building is one of the biggest scams they have going. The taxpayers pay for it, not the teams. The team owners make all the money and don't pay taxes. We the people have been duped for TOO LONG.

And i've always thought since the taxpayers pay for it there should be a free section for low income families.

and the rich see the poor as useless eaters. They don't care about anything except their wallets. IMHO capitalism is not a good thing.

they become a ball and chain around their ankle.
Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs & Dodgers each own their own stadium.

When Rupert Murdoch purchased the Dodgers from Walter O'Malley, Dodger Stadium was 30-40 years old. Although it is still considered a baseball cathedral, it lacked many of the modern amenities that new ballparks have.

One such amenity that Dodger Stadium lacked was luxury boxes. So Murdoch commissioned a study to determine what it would take to retro-fit luxury boxes at Dodger Stadium. About 6 months later, the commission responded with approximately $300M.
Murdoch was irate. Why would he spend $300M for luxury boxes when the cost of a brand new stadium would cost about $300M.

So he approached the LA City supervisors and asked if the city of LA could build the Dodgers a new stadium in Hollywood Park. Their response was epic. LA City supervisors told Murdoch to build a new stadium himself in the parking lot next to Dodger Stadium, then tear down Dodger Stadium and make that your new parking lot.
Murdoch sold that Dodgers after that.

Teams that don't own their own stadium are pitting city governments against each other, basically making the team a free agent.

Here in San Diego, I was part of a group that would meet with Padres executive management when they were trying to get Petco Park built.

They were trying to get the city to pay for the park and the Padres would get all profits for 30 years. After 30 years, they'll ask San Diego for more stadium concessions and if they don't get it, they'll start shopping themselves around. Hey, Salt Lake, you don't have an MLB team, build us a stadium and well move there. Portland, you used to be our AAA team, build us a new stadium and we might move there. Besides we already share our spring training facility with the Mariners, so we'll fit right in with the Pacific NW. Sacramento or Las Vega$ are you interested in an MLB team?

At one of our meetings with the Padres exec, I told both Larry Luchino and John Moores, in no uncertain terms that they should build their own stadium. I don't mind floating the bonds to pay for the stadium, but you now have a mortgage to pay back like the rest of us. Luchino said the Padres can't do it themselves and that there has to be a partnership with the city, for this to workout.

John Moores was later told, by the SEC, to vacate the CEO position at Peregrine, in exchange for no prison time, after bilking investors for over $600M including his own employees.

Petco Park cost a little less than $300M while Moores walked away with a little over $600M, yet he could not afford to pay for Petco Park himself.

Even more ironic, is that the ruling class gets their own special seating in luxury skyboxes. Could they get a tax break to upgrade the skyboxes they rent for the games?


Peace

... more like the rich and athletic franchise owners fleecing the tax paying public again while idiots applaud their generosity. Good grief ...and to think that voters let this happen at the city level from people who were supposedly elected to help and protect the public... all the public wealthy, well connected, or not.

if a job can charge $8.00 for a beer and $7.50 for "nachos", they can pay $15/hr. If it costs $30 to park a car in a 10,000 car parking lot - there's a way to get the workforce good health insurance.

What is the price of "a" ticket to an NFL, MLB, NBA game in your area ?

What is the cost of "season's tickets" for the major sports franchise in our area ?

PLEASE, EVERYONE, WEIGH IN ON THIS.










[Poor people cannot afford to go to major sporting events anymore because the ticket prices are out of their budget.]

Nosebleed end zone - $47 was the cheapest I could find; lower level midfield can be yours for only $524 (per ticket).

Oh, and parking - $60 day of, or a more affordable $40 if you buy in advance.

Which I'm heartbroken about, let me be very clear ... HOWEVER I supported Mayors Libby, Quan, and the rest telling Al/Mark Davis to get stuffed when they wanted the City to fork over 100's of Millions to keep the team in Oakland by helping out largely in building the team a new stadium.

Oakland doesn't have the kinda money and should not borrow it just to keep the team in town ... as much as it hurts me to say. I was born 4 miles away, about 6 weeks after the place opened ... my dad was at the game earlier that week lol ...

I also understand why the team NEEDED a new stadium as well, didn't hurt to try/ask. I believe Mark wanted to stay, badly.

Shit just wasn't meant to be. Cities of <1M people can't afford to build new football stadiums, period. Unless they're rich from gambling/tourism, and/or get the State to kick in a bunch of dough as well.

around the old Civic Arena/new PPG Arena is centered around reconnecting the lower Hill District with downtown Pittsburgh.

Admittedly, the homes that are displaced are usually old and run down, but that's why the real estate is attractive. Where do those people go? Hard to say because they didn't own the housing and have to find a new place to rent. Good luck.

60 years or so ago Cleveland "relocated" minorities during "urban renewal" for stadiums and an entertainment district. It might not have been a terrible idea because they provided low cost loans to buy homes in a rural area SE of the city. It's kind of weird because you drive through miles of farmland and small white towns on the way to Cleveland, then you get to Mespotamia and see small houses and black folks everywhere. Then into the wealthy suburbs of Solon and Cleveland proper.