Why Tax-Payer Funded Sports Stadiums Are a Huge Scam
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ต.ค. 2024
- Billionaire sports team owners want us to think that subsidizing stadiums is good for cities. They’re lying - and sports fans are pissed.
Now Oakland A’s fans are revolting to stop Nevada from giving their team’s owner John Fisher a $380 million handout, and to fund teacher salaries instead.
-----
More Perfect Union’s mission is to build power for working people. Here’s what that means:
We report on the real struggles and challenges of the working class from a working-class perspective, and we attempt to connect those problems to potential solutions.
We report on the abuses and wrongdoing of corporate power, and we seek to hold accountable the ultra-rich who have too much power over America’s political and economic systems.
We're an independent, nonprofit newsroom. To support our work:
Help fund our reporting: secure.actblue...
Substack: substack.perfe...
TikTok: / moreperfectunion
Twitter: / moreperfectus
Facebook: / moreperfunion
Instagram: / perfectunion
Threads: www.threads.ne...
Website: www.perfectuni...
“This country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor." -Martin Luther King, Jr.
Still as true as ever today.
True words ❤😢
As a DemSoc, I absolutely dislike this quote. I like a lot of other MLK quotes, but socialism is a movement about Labor and the People. I think it's disingenuous to say that it's "socialism for the rich", because socialism is not for the rich! It leads to a lot of people misunderstanding the term, thinking that it just means "government doing something".
Great quote. Do you have a link to the direct quote? Thanks.
@@WanderingExistence Agree with this too but terms evolve over time. What MLK meant was "social welfare" for the rich. Real socialism is, "workers sharing in the profits of those who own the capital."
@UCDZ-T5XKB41BY5W6K2oJTdg I agree, but the essence rings true, particularly given the way the rich use the term "socialism" as giving away money to freeloaders and mooches. In fact, the rich are the real freeloaders. When was the last time you say a billionaire at your job cleaning the floors on the overnight shift?
Why would we be subsidizing stadiums for billionaires? Absolutely nuts
Idk but in Florida they wanted Tampas bay Ray's Stadium moved .. With public funds.. To the Historical tourist center in tampa
It's been happening for generations. People buy the BS every time.
Especially over education and housing. I’m glad people are starting to pay attention.
Definitely a american problem
Because people treat sports like it's life and death
I’m in Nashville and our politicians just funded a billion dollar stadium at the expense of our public schools and transportation. It’s ridiculous.
I'm in St.Petersburg and the Rays have grand visions of a new ball park. I think $2billion is the estimate. I grew up here in the 70's and we could watch the St. Pete Cardinals, part of the Florida Grapefruit League, games for FREE. The stadium is still here, right on the waterfront and is used for the Rowdies soccer games. The current stadium, Tropicana Field was built to lure a team to relocate. After so many deals fell through we sued MLB and that won us an expansion team.
It’s only 25 years old
...and no one cares or is going to do anything to stop it.
@@smallfaucet The residents in St. Petersburg voted TWICE not to build a stadium back in like 1985, but it was built anyway. It was just before our first World Series appearance that the announcement was made about the new stadium plan and the Rays broke a 99 year old record for lowest attendance in a World Series. The people are fed up with financing these projects, so the team owners can benefit. City leaders nationwide need to stop screwing each other over by enticing teams to relocate for big promises, that would put an end to the owners taking teams elsewhere.
Back when the Redskins replaced the old RFK stadium, the prior owner Jack Kent Cooke was vocal about his disgust of the leagues team owners that were nickel and diming cities to pay for stadiums and selling naming rights to corporate sponsors, which would be passed on to consumers of their goos and services. He made a public statement, "I'm embarrassed to be associated with the NFL owners group and their unending greed. The new Redskins stadium will be built entirely with my money and when it's completed it will have my name on it!".
Just did the same thing jn Jacksonville, FL. But are using money that is supposed to go towards the police and fire pension fund that is projected to have a $3.5 billion dollar shortfall.
It’s amazing how these billionaires don’t feel shame when they ask for billions when they have billions. I feel dirty when I ask my mom for 200
You have scruples...billionaires don't.
because almost all (being very charitable) billionaires are soulless and managed to removed their feeling of care for others
@@fadilsp3 no need to be charitable to billionaires - they are all exploitative amoral wankers
you cant become a billionaire without being a monster.
if they had a conscience - they would stop being billionaires very damn fast
@@fadilsp3 all billionaires are soulless monsters hoarding resources that could support multiple families for generations. There is not ethical way to earn a billion dollars, none. The only way to get there is to exploit the labor of other people.
@@CeruleanSky1111You can't become a billionaire if you have scruples that's just not possible. How have they become a billionaire? Is you lie, cheat, and Steal.
I live in Milwaukee, and they raised sale tax to pay for a new roof for the Brewers stadium.
Why am I paying for a private company's roof? I don't even like baseball.
Here in utah we are giving our billionaire jazz owner a few hundred millions in tax prayer money by increasing sales tax. Yet he gets downtown land to create a sports entertainment area, owners get to choose who gets to set up business in the land. (Most likely their own restaurants, bars, stores)
Plus the Mormon church wants to give money it's all a shit show in utah
There should be a lawsuit there, but sadly there isn't.
Janus v. AFSCME was a relatively recent SCOTUS case that used a tortured legal argument to destroy public sector unions, such as teachers' unions in public schools and colleges. The argument was that Janus should not be forced to pay fees to a union he disagrees with because they are effectively forced political speech _(there's obviously more context here, along with history and previous decisions like Abood v. Detroit Board of Education),_ and that's not allowed. Janus won, making agency fees _(the fees paid by non-union members for union activities that benefit everyone, such as salary negotiations)_ federally illegal for public sector unions, which was a devastating blow to those unions.
Using public sector money to fund something you disagree with is similar, but I'm almost 100% sure tax money isn't subject to the same restrictions as agency fees even though it's arguably similar in nature. It just wouldn't be a viable system if people could sue every time the government did something they didn't like, and could exempt themselves from paying for it.
I do wonder if legislation banning giving money to private companies without prior public approval could work, though. It would probably have to be above a very large amount, say, >$100 million or something. Or maybe just state legislation saying something to the effect of "No public money for professional sports".
You're probably paying for their roof because the stadium is owned by the "Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District" which is run by a Board of Directors appointed by the governor. So it's part of the government, not owned by the Brewers. That's not to say the money doesn't primarily _benefit_ the Brewers, but it's technically a government-owned complex.
@Paul-vf1dg we're talking about not wanting to pay money into billionaires being welfare queens if you'd like to stay on topic
Stop voting for the people that do these things just because they are from your beloved party. They will say anything, but then do this sort of thing.
I love the idea of letting the person who most benefits from a new stadium pay for it.
Just like every other business
Socialize the cost and privatize the profits. Welcome to America :D
You see now because that's the public xwe billionaires bring you entertainment from the kindness of our hearts, we shouldn't be punished for it /s
Such a radical concept!
Sadly, billionaires seized upon fear of socialism during the Cold War to make special favors for themselves and similar special interests seem compulsory, and seem like an old-fashioned United Statish value.
If tax payers foot the bill they should be considered publicly owned.
and $5 to attend.
@@mikeferrini8884 Sadly it becomes the opposite. It's an elite playground and the people who footed the bill can't even afford a ticket in the nosebleeds.
Side note: Green Bay has this model, the NFL promptly banned that model thereafter...
I am so tired of subsidizing professional sports. The fact that we place such a high priority on professional sports is sad.
Better economic opportunities need to be created for people who'd otherwise risk their health on pro athletics. Perhaps there was someone worse than Roger Goodell back in the day who figured that such opportunities would cut into their profits.
@@dominicfucinari1942 Agreed.
im totally ok with subsidizing sports even if i dont watch it, if it was affordable for everyone who wanted to attend, and it was not geared towards advertising deals and selling players to other teams to make a profit
All teams should be owned by their cities and their fans like the Green Bay Packers. How did tax payers end up taking on the risk but none of the reward?
Totally agree - if Fischer receives $380M taxpayer money, then that money should come with ownership rights for the state of NV (and since the A's are basically worthless under John Fischer, I'm guessing that would make the state of NV the majority owners)
100% agree with the community owning their sports teams. If they're going to get public money we should get an ownership stake at the very least.
That's a great point.
@TrainrhysI understand where you're coming from but in the case of pro sports they work in an economic fantasy world. They're all anti trust exempt, most of these stadiums are publicly owned and the fan bases are built on a public trust.
@Trainrhysthe Green Bay Packers are… socialist? What a take lmao
No public funding for private profits! Taxpayers footed the bill for the kingdome and I kid you not we were still paying the taxes literal DECADES after they tore it down and we also footed the bill for it’s replacements. like, I’m not old enough to remember the Kingdome, but I grew old enough to pay for it before the tax ended. How wild is that? Some people argue that it kept our sports teams here, but I don’t care. Taxpayers spent years paying the bill while owners walked away with record profits, locals don’t even get discounted tickets on any of the games/events held there. Literally what benefit does it give a community other than to make a handful of people rich while the poor can’t even watch a decent quality at home without a “premium sports package” anymore? 😤 I don’t even like sports and this always makes me angry.
This is so true!!! Tickets are so expensive and you cant even watch your own teams unless you purchase a premium CABLE package! Who tf even wants cable anymore?
@@leadwithgreeneconomy Beats me. One would think the network executives would've given up and admitted that network television is on its last legs by now.
The Ravens conned Maryland with bogus claims that thousands of jobs and millions of dollars for the Baltimore economy. A 20-year report card shows we LOST money.
It's always a losing proposition to fund a stadium. That's been proven. But they still tell you otherwise.
As a non American, I'm baffled at how teams in the US change cities this easily
I think everyone in europe remembers what happened to the Don's
🎉 I agree, if they leave... Let them leave! N don't bother comin' back, really.😮, it's a stab in the back. Keep going!😂🎉🎉🎉cya
Because money.
We pay billionaire owners to move teams with tax money.
They pay for the right signatures. There’s a saying, “everything has a price”
Greed is not the desire for more, it's the desire for more at the expense of others.
Same difference but understood
It's both.
i disagree, envy is wanting what others have, and greed is wanting more than you need, what you described is a combination of both, wanting what others have even when you already enough of it yourself
What John Fisher is doing to Oakland is no different than what former A's owner did to Kansas City. Kaufman Stadium was actually designed to Finley's specifications and then he moved the team anyway.
Side note: My grandfather saw Reggie Jackson play for the Kansas City A's as a rookie in 1967.
RWNJ here... this is 100% wrong. No taxpayer money should be paying for stadiums.
thats exactly what everyone thinks too.
Let the moneybags spend their own money on stadiums not the taxpayers.The plutocrats can afford it.
I'm so sick of billionaires/millionaires taking advantage of the lower and middle class.......
Unfortunately they run the show right now and our government lets them.
Well... Billionaire were invented by Reagan... The one who was unable to circle the whale and say witch year it was...
Advantage?? Sirr MOST PLAY VIDEOGAMES and Droll over Fantasy..
ALL HAIL SPORTS BALL SPORTS
There is no distinction between the lower and middle classes. You're either a worker or you're a capitalist. Capitalists own the capital behind economic activities of workers and with it the fruit of their labor, sharing with the actual producers of goods and services a small fraction of what they produce in return. They do nothing and yet they own everything, and are multiplying their net worth every year.
Word
I remember when they built Turner stadium in Atlanta, way back in the 1990s before the Olympics.
They got huge piles of money from the State of Georgia and the City of Atlanta. Taxpayers footed half the bill, no matter what their stance was on the matter.
They purposely plunked the stadium down in lower income areas and those who would not sell their homes - at *grossly* below market value - were simply taxed out as the local land values skyrocketed but the developers would not budge on their bids.
And now where is Turner Stadium? It didn't even survive 20 years before being converted to a college stadium. The previous stadium, Atlanta-Fulton County, only lasted 30 years.
Now they're in The Battery in Cobb County, again carved out of a huge chunk of relatively prime real-estate that residents were simply taxed out of without being paid a quarter what the land was worth.
Billionaire trash built on child labor. Never should the public pay for a stupid stadium, EVER
If tax dollars are funding stadiums, then it should be tax payers that should own the stadium. Period.
Screw the owners. They just want to suck as much money out of sports teams.
They did this in Minnesota. Cigarettes tax went up 40 cents a pack to pay for the Vikings new stadium. Well stadium is paid for but the tax on smokes stayed. Oh and you can't smoke on stadium grounds. 🐂💩
In the early 2000s, it was a Twins stadium vs community libraries. The libraries were shuttered, they got the stadium. Most families who go to libraries cannot afford to go to a game, but the families are paying for that stadium.
Don't forget Gov Pawlenty approved the stadium, but vetoed highway bills annually right up until the I -35 bridge collapsed.
Indeed!
This is silly, you can literally get tickets for every home game in the next 3 weeks for $11 or cheaper.
I know a lot of people who need that $11 for groceries. Libraries are far more affordable.
I remember that. I am still ticked that MN taxpayer money went to that darn Twins stadium
I live in Kansas city, we told the royals and chiefs no to public money going to new stadiums. Felt good to see all the executives start to sweat
Those poor owners! All they want is 0% liability and 100% of the profits. Is that too much to ask?
What's worse is the Oakland Coliseum is a prime location with 5 modes to get there: Amtrak, BART, Oakland International through the BART connector, AC Transit, and 880 exits on the very street the stadium is on.
And with the Raiders gone, off-season could be used to do all the repairs.
I bet there's some tax evasion going on with the land under the stadium.
If the stadiums were as profitable as promised, the billionaires would be funding every bit of the stadiums themselves.
Not really, capitalists want to increase their profits so why not utilize the public coffer? It's about ROI.
But why fund yourself when you can get a large piece paid for by the public? It's worked for them for a long time so they keep doing it.
🎯🎯🎯
Hein? Why? Why would I spend my money if other can pay for my stuff. Capitalism 101!
That's not how billionaires think. They never want to use their money, it's other peoples money they love to spend.
Born and raised in Oakland and have been an A's fan since the 80's.
We want The Athletics to stay in Oakland. They already took our Raiders.
We don't want Fisher! Let him sell to someone who understands our love for our team. Even the Mayor of Las Vegas said they don't want em and the A's belong in Oakland.
Right!!! They’re trying to this in Salt Lake City right now. Ask for a sales tax increase to pay for a stadium that these billionaires want. We are fighting it! If you have billions you should pay for your stadium not the tax payers
The A's are the perfect representative of Las Vegas' school district... dead last almost every year.
I'm glad the public victory in Kansas City was mentioned. I was following the organizing efforts and it really was impressive. Long story short for those who don't know about it, the Royals wanted public funds for their new stadium but refused to sign a comprehensive Community Benefits Agreement that would secure good jobs and living conditions for those living and working in and near the stadium, trying to skate by on vague promises (read: obvious lies) about community benefits rather than actually meeting the public's demands. The public response was a resounding "hell no."
It's especially insane in comparison to university stadiums. They are 100 yr old football stadiums that have the highest capacity (90-100K ppl) in the US, yet are standing and being used like any of these new corporate-named stadiums. At my Alma mater, the Univ of Florida, our stadium served as a open park and workout facility (running laps or stair workouts) open to the public when it wasn't being used. It was a glorious use of a stadium that I never saw anywhere else.
Thank you.
They did this in Utah recently and got a tax passed to pay for the Utah Jazz and the new NHL hockey team to get an updated stadium and shopping area. Billions of dollars handed out to a billionaire to make him richer at the expense of the taxpayer.
And for an NHL team whose existence was largely ignored in the city that they just left
$900,000... Billionaire Ryan Smith is adding 3.2 billion of his own money to build a sports/entertainment district. STOP BEING DUMB ASSES
It's always the same story: a few billionaires against an entire community. Can't get any more undemocratic than that!
The biggest lie that sports teams tell, what is at the core of who they are, is that they belong to the city. Chicago does not have a football team, the owners of the bears have a football team and they are based in Chicago. The same goes for every other sports team. No city has a sports team. Some billionaire has a sports team and is based in a particular market. When the sports team from your hometown wins a championship of some kind, you don't actually get anything. The players aren't even usually from the city. That's just marketing to try to get locals watching an invested in the outcome. Cities don't actually need any of these sports teams, they are nice to have but they are not at all essential. They can pay for their own stadiums. If the Bears want to move to the suburbs because we won't give them free money, they can move wherever they like.
Just an FYI that might interest you: The federal government made an exception to anti-trust laws so that the baseball team owners would not be subject to competition or have to fund the teams they own, over a century ago.
Realest comment here!
I hope they revoke the funding for this stadium. It is gonna be a complete waste of money and a nightmare for the people who live here with the needless construction and congestion already on the strip.
I have always thought this. Also massive businesses and corporations don't need incentives either
if tickets were affordable I wouldn't mind the spending of those public dollars. So sad that pro sports has become entertainment for elites. If you're a kid in a middle class family - you're out!
I've never been a baseball fan (no offense to those who are), so why should I want to help a billionaire increase his bottom line with my tax money? Regardless of the sport, or other business, these people don't need our charity to make them richer.
I was a fan of the As. Back in the 80s with the bash brothers and Ricky Henderson. I quit baseball when they did the first strike. They didn't strike to lower cost to fans, they did it to increase their own pay. Its amazing to me what sportsball fans will cope with.
I don't always agree with this channel, but this is absolutely a grift. This grift was run with Raven's stadium on Baltimore, education was promised, and taxpayers funded it. Then, the owner turned around and sold the stadium name for millions to a tech company that went bankrupt after only a few years. PSI Net Stadium, aka Pissinit stadium or the big toilet bowl. That is why it took a long time for the team to be accepted. For 15 years, everyone called the Modelle's "Maryland's mistress." I am glad you covered this topic.
And people complain about "school taxes" and such. Schools are infinitely more useful than a sportsball stadium so shut up
The money should have gone to the educators
I well remember when Pat Bolen, owner of the Denver Broncos and fresh from Superbowl participations, conned the citizens of Denver into building him a new stadium with a sales tax add on, IIRC.
And the beat goes on.....
Mariners fan in solidarity with my sibling A's fans. Your passionate fan base deserves better.
it's so gross that this is even a debate. the greed of some people knows no bounds. American society is crumbling right before our eyes. I wonder what will be next.
The problem is that owners threaten to leave the city if they don’t get their stadiums. And then the people blame the politicians if they do, so politicians just shell out the money even at the expense of the people. The only game here is for people to NEVER support teams that moved.
It's hopeless. Apathy is the ruination of America.
The Red Sox don't have a new stadium. They make plenty of money.
Can you imagine if the red sox tried to get a new stadium though?
@leoelliondeux Boston smartly withdrew its bid for the Olympics because it didn't see an economic gain. The Bruins built their own arena. The Patriots built their own stadium. That's how it should be!
Fenway Park was built with private money. Since it was coming out of the owner's funds, it was built to last, unlike taxpayer funded stadiums today that have a planned lifetime of 15-20 years.
Still A SMALL FORREST park in Boston would be Way better through
Billionaires want the cost and risk to be public, but private when the profits come in. And our school, roads, sewers, and other vital infrastructure suffer from neglect and disinvestment.
I remember when Spanos wanted a new San Diego Chargers stadium at about a billion to the peoples expense. Tax payers said no, he ended up moving to LA at a cost of 600 mil. If he said he would have put half then maybe the tax payers would have agreed and he would have saved a cool 100 mil and not have to be the step son of LA
I'm disappointed to learn that Schools Over Stadiums isn't getting their ballot measure this year. I'm rooting for them in 2026.
I just want people to go look up the Green Bay Packers ownership system. The people of Wisconsin own the team as a collective. That to me is how ownership should be.
I've lived in Phoenix since 1996, and a little over a year later, we got a major league baseball team and a taxpayer-funded ballpark. It was nice, and they won the World Series a few years later. Now? That beautiful taxpayer funded ballpark was just not good enough for the team, and they put the screws to our city and demanded more money for a new field or else they'd leave. We just lost our hockey team. The only reason we still have a football team is because the stadium has been used for 2 Superbowls. Oh, and the NBA team that's been here for decades is also demanding tax money for a new arena.
I, a Salt Laker, now have your hockey team and the city wants to raise sales taxes for thirty years to pay for it!!
@@travisdejong2354I think that some in Phoenix didn't even realize that there was a hockey team there
@@michaellockhart6632 In Tucson there's only 1 ice rink at the community center, which ironically is normally closed to the public. It's reserved for college hockey, maybe minor league, and little league.
End the sports monopolies. Let "free markets" work.
I wholeheartedly support Schools Over Stadiums. We should have stood up to this obscene greed decades ago.
I was a A's fan growing up despite living in Texas. It breaks my heart to see a team I loved getting moved to a new city by a greedy owner that doesn't want to invest his money and do the hard work of building the team back up but instead wants to take the quick and easy route of getting suckers in another town to foot the bill for a lifeless, heritage-less stadium. I'm proud of the Oakland fan base for doing what they can to stand up to this.
I gave up watching sports 10+ years ago. Tax payers are on the hook in more ways than paying for a stadium. Look at all the other low wage jobs it creates. You have more people in your local economy living on government handouts not really contributing to the local economy.
UBI helps with this a lot. You eliminate all goverment aid programs and eliminate all the jobs related that do little to nothing and give all Americans a flat rate none taxable check every month that has a ssn. Doesn’t matter if you make 30k a year or 30mil.
The best thing to do when one of these professional teams threatens to move if they don't get massive tax breaks and taxpayer-funded stadiums is to tell them bye. Their blackmail won't work if cities refuse to play their game.
Failing up. Story of our lifetime
Funding roads and public transportation systems to accommodate them is what should be done.
i'm glad i have the notification bell set to "all" because your videos don't even show up on my home page. it's almost like corporations hate when we point out all the evil they do.
I would love to see a story on Power San Diego. It is a group that collected signatures to force SDG&E, which is a subsidiary of PG&E to sell so that the San Diego power grid can go public. But the SD city council just voted to not put the issue on the ballot.
I was born and raised in Oakland and sang in a choir. Once a year we would always go sing the national anthem at the Oakland A’s Stadium. I wasn’t a huge sports fan, but when I started this I thought it was a great thing to brag about! Well when I told people at school the first response I got every single time was “oh I don’t really like the A’s…” When I turned 18 and saw that some of the mayoral candidates wanted to build a new stadium I laughed. My street hasn’t been paved in over 20 years, teachers aren’t making enough money to survive, and they want a new stadium!? This team did nothing for our city except make us look bad, and then expect money!?
Not sure if y’all have done a video about this, but right now in Texas there is a push to replace property taxes as the source of school funding with a sales tax, which, judging by the way things are going, is probably happening in other red states too.
Of course, because corporate conglomerates own most of the houses these days.
This is heading to pin the poor against the rich. We as a collective need to work against those who have money. If you stop spending money at companies that you don't agree with, it'll lead to them taking it up the ass and trying to get you to come back. Again, we have to work together as a collective.
I live in Vegas and had no idea this has been going on.
well THANK GOD it's not Sports ball yet
HAIL SPORTS BALL SPORT.
This EXACT thing happened in OKC with the Thunder. The people voted to keep them there 🤦🏽♂️Dumb
This is happening in Kansas City,and so many people are in support of giving our local billionaire more money to relocate the stadium. Its troubling how dumb this debate is.
Oakland fans are loud and active on a good day, when there's no drama. Did you really think they'd be quiet about THIS fuckery?
HELL no!
SOLIDARITY!
For who
Professipnal sports in the US are a joke. Community ownership and a structure of promotion/relegation are so badly needed (that and the end of calling them world champions)
You are EXACTLY RIGHT!!!!
If a city does subsidize a stadium, then a percentage of EVERY ticket sold off every event should go back to the city. A solid 10-15% and the absolute minimum.
Profiteer fks will just make the tickets more expensive.
to be fair, as someone who was a participant in the Nevada education system and sees how much worse they've somehow become years later, the little we are paying the teachers we have now is still too much
It's never been worth it for states to waste money on stadiums, thankfully it generally isn't an issue in the UK.
Thanks for posting.
Same thing happened in Rhode Island with the minor league team the Paw Socks. They said they would leave if we didn't pay for their new stadium and Rhode Island citizens voted against the new stadium and they left.
America really has gone insane
Once again, socializing the cost while privatizing the profits.
This report is very important. I appreciate the work by all involved. 💪
The issue is that local representatives don’t actually care about their constituents
Thank you!
I fundamentally agree with the message. That being said, given the ideological slang of the University of Chicago, I'd be careful referencing them, particularly when taking about the state spending money on things.
400 for football 2 for the schools sounds like America.
When I buy/build a house, the money comes out of my own pocket even though the cost is a significant chunk of my net worth. When a billionaire builds a stadium, shouldn’t they pay for it when it is just a fraction of their net worth?
If a city builds a team a stadium they should get a cut of the merchandising
I remember living in Las Vegas from 99 to 2003 and had two kids eight and 12. We had to send supplies to school with our kids to hand out to the teacher and other students because they didn't have adequate supplies for proper education. Simple things like paper, erasable markers, an assorted things. It was ridiculous and embarrassing to live in a city so wealthy that could not support the children's education
Great reporting, depressing af but that’s the world we live in now.
Stadiums should be owned by their respective cities, and leagues, teams, event coordinators etc should have to rent/lease the property for use.
Maybe Oakland can tear down the stadium and build more housing, and some good can come of all this nonsense.
Oakland becoming a bedroom community is depressing AF.
They're trying to. Problem is that originally the Coliseum was half owned by the City of Oakland and half by Alameda County, and Alameda County sold its half to John Fisher (for a discount, thinking that it would help the A's build a new stadium in Oakland). So Fisher is also holding up development of the Coliseum site.
its so sad that politics and socialism are very taboo words in America.
Unbelievable.
What the hell is the owner smoking. He has a fully functional high-capacity stadium in the San Francisco Bay area and a personal stake in the stadiums profits as well as a 60 million a year television contract.
And don't forget how much they charge fans to come to the stadium that they paid for to watch rich people play a game.
Think of the senior housing we could build for that money. Corporate tax subsidies need to stop too. They lure companies to move to other cities, then the roads are too clogged and life becomes a lot more stressed.
You should do another episode at the college level. The NCAA studied college sports and found that nearly all programs are not self-sustaining. College sports exist at the cost of taxpayers both in real costs and as the fees added on and paid for with student loans.
What’s crazy about that report (if we’re talking about the same one) was it accounted for pre-covid financial data. Schools have definitely(I’m guessing) been even more subsidized since then.
This was a great story. As an educator, I really appreciate the exposure you've given to the corruption.
Speaking of educators...You asked for an idea for a story - what about a story on California Adjunct Educators? As the world of American colleges changes, so too has the landscape of employment for educators. Schools (from universities, to community colleges, to private colleges) are rapidly hiring more and more adjuncts as a way to populate their classrooms...BUT the wages aren't enough for survival in California. I'm a Masters Degree holding professor at 3 colleges, and I have to work these 3 jobs just to make ends meet. Some of this is due to the flailing for students that California colleges are going through, and some of it is mismanagement (and poor priorities) on behalf of colleges....but a lot of this has to do with California State regulations regading class loads for Adjunct Instructors. If you're interested in pursuing this story - I think you'd do a lot of educators a great service.
Converting educational institutions into loan processing centers. What could possibly go wrong?
If Nevada is below Arkansas in school funding, you know students are in trouble...
What a sad by-product of franchise ownership structures. Maybe a look at European fan-owned models is in order? UNION BERLIN in the German Bundesliga is a great example. Those fans seem SUPER pleased with the community run club they have, rain or shine, title-chase or bottom of the league, they still own that shit.
Fantastic story!
They don’t have a deal in Nevada yet.
The only thing you can DO is vote for someone to change it.
Just like one big lie is making The Mirage get rebranded to a Hard Rock Las Vegas.