The House That the Taxpayers Built

America.

Home of the Free. Land of the Brave. Domain of the abused taxpayer.

Benjamin Franklin once said there are only two things that are certain in this life; death and taxes. However a new trend in the world of sports is making it certain that before you die, if not already done, each and every U.S taxpayer will help pay for a sports stadium, many of which are privately owned.

Well, that almost seems reasonable, until you look at the list of professional sports team owners and see their net worth.

Live look-in at two sports franchise owners.

 At that point, it becomes obvious that what amounts to a manageable expense for these owners becomes a massive burden on the taxpayers in each city where a professional team is located. To put the discussion into a numbers format, imagine a total cost to the taxpayers amounting to 500 million or more. Folks, you could fix a whole lot of potholes for $500 million. Or a whole lot of schools. Or a whole lot of anything that needs fixing that isn't a 10 year old stadium.

Now, I love my sports as much as the next person, probably more, let's be real. However I understand that some people dislike sports with a passion, and while I think they are missing out overall, I feel like I need to point out that unless they have a tax-evasion file open with the IRS, they have been funding stadiums that they never intend to set foot in, without a say in the matter. How's that for servicing the public's needs?

Now, I'm far from the first person to call out these owners and teams, and many people have asked for justification on why the public should pay for the bulk of a new stadium, while the owners stand to profit directly from the various revenue streams associated from the team (merchandise, concessions, naming rights, etc.). The question is a fair one, those revenue streams can grow to be quite large, and owners are very unlikely to share a portion of that wealth with the public sector. Instead, teams have begun to argue that an improved stadium creates a "trickle-down" effect to the surrounding area, an effect that is very difficult to measure, and thus hard to disprove.

And then I told them it would make them rich as well! Classic!

Before any of you Detroit fans start feeling immune from the reach of public stadium financing, you should know that your pizza god, Mike Illitch, and his Olympia Development Group are expecting a public investment of 284.5 million for their Detroit Events Center Project, to go along with $365 million dollar private investment. Well hey, that's far from the worst public-private funding ratio among sports stadiums (I'm looking at you, Mr. 100% publicly funded Raymond James Stadium), so that's one thing to be somewhat proud of! Go Detroit! Olympia had the following to say about the project.

"This project is about so much more than a world-class sports and entertainment arena; it's about transforming a core part of our city for the benefit of the entire community." 

Well hey, there you go. Build a $750 million dollar events center and revitalize a city that filed for BANKRUPTCY just two years ago. Now I'm no accountant, but I'm more than a little curious how 284 million in public funds is going to come from a bankrupted municipality.

So why is a stadium so damn expensive anyways, you ask? Well, besides all the steel, concrete and wiring needed to create such a large structure spanning 50-70 acres, there are some unique amenities around the various sports leagues that undoubtedly added to the total public cost. A few of my favorites from that list are as follows.

• 60 yard long high definition video screen (Dallas)
• Two built in swimming pools overlooking the field (with lifeguards) ( Jacksonville)
• A pirate ship with working cannons (Tampa Bay) 
• A fish tank, with fish, that stretches around the stadium (Miami Marlins) 
• This....thing.... (also Miami) 

  

  Those Marlins?....yeah, they move.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

 Will public funding of these private, for-profit stadiums continue to be the norm? It's hard to say for certain, but I'd have to think that the arms race to have the biggest and fanciest stadiums will continue until the bills become so outrageously large that the public defiantly votes no and puts serious pressure on the powers that be. For now, at least, we as a society have shown that we are perfectly content paying $15 for a hot dog and watered down beer after ponying up $100+ just to get in the gate. Except we are not just paying for the hot dog, beer and seat. We are paying for so much more, and we are doing it under the false pretense of paying for public amenities, and if people really knew the extent of what was going on with stadium funding, I think they'd all be less excited to support their favorite teams from the discomfort of a tiny metal seat next to a big hairy man named Frank.

Thanks for reading everyone, and make sure to claim your local sports team as a dependent on your next tax form, you don't want to be missing out on all the benefits you'll receive for your generous contributions!