Dollars & Sense - All Glass Everything

The latest wave of stadium renovations has brought about some imaginative ideas for how to build a mega sports palace.  When the pockets of billionaire owners are deepened by the seemingly endless yet also cash-strapped wallets of their city and state governments – and by extension, your wallet, if you live there – the imagination roams free with uninhibited reckless abandon. 

If you have not seen the designs for the Minnesota Vikings’ new stadium plan, then you should surely check them out.  The all-glass structure to let the beautiful sunlight in through its non-retractable roof looks to be on the same futuristic level as the Atlanta Falcons’ new stadium design.  Some say it looks like it should be on a Sandcrawler.  I think it looks like one of those robots from the old show Robot Wars.

 

Whatever your opinion is of the design, we can at least all agree that it is an ode to excess.  Just as the Falcons design is.  Just as is Marlins Park or Cowboy Stadium or the new Yankee Stadium.  

And as the rich get rich and we continue to privatize profits while publicizing debts, it is impossible to ignore the hefty price tag that will fall squarely on the shoulders of the Minnesota (namely Minneapolis) taxpayers. 

In total, the price tag of the new stadium is estimated to be in the $975 million range (I can’t imagine what they had to give up to keep the tag under $1 billion).  Almost half, $427 million to be exact, will come from the Vikings and a loan from the NFL.  The rest - $548 million – will come from the state of Minnesota ($398 million) and the city of Minneapolis ($150 million).  That means the Vikings’ new stadium will be 54% publicly financed, fourth most out of the last 10 NFL stadiums built.

According to Forbes, Minnesota senator John Marty estimated that under the current financing structure, the new Vikings stadium would cost the taxpayers $77.30 per ticket per game for 30 years.  And apparently the estimated does not even include the tax exemptions that the Vikings and the construction will receive in yet another sweetheart lease deal.

Funding for the project is already hitting a snag as the state tax on electronic pull tabs that was supposed to generate the first wave of revenue has come up short.  This is all coming from a state government that has already proposed $2 billion in new taxes and looked to cut $150 million from the state Health and Human Services budget that has already sustained over $1 billion in reductions in the past two years.  Oh yea, the state has a deficit of $627 million too (yes it is progress from the $1.1 billion that it was when Gov. Dayton took over two years ago).

Meanwhile, the anti-public-funding for the stadium oppositions continues to gain traction.  The problem is not necessarily that the rich get richer; it is how they are doing it.  We are living in a day and age where we pay more, get less, and are left wondering where exactly our money is going.  The people of Minnesota know where this money is going, and it is going straight into the pockets of Vikings owner Zygi Wilf and the NFL. 

With the government strapped for cash, their actions should be rooted in righting the course, not playing into billionaire profiteering.  If only the world were as transparent as the new Vikings’ stadium will be.

Follow Kevin Rossi on Twitter @kevin_rossi.

Dollars & Sense - Atlanta Falcons New Stadium

Sometimes I like to joke with people about being old.  Deep down, I know I'm not old.  But do you know what really makes me feel old?  The Atlanta Falcons have received financing for a new $1 billion stadium.  Their current stadium was built in 1992...

On Tuesday, Drew Rosen wrote about the Carolina Panthers looking for $250 million to $300 million in funds for renovations for their stadium.  They asked the city of Charlotte and the state of North Carolina for a total of $184.5 million of that $250 million total price tag.  To make matters all the more infuriating, Deadspin had acquired documents that pegged the Panthers' profit over the 2011 and 2012 seasons at almost $100 million.

The Falcons Stadium construction asked for $200 million of the $1 billion price tag to be tax payer funded.  Sure, percentage-wise it's not too high compared to the Panthers' ask, but $200 million is no small number for the currently cash-strapped government.  

(Interested in reading more about sports welfare? Check out Dave Zirin's "Bad Sports")

As if billionaire owners asking struggling cities for hundreds of millions of dollars for stadiums is not enough, just look at who exactly the owner of the Atlanta Falcons is.  

Arthur Blank.

If his name does not ring the bell of irony in this matter, I'll give you a quick lowdown.  Arthur Blank is the 70 year old billionaire owner of the Falcons.  Do you know how he made his fortune?  He made his fortune by being the - wait for it - co-founder of The Home Depot.  You know, the same orange Home Depot that preaches do it yourself.  

In the case of the Panthers, the city and state turned down their proposal.  And rightfully so.  Could threats of moving to Los Angeles be next?  Eh, maybe, only time will tell there.  The Falcons' proposal, though, was accepted.  

Although the Falcons' proposal for $200 million of their stadium to be taxpayer funded was accepted, it has not come without its public relations struggles.  According to an article published on Monday in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, groups are demanding a public vote on whether or not the city of Atlanta should be throwing so much taxpayer money towards the project.

I commend Charlotte and the state of North Carolina for holding their ground against the Panthers.  I also hope that the people of Atlanta vote against their money being used.  In a time where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, sports welfare has no place.  It's time for these billionaire owners to do it themselves.

Follow Kevin Rossi on Twitter @kevin_rossi.

Dollars & Sense - Bad Sports is a Must Read

If you know me, then you know that I spend a majority of my time reading, writing, and generally thinking a lot.  I always try to use any and all of the channels of communication at my disposal to get people to think.  If people think, read, and educate themselves, then they are in prime position to make meaningful and positive change.

When I read a book, I read to find out if it is a book that does just that.  Does it make you think?  Does it challenge the current way of doing things?  I recently finished Bad Sports by Dave Zirin, and it is a book that surely makes you think.  It is certainly a must read for anybody in or looking to break into the sportsbiz.

Bad Sports takes you through various examples of destructive and incompetent ownership, sports welfare through stadium/arena building, and offers one underlying solution to these two huge issues.  Zirin, currently writing for The Nation, does a fantastic job taking some of the most gruesome examples of ownership debauchery and brings them to light.  The way he outlines the rich-get-richer scheme that sports is currently modeled as is truly maddening.

Before you read this, especially if you are simply a sports “fan,” you probably do not see many issues.  You may see some things here and there that bother you, but nothing that requires a complete changing of the current system.  This book shows that there is not only a problem with ownership but perhaps an epidemic of bad ownership. 

The thing that really caught my attention was the fact that in American sports, the players are always blamed.  I never really thought about it before, but it is true.  Sure we blame owners a little bit, but the players are always the ones that carry a bulk of the burden.  It was interesting to see this in contrast to the ownership-fan relationship that the Tom Hicks and Liverpool had with their fans.  The fans hated him virtually from the beginning and even tried to band together and buy the team from Hicks. 

It all brings you to Zirin’s solution to the problem which is public ownership of sports franchises.  This would give the people a say in the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on lavish renovations and brand new facilities.  Does it really make sense for a multi-billionaire to rely on tax-payer dollars to fund a stadium project especially when it comes at the expense of infrastructure, schools, and anything else requiring immediate public funds?  Though it seems like a logical and feasible solution, both the National Football League and Major League Baseball have all but outlawed this as an allowable ownership structure.  The Green Bay Packers, the only publicly owned team, were essentially grandfathered in and until there is a change, will never be allowed again.

I highly suggest Bad Sports by Dave Zirin to anybody looking to get into the sports industry.  The book may make you think twice about the industry you think you know and love.

Follow Kevin Rossi on Twitter @kevin_rossi.