Tons more stadium and arena news to get to this week, so let’s dive right in without preamble:
- Minnesota Twins CEO Dave St. Peter told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that revenue from the team’s new stadium is what allowed the team to build a winning ballclub. The Twins actually made the postseason more times in their last decade in the Metrodome (five times) than in their first decade in Target Field (three times), and skimped on adding expensive players at the trade deadline this summer before running its postseason winless streak to 16 games across 15 seasons, but one of the nice things about being a CEO is that you can say things in the newspaper without getting fact-checked.
- The Carolina Panthers got a break on their property tax assessment from county officials that will cut their annual tax bill from $5.7 million to $4.7 million, though team execs still want it cut to closer to the $1.8 million they paid last year before it was reappraised this year, and also they already don’t pay any taxes on the land under the stadium because they lease that from the city. The rich really are different from you and me: They can get their taxes lowered just by asking, that is when they don’t get to avoid paying taxes at all.
- Also, a clause in Nashville’s lease with Nashville S.C. requiring the soon-to-be MLS team to play at least one game in Nashville in any 24-month period has the team’s financiers balking at loaning money for the stadium — presumably because they’re afraid MLS will up and disappear for a couple of seasons, maybe as part of a labor stoppage, who knows — so the city may just delete that clause. Seriously, lord grant me the negotiating powers of a mediocre rich man.
- Golden State Warriors fans are pleased to discover that their team’s new arena isn’t just in the middle of the San Francisco Giants infield, plus it has a really really big scoreboard. But maybe it won’t be as loud as their old arena in Oakland? Or maybe this was just because it was an exhibition game? At least you can enter a lottery to win the right to buy one of 250 tickets per game priced at $25, without which the cheapest opening day seat would be $188, which taken together is the most 2019 factoid I can imagine.
- Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and New York Knicks owner James Dolan are still fighting over Ballmer’s plans for a new arena in Inglewood, and they will fight eternally.
- The U.S. Supreme Court has given a final dismissal to a case charging that the car rental tax used by Arizona to fund sports facilities was unconstitutional because the money wasn’t being used for transportation projects.
- There are 52 pro sports stadiums located in the new Trump-created Opportunity Zones, according to research by Billionaire Boondoggle author Pat Garofalo, which means they’re eligible for some kind of future tax breaks on appreciated value, though still nobody seems quite sure exactly how that works no matter how many FAQs the IRS adds about Opportunity Zones.
- The Tampa Bay Rays weren’t the only team to play a postseason game before a less-than-capacity crowd: The Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals did too, though in the latter case maybe partly because of games that started in the afternoon, though games have started in the afternoon before and still sold out, so draw your own conclusions about the death of baseball or whatever.
- The Halifax CFL stadium proposal isn’t dead yet, but it’s close, with city councillors readying a motion to kill the $110 million plan because its funding plan is too hazy, which it really is.
- The Boston Bruins‘ and Celtics‘ arena may have to replace all its seats again after installing new ones that eliminated any leg room to add more padding. This seems like the sort of thing that somebody should have tested out before ordering all new seats, but hey, that’s just me!
- The Pimlico renovation subsidy battle has now entered into the former owner suing his own daughter phase.
- The city of Santa Clara has voted again to remove the San Francisco 49ers as manager of their stadium, after the first vote might have been illegal because it took place in closed session. Glad we worked that out!
- The Hamilton County Commission approved a plan that will involve spending $30 million to relocate a concrete plant so the county can build a music venue next to the Cincinnati Bengals stadium, with the Bengals helping out by forgoing $30 million in future payments from the county, though the team will also now get free parking space on the land. The music venue is reportedly needed because the waterfront is “an area starved for attention outside of Bengals and Reds games,” which maybe is something to keep in mind the next time you hear that a sports stadium will be enough to revitalize an underused area.
- In completely unrelated news, here’s an article about a Columbus bar owner who is hoping that the new Crew soccer stadium being built nearby will be a windfall for her business.