San Francisco construction companies will soon be quite busy as the Oakland A’s and San Francisco 49ers are moving.  That is, providing that tax payers agree to subsidize these two new stadiums’ construction. 

Thus far, tax payers have protested the expenses associated with the 49ers heading to Santa Clara.  Just short of a billion dollars, the budget would intimidate even one of the richest markets in our country. 

While the negative reaction of concerned tax payers in Santa Clara has united many against the new stadium deal, the team and stadium subsidizers have devised a sneaky way to get their initiative on voters’ ballots.  That initiative seeks to hide the Environmental Impact Report on the prospective stadium construction and waive the rights of tax payers from recourse once they break ground. 

According to a concerned group of residents in the area Santa Clara Plays Fair, those with financial interests in the new stadium becoming a reality have created a petition for this measure to be on the ballot.  Signiature gatherers are misrepresenting the purpose of the petition, and unfortunately, succeeding in their push to get the line item on the ballot as early as June.

In other Bay area stadium news, a group has been formed to push for a new location and new stadium construction for the A’s called Let’s Go Oakland! 

There is talk of the A’s moving to a site on city-owned land right next door to the San Jose Sharks’ arena which would trigger a taxpayer vote.  Freemont could be the site of the new stadium without any vote necessary and could be more likely given that fact. 

Apparently, Bud Selig and Major League Baseball made the business move of soliciting Freemont to throw their hat in the ring to get an even better deal out of the host city, and in turn, more tax subsidies.

According to FieldofSchemes.com, a group called The Fremont Citizens Network is ready to take down this, the latest effort to move the team at the taxpayers’ expense.  Thank goodness. 

The bottom line is that if you live in the Bay Area, you need to be aware, don’t sign anything unless you know the full story, and research what the public advocacy groups are doing in your area. 

While a new stadium sounds great for sports fans, you have to weigh the consequences as these deals far too often come with a price tag that will hit your bank account mid-April.

Reading the following article from The Wall Street Journal is like taking a tour of a graveyard for us sports fans:

Last-Minute Gift Ideas: Old Stadiums

Some of These Facilities That Sit Mostly Idle Could Possibly Be Had for a Reasonable Sum

By HANNAH KARP

  

The Pontiac Silverdome is shown last month.

Most sports fans assume that once a stadium or arena is replaced by a newer model, the old house is immediately blown to smithereens in a pyrotechnics show that would make James Cameron proud. But many more than you think are still around. Some have historical value, while others are still bringing in funds to cash-strapped municipalities. Who knows, some may even be available to well-heeled holiday shoppers looking for a last-minute gift. Here are a few:

 

Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Mich.

Thirty-five years after taxpayers spent $56 million to build it, this domed stadium, once home to the NFL’s Detroit Lions and NBA’s Pistons, was auctioned off last month for $583,000 to the highest bidder—a developer from Toronto. After several lawsuits, the deal is expected to go through this month because the city can no longer afford to maintain it. The developer, Andreas Apostolopoulos, spent last week in Pontiac and says he is in discussions with Major League Soccer to bring a team to the Detroit area. He says the stadium might not be quite the bargain it appears, given the amount he’ll have to invest to bring the facility up to speed. “There’s a lot of work to do first,” he says.

 

Reliant Astrodome, Houston

The world’s first domed sports stadium, the Astrodome was nicknamed the “Eighth Wonder of the World” when it opened in 1965 to house baseball’s Astros and football’s Oilers. But since the Astros moved into Minute Maid Park (née Enron Field) for the 2000 season, after the Oilers had already decamped for Tennessee for the 1997 season, the city has spent millions over the years on basic upkeep even though the dome has no major tenants. After plans fell through to convert the facility into a hotel and convention center, there are groups lobbying to turn it into everything from a movie studio to a planetarium.

 

Pyramid Arena, Memphis, Tenn.

The Pyramid in Memphis shown in early 2008.

Opened in 1991, this 20,000-seat arena on the banks of the Mississippi—one of the world’s 10 largest pyramids—housed the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and the University of Memphis men’s basketball team until both moved to the FedEx Forum in 2004. Shelby County, which sold its half share in the arena to the City of Memphis this year, has considered refashioning the pyramid as a casino or an aquarium. A local congressman suggested opening a new branch of the Smithsonian Institution. Sporting-goods outfitter Bass Pro Shops is renting the pyramid for $35,000 a month with plans to convert it into a megastore, but a spokesman says the company won’t purchase the building.

 

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington

Former home of both the Redskins and baseball’s second Senators franchise, which moved to Texas to become the Rangers after the 1971 season, the 48-year-old RFK hasn’t been able to hook a new team for long despite $18.5 million in renovations for baseball’s Nationals, which played there from 2005 through 2007. Critics pronounced it one of baseball’s worst stadiums on account of its cramped quarters and awkward layout. The resident DC United soccer team hopes to have a new home by 2012.

 

Balboa Stadium, San Diego

Built in 1914, this facility housed the Chargers during some of their winningest years from 1961 to 1966 and hosted three American Football League championship games during that period. Now owned by the city of San Diego and leased to the local school district, the stadium has fallen into such disrepair that many soccer players and runners fear injury on the worn-down track and torn-up turf. The city and district have said they can’t afford renovation.

 

Olympic Stadium, Montreal

Montreal’s Olympic Stadium in 2001.

Designed for the 1976 Olympic Games by ambitious French architect Roger Taillibert, this structure—which was part of a $1.5 billion project that was just paid off a few years ago—has been plagued by problems since its inception, thanks to labor strikes, fires and a host of structural snafus. The inclined tower—now the highest in the world—wasn’t finished in time for the Olympics, nor was the retractable roof, which proved unstable in high winds even when it was completed a decade later. Part of the roof collapsed before the Montreal auto show in 1999. Once home to baseball’s Expos, a soccer team and the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes, the stadium was used this month for a swine-flu-vaccination clinic.

 

Beijing National Stadium, Beijing

This stadium, built for about a half billion dollars before the 2008 Olympic Games and better known as the “Bird’s Nest,” was transformed into a snow park this month, much to the chagrin of environmentalists who say creating the artificial snow is a waste of water, especially given the continuing drought in the area. The snow festival is one of only a handful of events the stadium has hosted since the Olympics. With annual operating costs of roughly $10 million, the facility was placed under government management in August to curb financial losses.

 

Alamodome, San Antonio

Opened in 1993, the nearly $200 million arena was forsaken seven years ago by the NBA’s Spurs, fans of which complained of poor views from many seats in the designed-for-football stadium. (The Spurs now play in the AT&T Center). In 2005 the San Antonio City Council voted to spend close to $6.5 million to renovate the arena to lure a Major League Soccer franchise to the city, but it soon abandoned that plan, and the city hopes to someday draw an NFL team. One of Texas’ least-utilized stadiums, it hosted the New Orleans Saints for a few games in 2005 when they were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The stadium’s bread and butter is playing host each year to college football’s Alamo Bowl, which this season will feature Texas Tech against Michigan State.

 

The Forum, Inglewood, Calif.

Home of the Los Angeles Lakers and NHL’s Kings until both moved to the Staples Center in 1999, this circular, $16 million arena was purchased by the Faithful Central Bible Church in 2000, though the church stopped holding regular services in the arena earlier this year. The church’s Web site states “WE ARE AVAILABLE” for film shoots and rehearsal space; earlier this year the Lakers played a preseason game in the Forum to celebrate the team’s 50th season in Los Angeles. The arena also has hosted big health clinics for low-income families.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703478704574612111114848276.html

 

The bottom line is that public funding for stadiums is NOT the answer.  Sports franchise owners are some of the wealthiest people in the world and need no subsidy.  However, government officials continue to court and support the use of tax payer funds and generous tax breaks for the purpose of stadium construction.

The last example of The Forum in Inglewood could be the most inspiring example of recycling, giving back to the low-income community through hosting health clinics.  Alternatively, Montreal Olympic Stadium may represent the worst example as the city continues to recover from the initial overinvestment and crippling returns.

Across the spectrum of stadiums for sale and stories therein, there is a depression that permeates our current recession.  That depression is not an indication of an economic status, but rather, a feeling of sadness in reaction to the misuse of our public funds.

Cincinnati is in a world of hurt.  On November 10th, Assistant Hamilton County Administrator Christian Sigman estimated that the county that houses the Reds’ Great American Ballpark and the Bengals’ Paul Brown Stadium will come up $13.8 million short in 2010 with respect to the cash promised to subsidize the teams and the Riverfront district.

If nothing is done to ameliorate the situation, the five-year projected defecit is staggering.  A whopping $93.4 million in the hole, the stadium sales-tax fund is nothing less than a personal piggy bank for the owners of the city’s sports franchises.

The initial remedy proposed by Sigman and company would reduce the property tax rollback on Hamilton County homeowners.   The measure, which was promised to taxpayers in 1996 while enforcing a half-cent stadium tax hike, would take away roughly $120 per $100,000 of home equity.

Not only are county officials targeting their residents to make up the difference, but Bengals and Reds fans should be wary of increases in ticket sales, concessions, and stadium parking.  And you thought it was expensive to bring the family to a game THIS year!

Amidst all of this ill news, it is important to recognize how sports teams are treated by the local goverment.  Not only did Hamilton County promise to subsidize the cost of building these stadiums, but now that the return on investment has not accrued the anticipated tax revenue, it is trying to renegotiate with Cincinnati Public Schools.  The School board will decide on Monday whether to defer a $5 million tax payment to bail out the county until 2011.

Let me get this straight.  So, the investment in your sports stadiums didn’t pan out like you thought.  And now, you’re considering borrowing from your school fund to get the cash you need to pay off your stadium fund debts next year.  AND Mangini has turned out not to be a man-genious afterall!

Hamilton County residents, we feel for you.

But these deals happen all the time.  That’s why we created the Sports Fans Coalition, and why we’ll keep fighting the good fight to provide recourse for those sports fans who continue to pay for publicly-funded stadiums, and get the proverbial shaft.  You deserve cheaper tickets.  You deserve to have someone fighting on your behalf to change the system.  JOIN THE COALITION today.

Chances are, your home teams play in arenas that were built in part with public resources.

There are the stadiums built with cash from the government, like the new Nationals ball park in Washington, D.C. And then there are places that got roads, rights of way, and other public goods for the stadium. Those deals were cut behind closed doors between team owners, leagues, and government officials. One question: did anyone ask YOU what you’d like to get out of that deal?

Team owners will tell you that the taxpayers got a great deal because the new businesses around the arena, for example, eventually pay more in taxes than the government paid in subsidies. Very often, that’s just not the case. In fact, in study after study across the political spectrum, publicly funded stadiums are a net loss for our communities. When taxpayers fund stadiums, owners win and we lose.
We start to get a little ticked off when ticket prices are announced. Your tax dollars went into building that stadium; your government helped to cut the deal; but you can’t afford good seats. Not nosebleeds, but some good seats.

OK, you say to yourself, I can’t afford good seats. I’ll just watch the game on TV at home. But the sports industry beat you to it. The NFL, for example, requires a “blackout” of games within a 75-mile radius of the stadium where tickets have not sold out. And this is backed up by federal regulations, enforced by the FCC, that prohibit cable or satellite from carrying a game if the local broadcaster has secured the rights. 47 C.F.R. 76.111, 76.127.

So let’s get this straight: First, your money and resources are used to build your home team’s new venue. Then, the tickets are priced too high for you to afford. Then, you want to watch the game on TV. But because you’re not alone and there are many fans who can’t afford tickets, the stadium doesn’t sell out. And that means, with the blessing of federal lawmakers, you’re not able to watch the game on TV.

Check out this article by SFC Board Member Dave Zirin in the LA Times about the efforts to build a new football stadium in LA, the public resources being pledged, and what it means (or won’t mean) for fans:  www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-zirin29-2009oct29,0,5453451.story

Final score: sports industry wins, sports fans lose.