Author Topic: Should cities build ball league stadiums.  (Read 4447 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Old Rabbit

  • Species: Rabbit Artist
  • Birthday wisher.
  • *
  • Male
  • Posts: 16017
    • Art by Oldrabbit
Should cities build ball league stadiums.
« on: January 18, 2016, 12:24:43 pm »
Seems cities are always worrying about where some ball team is moving, and
think building a stadium will keep them. Perhaps it would, but it's bad for
the taxpayer.

I know major ball leagues playing in cities does increase tax revenue.  But
not enough to pay the cost of building the huge stadiums the leagues want.
Along with cost of maintaining them.

They make huge profits, then turn around and ask tax payers to fund their
playgrounds. I say let them build their own stadiums. The large cities shouldn't
worry. They would build them where the market is anyway, and the local governments
would get the tax revenue without spending all that tax money in the first place.

Some politicians say government needs to get out of the way of private interprise.
This would be a good way to start.
Avatar drawn by me.
oldrabbit.com

Offline cause the rat

  • Hero Member
  • Species: rat
  • *****
  • Male
  • Posts: 2032
Re: Should cities build ball league stadiums.
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2016, 05:18:16 pm »
No. because it doesn't guarantee you'll keep a team. We have a practically brand new domed stadium. Now the Rams want an open one. So they left. Probably more to it than that. Doesn't matter. They're not staying in St Louis. From what I understand the stadium will get plenty of use. So it's not going to be downtown dead space.

My tax money goes to pave roads. Keep schools open and maintained. Goes to pay for police, fire and all that. Pays for street lights and local, state and federal governments. Pays for snow plows and bridge maintenance.  All of this I'm more than happy to  do my part. To pay for a playground for the already overpaid? That's an insult. I benefit from all the above mentioned things. Except a stadium. The revenue generated from a stadium has no effect on anything where I live. So I don't think I should have to help pay for it.

As far as those who think government should get out of the way of privet enterprise. Remember just a few years ago when they de regulated banks? What kind of moron what's that to happen again.
It's been said that rats can gain access to your home by climbing up threw your toilet. I prefer to use the front door.

Offline Old Rabbit

  • Species: Rabbit Artist
  • Birthday wisher.
  • *
  • Male
  • Posts: 16017
    • Art by Oldrabbit
Re: Should cities build ball league stadiums.
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2016, 01:21:33 pm »
I think the leagues bank on the popularity of the teams to get the stadiums they want.
I am not much of a sports fan, So I probably look at it in a different light. I just can't see paying
hundreds of dollars to watch something I could see on video, and wouldn't care if I couldn't.  :P

Sports are fine for those who like it. :orbunny:
Avatar drawn by me.
oldrabbit.com

Offline Kobuk

  • The "Malamute Dewd"
  • Hero Member
  • Species: Anthro Alaskan Malamute (Husky)
  • #1 Dew drinker.
  • *****
  • Male
  • Posts: 28544
Re: Should cities build ball league stadiums.
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2016, 10:42:21 pm »
IMO, I think the only reason all these cities want new sports stadiums is to "out do" another city. It's simply one city trying to be "bigger and better" than another.  Bragging rights. :P  Same thing has been going on with convention centers across the nation. Sure, there are other reasons too like aging stadiums that need replacing, or stadiums that are too small. But to me, it's all about "My stadium is bigger and better than your stadium. LOL!"

Offline Literate Lycan

  • Full Member
  • Species: Gothic grey wolf
  • ***
  • Male
  • Posts: 219
Re: Should cities build ball league stadiums.
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2016, 03:28:32 am »
I don't believe that local or regional governments ought to be underwriting the entire cost of a sports complex for the primary benefit of a single team. However, even a large privately-funded project, whether it's a stadium, industrial park, shopping center, or whatever, usually incurs some kind of financial participation from the local governmental agency.

The Sacramento region, where I live, is a fairly large media market (about #20 nationally in size) with a single major-league sports team, the Kings. The previous owners had an increasingly strained relationship with the city and the fans, had no serious interest in building a new arena, and just wanted to sell the team to buyers in Seattle. Local civic and business leaders came together and put together an ownership group committed to keeping the team here, and outbid the other contenders. The NBA required a new arena to be built as a condition of approving the sale to the local buyers.

The team and the city chose a downtown location and agreed to split the costs roughly equally. There were several court challenges to the city's method of financing its share, but the court cases were all dismissed as the plaintiffs were unable to prove their claims of backroom deals, financial disaster, and gridlocked traffic. Construction started about a year ago and the new arena is more than halfway complete. Opposition seems to have receded into the shadows. The arena project has sparked a surge of investment in the surrounding area, including a new hotel, office space, and revitalizing older structures to bring in additional business. The arena itself won't be the biggest and flashiest in the NBA, but that's OK. It works for us.

Major league teams bring a certain recognition to a city which might not exist without the team. Sacramento is like that. We don't have a Fortune 500 company headquartered here. The biggest employer by far is the state government. We're less than 100 miles from San Francisco and there's a long, complex history of rivalries between the two cities which has lasted for a century and a half. There's a huge fan base in Sacramento for Bay Area teams, especially the 49ers and the Giants. But the Kings are ours (yeah, I know, they've been a sub-.500 team for several seasons). And without that public-private partnership arrangement to build the arena, they'd be probably playing in Seattle.
"All stories are about wolves..." -- Margaret Atwood, "Blind Assassin"

Avatar by Blitzy Arts : www.blitzy-arts.weebly.com

FA: www.furaffinity.net/user/varek-wolf
Twitter: @VarekWolf

Furry code: FCWh3a A- C D H+ M- P- R+ T W Z Sm- RLGP a+++ cm+ e+++ f h++++ i+ j p+

Offline Old Rabbit

  • Species: Rabbit Artist
  • Birthday wisher.
  • *
  • Male
  • Posts: 16017
    • Art by Oldrabbit
Re: Should cities build ball league stadiums.
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2016, 11:58:07 am »
I really think it all started with team spirit, and towns competing against each
other. This was and is a friendly compitition that is good entertainment for all..

But as with all things that grow. It wasn't long before business men saw profit
in the large crowds that these games attracted.  So started the leagues, and of
course it being a business they were certinly happy to let the cities continue to
provide and maintain the stadiums and arenas they needed to play the games.

This team spirit and compition continues of course. With popularity you have those in politics
joining the fray. So now it's state against state and cities against cities. The league owners
sit back and rake in the money. I am not against free enterprise, but let's let those making
the money build the stadiums they want.

Of course if the voters of a city wish to build a multiuse arena to attract ball teams, and other
entertainment. That's fine as long as there is a clear majority wanting it. At least 2/3 of the
voters, after all a new tax or expense should require a 2/3 vote. In my opinon anyway. Also it
makes it harder for greedy people to get what they want.



Avatar drawn by me.
oldrabbit.com

Offline Literate Lycan

  • Full Member
  • Species: Gothic grey wolf
  • ***
  • Male
  • Posts: 219
Re: Should cities build ball league stadiums.
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2016, 04:04:24 am »
Several things which Old Rabbit mentioned did occur with the sale of the Kings. When the previous owners were negotiating with the Seattle group there was a certain resentment of the city among Sacramento area residents. Sacramento felt at a disadvantage because it's a smaller market and didn't have the big corporate backers that Seattle could muster--Amazon, Microsoft, etc. Seattle had lost its basketball team to Oklahoma City a few years earlier and saw the Kings sale as a way to bring the sport back to the Emerald City. After the sale to the present ownership group went through and the team remained in Sacramento, the resentment pretty much went away.

The Oakland Raiders have played Oakland against other cities in order to get a better stadium deal. That's why they moved to L.A. in 1982 and returned to Oakland in 1995. Now they're looking for another home city. Bouncing around like that and playing one city off against another is a rotten way to treat the fans. Make the fans mad and they'll stop coming to games and buying team merchandise. If the Raiders--or any pro sports team, for that matter--want a better stadium deal, then the team ought to pony up some serious cash to invest in one. Show the community and fan base that they're committed to staying. The city will need to foot part of the bill, if only for infrastructure improvements.  If the Raiders don't want to invest in a new stadium, then drive a little way down Interstate 880 and make a right turn onto US 101 northbound...and there's the brand-new Levi Stadium. Share it with the 49ers.
"All stories are about wolves..." -- Margaret Atwood, "Blind Assassin"

Avatar by Blitzy Arts : www.blitzy-arts.weebly.com

FA: www.furaffinity.net/user/varek-wolf
Twitter: @VarekWolf

Furry code: FCWh3a A- C D H+ M- P- R+ T W Z Sm- RLGP a+++ cm+ e+++ f h++++ i+ j p+

Offline Literate Lycan

  • Full Member
  • Species: Gothic grey wolf
  • ***
  • Male
  • Posts: 219
Re: Should cities build ball league stadiums.
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2016, 04:11:08 am »
Forgot to mention...the previous owners of the Kings did put forth an arena proposal which called for a raise in the city's sales tax (I think it was 1/4 cent on the dollar). The city put the measure on the ballot. Then the owners decided not to support the proposal and the measure, predictably, failed by a wide margin. When the new ownership group took over the city pretty much said that raising taxes to fund its share of the arena costs was not going to happen.
"All stories are about wolves..." -- Margaret Atwood, "Blind Assassin"

Avatar by Blitzy Arts : www.blitzy-arts.weebly.com

FA: www.furaffinity.net/user/varek-wolf
Twitter: @VarekWolf

Furry code: FCWh3a A- C D H+ M- P- R+ T W Z Sm- RLGP a+++ cm+ e+++ f h++++ i+ j p+