Good. Every city should refuse to publicly fund these projects, they have never delivered even a fraction of the benefits they claim to. If pro sports leagues just got told by every city worth a damn to pay their own way, things would be marginally better in this country.
There’s a chance it could still happen. I live in Kansas City and voted No. While spending public money on a private endeavor was certainly a big issue, I think a lot of people were more POed with the way the teams and county/city went about this. There were almost no concrete plans on remaining sources of funding, potential traffic/parking/public transit issues, if the affected businesses in the proposed district would even sell off their land and properties, and more. Plus the fact that the selected location seemingly appeared out of nowhere. For months, there were two other locations – one of which is literally almost entirely parking lots and empty space – that were being talked about. And of course the implicit threats of leaving if the vote failed. There was also the rushed vote. There’s no reason this had to be voted on this instant. This could’ve wait until the November election. People rightfully saw this was a bad way to go about this.
I think if the teams and city/county go back to the drawing board, change the location, come up with more concrete plans, lessen the amount of public money going in (like maybe not have a 40yr tax), get the teams to agree to stay the whole term – the teams weren’t even guaranteed to stay the whole term of the tax – and just in general make it more appealing to people (the Chiefs were going to use their cut of the money to improve/build out more premium suites that average people will never see/use), people might be willing to vote for it. It’d still be a close call, but I could see people saying Yes if everything lined up.
Another option is for the teams to go across the state line to Kansas. Which I’d have no problem with that. If Kansans want to pay, let them. It’s their money, not mine at that point.
Do you ever think about how if every sports team was structured like the Green Bay Packers, there would be no conflict of interest with the city funding the development or renovation of a stadium for the team? What’s even more fun is that the NFL expressly prohibits any team from joining the league which is not privately owned. Literally the only exception is the Green Bay Packers and they only got that exception because they’re so old.
That’s a strong and damning take. Also, totally apt.
It’s truly baffling to me that people who could never afford to go to their home team’s games nonetheless want endless piles of taxpayer money thrown at them.
By this logic, all country clubs should be funded by taxes yet remain exclusive.
Aint that a more recent development, ie after 2000/10. Were not sports for everyone at some point? Gen pop has not caught on that is now mostly for well off.
With that said, the point stands either way. Why is the tax payer funding this shit!
Right, because sports are so poor that they can barely afford their millions and millions of dollars in salaries - please help them. Won’t somebody think of the profit margins?
This one is kind of a shame. The current stadium is an edge-of-town monster in a sea of parking lots. And so it shall now continue to be for the indefinite future.
The new one was going to be a downtown fixture that would've been a huge boon for public transit, downtown activities, and neighborhood businesses in an area that, frankly, should be doing way better.
No one likes stadium projects, but this is a rare opportunity to show people a better future through practical urbanism. This move helps hold the city hostage by car dependency that much more.
The only way privately owned clubs should exist is like English football.
Where the owner pays for everything, and if you fuck up you get sent down and less money. I don’t think a team has ever moved locations, they’re that city’s team.
With the NFL, there is zero risk and a guaranteed return on investment thru profit sharing. 2022 was $375,000,000 to every team just for existing. And the salary cap ensures players can only get so much. You hear stories all the time about star players taking lower pay to help the team like they’re heros.
When really they should all be striking to remove the salary cap.
Hell, most of them only have a few years of good salary. Rookie contracts are a joke, and the majority never get a second. Get rid of the draft even. Let them sign where they want for whatever pay they want.
It’s all done under the guise of “fairness for the game” but who honestly thought the Lions have as good of a shot as the Chiefs?
Being drafted by the wrong team can (and has) literally ruined careers before. Trades are no better, imagine your job saying you had to move to a shit hole city or you could no longer work for any company in your industry
If the owners get all the benefits of capitalism, why are the players stuck in such a limited system?
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