles, Ravens, minor-league baseball stadiums

access_time personNeil deMause

This came out of nowhere, and for some reason got reported in two separate articles by the same Baltimore Sun reporter: The Maryland Stadium Authority, which built and owns the home stadiums of the Baltimore Orioles and Ravens, is set to propose state legislation to establish a pair of giant stadium spending funds: one a $1.2 billion pool for stadium upgrades for the two Baltimore teams, and the other a $200 million fund to renovate the minor-league baseball stadiums of the Aberdeen IronBirds, Bowie Baysox, Frederick Keys, Hagerstown Suns, Delmarva Shorebirds and Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.

Stadium authority chair Thomas Kelso told the Sun that the Orioles and Ravens spending — more than three times what it cost to build those teams’ stadiums in the first place — is necessary to ensure that the teams don’t leave town, though Orioles ownership has promised that “the Orioles will never leave Baltimore” and the Ravens have only just started talks for a lease extension once their stadium turns 30 years old in 2027.

“The longer we can extend the life of these stadiums, the better it is for Baltimore City, Maryland and the teams, and that’s part of the goal here,” said Kelso. “The way people watch sports continues to morph from more traditional ‘buy a ticket and sit in a seat’ to something that’s completely different. And our teams need to have that flexibility.”

As for the minor-league stadium spending fund, a different MSA official, executive director Michael Frenz, told the Sun: “Major League Baseball has reorganized their minor league system. Cities have lost teams, and the primary reason has been the adequacy of their facilities. This will help Maryland’s municipalities keep their minor league teams.”

In fact, three of the teams eligible for the funding are not part of MLB’s affiliated minor-league system: The Blue Crabs have always been part of the independent Atlantic League (now an MLB “partner” league); the Keys got bounced to the unpaid college-player MLB Draft League; and the Suns currently don’t exist, though they’re set to join the Atlantic League next year in a new stadium that the Maryland legislature approved spending $59.5 million on last year.

To pay off the potential $1.4 billion in stadium renovation debt, the stadium authority would be allowed to tap into future state lottery revenues — money that currently goes to state education spending and the state’s general fund, as well as finishing paying off the state’s $20 million a year in debt on the Orioles and Ravens stadiums. “If we took the lottery out, we couldn’t afford what we provide now,” state Department of Legislative Services director Warren Deschenaux said in 2015, a quote that hopefully will be brought up in the upcoming legislative debates over the MSA’s stadium spending bills.

This mammoth spending plan is far from a done deal: The MSA can only ask for the money, and it’s up to the legislature to determine whether to provide it. But this is clearly an attempt to frame this as “Let’s address all of our sports teams’ ‘needs’ in one $1.4 billion fell swoop, never forget what happened with the Colts” — even if the true lesson of the Colts’ midnight relocation should be “if you’re going to use eminent domain to try to keep a team in town, sign the bill before the moving trucks have time to pack up.” And the Orioles and Ravens are unlikely to leave town, and certainly unlikely to leave if they were only offered a fraction of $1.2 billion in taxpayer money. And one of the minor-league teams that the MSA is afraid baseball will jettison has already been jettisoned, one was never part of organized ball to begin with, and the third is already getting a new state-funded stadium.

There are plot holes in this that you could drive a fleet of Mayflower moving vans through, in other words, but that hasn’t stopped this sort of public spending before, and with Gov. Larry Hogan already warning that he intends to dump a huge pile of money on the Orioles to get them to renew their lease at America’s favorite stadium, that has to give the MSA’s proposal a leg up as it heads to the legislature. More reaction to come soon, I assume, but suffice to say that another huge front has just opened up in the forever war over sports subsidies.

Share this post: