Would love to have a witty introduction for you here, but it’s late enough already and this week’s bullet points are far too juicy to wait any longer!
- Lobbyists for the Portland Trail Blazers worked to get city councilmembers on board spending $600 million on a renovation for the team’s arena by threatening that their political careers would suffer if they didn’t, according to one councilmember, who said team representatives “made it clear that elected officials will be blamed if the team leaves Portland.” History shows that elected officials are far more likely to be removed from office by voters angry that they gave public funds to sports team owners, but when did lobbyists ever let facts get in the way of a good extortion scheme?
- Hillsborough County commissioners could vote April 1 on using $467 million in sales tax surcharge money on a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium, just two years after voters approved extending the tax on the condition that it not be used for new stadiums. “We have not even began to collect that tax,” Commissioner Joshua Wostal told the Tampa Bay Times, “and here is a suggestion that we already deceive the taxpayers that we made a promise to no less than two years ago.” If the county commission approves that money, the Tampa city council could be asked to vote the next day on the stadium plan, which would involve a total of $2.25 billion in public cash, land, and tax breaks.
- Once the A’s (presumably) move to Las Vegas in 2028, Sacramento will be ready to host an MLB expansion team — just as soon as it has a stadium and an owner and an expansion team. “I think MLB is going to give a hard, hard look at Sacramento with only one team in Northern California,” said Sacramento Mayor/self-proclaimed “sports guy” who read Field of Schemes but missed the part about why tax breaks are the same as cash gifts Kevin McCarty.
- The former Ford engine plant where the Cleveland Browns want to build their stadium complex is too polluted to use for housing, but Browns officials are convinced they can do cleanup at the site and get the needed approvals. They may also need to find a new source of $600 million, of course, but Cleveland.com assures us that “state lawmakers from the governor on down have already shown their willingness to find a way to fund the project,” and being willing to pay is the same thing as having the money to pay, right?
- Former L.A. County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who wrote the premier report on why the 2028 L.A. Olympics needed to secure an agreement with the IOC for L.A. not to be on the hook for Olympic losses, says now that city officials moved ahead without such an agreement, “I don’t believe that anyone in the city knows what the books are now.” He’s very likely not wrong!
- The Orange County Tourist Development Council voted unanimously last week to set aside $20 million to host either the 2029 or 2030 NBA All-Star Game and $15 million to host the 2028 Olympic qualifiers, if it’s picked for either of those, because surely those will work out well.
- New England Revolution owner Robert Kraft will guarantee $8 million in security costs for 2026 men’s World Cup games in Foxborough, Massachusetts, ending a standoff that was threatening to prevent matches from being held there.
- Is the USL really going to be able to launch a new top-tier division to compete with MLS at the same time as teams are folding? The Guardian looked into it and came back with a decided “uhhhh, maybe?“