I want to congratulate the mayor of Kansas City (State of Missouri) for making one of the most ridiculous arguments that I have seen so far this year.  But first, let me back up slightly. Presently, things do not look good for the Kansas City Royals. They keep missing deadlines. Last week, the Kansas House Speaker noted how the Royals had missed a December 31 deadline, which would have allowed the team to use a state of Kansas funding package for sports venues. This week, one county official told the Kansas City Star that he had given the Royals a January 8th deadline to make a new ballpark proposal that could be put on the April 2026 ballot. This week, that deadline passed, and the official mentioned to the newspaper that he was “done” negotiating with the team.

Michael Bidwill and his family are what I call a Rake Family. They love stepping on rakes and then seem surprised when it comes back and hits them in the face. The Bidwills first few years in Arizona are a perfect example of this. When the Bidwills moved the Cardinals from St. Louis to Arizona in 1987, they did so because St. Louis wouldn't build them a brand-new stadium. Cardinals executives claimed that people in Arizona would. Therefore, the team moved to Arizona, and nothing was built. The stadium builders never came through, and the team was stuck for the next 18 years using Sun Devil Stadium (where Arizona State University plays football games).

This week, the Kansas City Chiefs announced they were relocating to the state of Kansas for a brand-new $3B stadium. The term sheet agreed upon by the team and state is outlandish. Joe Pompliano (who is one of the best at sports business news) has gone over the term sheet and claims it is the “Most Lopsided Stadium Deal In NFL History” thanks to $1.8 billion in taxpayer money being included. But the details of many important parts of the deal are still unknown. For example, we still don't know where the new stadium will be located. In a recent press conference, the Chiefs president claimed that the team will decide later on the location. The look of the stadium? The look of the entertainment district around the stadium? Nothing. Heck, the team hasn't even hired an architect. Yet, even with plenty of details still left unanswered, I found it odd that I continued to see the governor of Kansas go from media outlet to media outlet claiming that taxpayers somehow were protected with this deal.

In 2017, the International Olympic Committee awarded the City of Los Angeles the 2028 Olympics. Right after being awarded the 2028 games, the mayor of Los Angeles signed a host contract, which forced the city to be the "financial backstop" and therefore responsible for "paying off any debts" that arose from the games. Even better, as the Los Angeles Times wrote in a 2017 story, the city will have "more than a decade to prepare." Most importantly, the Olympic Committee from Los Angeles was clear that taxpayers would not pay for the games and that instead "they expect to cover all expenses through revenues from broadcast rights, sponsorships, ticket sales and other sources." 

Over the last few months, plenty of articles have been written about how exactly the city of Cleveland is going to pay for the millions and millions of upgrades that their local sports owners are demanding. Gateway Economic Development Corporation, the owner of the Cleveland Indians ballpark (Progressive Field) and the Cleveland Cavaliers arena (Rocket Arena), is supposed to pay for venue upgrades with revenues from a 1990 voter-approved sin tax. But the sin tax has never come close to producing the revenue needed for venue updates. This means that the city has been forced to pay for venue upgrades through other city means, the general fund included.

Over the last few months, plenty of articles have been written about how exactly the city of Cleveland is going to pay for the millions and millions of upgrades that their local sports owners are demanding. Gateway Economic Development Corporation, the owner of the Cleveland Indians ballpark (Progressive Field) and the Cleveland Cavaliers arena (Rocket Arena), is supposed to pay for venue upgrades with revenues from a 1990 voter-approved sin tax. But the sin tax has never come close to producing the revenue needed for venue updates. This means that the city has been forced to pay for venue upgrades through other city means, the general fund included.

A few months ago, I wrote a story on the Kansas City Royals and their crazy ways of trying to convince taxpayers to give them a billion dollars through an increased sales tax (for a new ballpark). As I said in the story, the Royals decided that the best way to do this was by making sure that residents were “confused about every detail of their potential ballpark.” Rather than finish important deals months before the vote on the new sales tax, the Royals were completing them “just a week or two before the sales tax vote, leaving people with little opportunity to read or review (any) documents for themselves.” Mind you, all of this comes after the owner wrote a letter to everyone stating how much he values residents and transparency.

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In January 2019, a man named Kyle Krause announced his plans to bring a United Soccer League Championship team to Des Moines, Iowa. This project included a new $60 million stadium (early draft documents show the taxpayer paying $45 million of the $60 million). Over the next few years, this project would dangle around because of disagreements between the owner and local governments. Meanwhile, local taxpayers were told very little of the actual details.

Today, Boston 26 argues that the city is in “jeopardy” of losing the matches unless $20 million in taxpayer money is given to them. Keep in mind that Boston 26 was first trying to demand almost $40 million but they have since brought that down to $20 million mark. But didn't Boston 26 say they wouldn't ask taxpayers for help? That everything was already in place?

Last year, local taxpayers provided Leonsis with $515 million of taxpayer money to purchase and renovate the arena. Washington, DC, an area that was deep into an economic crisis last year and still is this year, gave a man with a net worth of $4 billion that amount of money? In fact, why on earth is DC buying the arena? Oh, that is right..."so Leonsis and his partners won't have to pay taxes on the $515 million the city is giving them." When someone brought up the absurdity of this entire transaction, Leonsis claimed that he "shouldn't have to defend it" since this is "strategically like the right thing to do"? Great.

This week, the city of San Antonio, Texas, voted to move forward with the November election that will decide the fate of the $1.3 billion arena (and other projects), called Project Marvel. This week, the team contacted every media outlet that it could find to discuss how great this deal was for the city. So residents heard that this deal will create $10 billion in direct spending! Or that it will create $350 million in new taxes for the city! Sounds great. Except, it is all bull. These numbers come from a CSL International report that the Spurs paid for.

In the NBA, the value of teams is rising at a rather insane pace. In 2006, the current owners of the Thunder bought the team for $350M. Now, the value of the team hovers around $3.5B. But that doesn't matter because these owners are committed to the area. Right? Some have even claimed that these owners bring a “tremendous selflessness” towards the team and city.

Washington University in St. Louis wrote a piece titled “Stadiums don’t have to be a drain on taxpayer dollars − 4 lessons from St. Louis”. This article was pushed to any outlet willing to publish it. Here it is retitled “St. Louis MLS Stadium Offers Alternative to Taxpayer-Funded Sports Venues.” Here are the authors pushing the article in local newspaper comment sections titled “How to build a stadium and keep taxpayers happy.” I have to read this article and understand how these Saints owners did the financially impossible. The article makes sure to include just how much money professional teams demand from taxpayers (almost $35 billion since 2000) while also writing that rarely do these new venues create jobs, boost local businesses, or attract substantial new tourists.

Just last year, the FCCFA spent $13.1 million in taxpayer money on arena projects such as a roof replacement, a cooling tower installation, a fire alarm system replacement and more. Yet if we come back to today, the FCCFA executive directory admits that recently released plans are “still being worked out” in negotiations that have involved the “team, its private partners and city, Franklin County and state officials”...just not the public. When asked by WOSU about the finances of these upgrades, the GM of the arena told them that the FCCFA was hopeful about the state of Ohio kicking in about $100 million for these upgrades. It is interesting how the GM proceeds to then say that the rest of the money would be provided through “some private funding”, yet then puts forward several scenarios where taxpayers would, in fact, be paying for the upgrades. At least casino revenues have come roaring back and can finally support the arena's operating expenses, right? Well, no…in fact, casino taxes “have slowed, showing very little growth over the past couple of years”.

For those who don't know, Levi Stadium in Santa Clara was selected to be one of 16 cities hosting World Cup games in 2026. The six games at Levi Stadium will be played between June 13 and July 1 of next year. Considering how contentious the history has been between the San Francisco 49ers and the city of Santa Clara, I figured something would blow up with this event. Then I recently saw this headline in the San Jose spotlight (“Santa Clara isn’t spending taxpayer money on World Cup upgrades”) and was a bit intrigued. In the article, the author claims to have done a “data analysis” on the event while also compiling “government budgets, meeting recordings and reporting from local news outlets nationwide” to see if any taxpayer money would be spent to facilitate the World Cup. The results of this deep dive found that Santa Clara would not be “breaking the bank” with the FIFA games. Additionally, as the article points out, a 2010 law called Measure J does not allow the city's general fund to be used for sports-related expenses.

When the Kansas City Royals tried to garner some support for the sales tax vote last year, they paid a company, Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago-based real estate company, to write and release an economic impact report on a potential ballpark. But, it didn't take long for problems to come out of this idea. The Royals paid Jones Lang LaSalle to write this report without caring or realizing that Jones Lang LaSalle had no experience with economic impact reports for ballparks or even sports venues. Even worse, the Royals didn't just pay Jones Lang LaSalle but they also “worked on the projections”.

One of the local leaders who helped draft the CBA is now outright stating that the Buffalo Bills are going against what is found in the CBA. It is difficult to see how she isn't correct here. The Bills would not stop talking about how much they would include the community when it comes to giving back to the area. Now? Shut up and take whatever it is that we give you. If the Bills think that these types of statements will allow them to invest more into the community, they have quite the surprise ahead of them.

Last week, the San Francisco 49ers publicly vowed to cover Santa Clara’s expenses for the World Cup games. The 49ers will use money that they received from their NFL operations to cover the costs. One estimate claims that it will cost Santa Clara about $50M to stage the games. Except, as the mayor reminded everyone, the 49ers promised to only cover all “approved costs”. That can be interpreted many ways, considering the terrible history between the 49ers and the mayor. Keep in mind that the people of Southern California have been told next to nothing about the local finances of hosting the World Cup. It was and is such a secret that even some Santa Clara City Council members were not allowed to look at several financial documents given to the city by FIFA. The mayor of Santa Clara told the San Francisco Chronicle last week that “she has not yet seen agreements for the World Cup”.

Even better, the money for the Baltimore Ravens will come from Maryland's state lottery funds, which “otherwise would go to the state’s general fund”. For those who don't know, the general fund for cities and states is the “predominant fund for financing a state's operations”. It is the primary operating fund of a government and accounts for activities including public safety, street maintenance, community services, police, fire, and other things. Thankfully, nobody cares about those activities. Who cares if the police and firefighters get paid nothing?

All the economic activity promises made by the Minnesota Vikings, when they were negotiating for a new stadium, have been completely incorrect. The mayor of Minneapolis made a public spectacle of how the Vikings new stadium had "encouraged Wells Fargo to relocate 5,000 jobs" near the venue. The relocation of these employees preceded the announcement of the new stadium deal. Therefore, no new jobs were being created from the creation of this new stadium. The Governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, was very public in his support of getting something done with the Vikings. He touted the new stadium was the People's Stadium. After the stadium agreements were signed and construction began, the Governor realized the Vikings owners' minimal contribution to the stadium. He asked them to increase their personal stake, and they refused. He then asked the owners to please not price out normal fans who can't afford insane PSL prices. They again refused. Be aware that the Vikings owners do not want you or anyone to bring up this topic to them.

The Tampa Bay Rays are responsible for all cost overruns and have one of the cheapest and worst owners in all sports. So, it would make sense that Sternberg could be getting nervous and is trying to find any way possible to get out of this deal. One of the Rays team presidents, Silverman, not that long ago stated how the current deal may not be good for the Rays “in the context of Major League Baseball and fielding a competitive team for the next 30 years”. I do not understand the last part of this comment. Is he saying that this deal will not allow the team to compete moving forward? What? How? According to Auld, the Rays are frustrated at local leaders having fixed Tropicana Field with “only the bare minimum” repairs. Except, wait a second, who stopped the city from fixing the Rays ballpark months ago?

Residents of Harris County should pay attention to this part because “taxpayers will have to pitch in to close that gap”. You better because the Texans, a team worth over $6 billion, are “frustrated” at the “lack of maintenance”. When Houston got the Super Bowl in 2017, the team got angry at the county because of their refusal to pay for expensive upgrades that would just be used for the Super Bowl. Don't you worry though, as city leaders got Super Bowl tickets for free, rather than having to pay the $3,000-$4,000 required for a ticket. Some people have argued that the Texans do, in fact, pay $4 million in rent every year! Yes, and in seven of the last eight years, the team has gotten tax rebates that are worth more than their rent payment. How lucky. Houston also had two other sports venues for their NHL team and MLB team. Both of those venues allow the owner to upgrade whenever they want, but from their own pocket. These two venues also keep the revenue from all off-season events, which can be a financial help if properly used.