Taxpayers Still Paying for Demolished Stadiums

They may be seen as the political equivalent of a free lunch. “They” are stadiums, and politicians seem to love supporting them (usually touting the “new jobs” they will create) and their bloated price tags while the bill is passed on to taxpayers for generations.

That’s what a New York Times article finds.

In New Jersey, residents are still paying $110 million for the demolished Giants Stadium. That’s $13 per New Jersey resident for what’s now a parking lot. But the problem isn’t confined to the Garden State. Seattle’s King County owes more than $80 million for the Kingdome, which was demolished in 2000. Similar stories exist in Indianapolis and Philadelphia. And in Houston, Kansas City, Mo., Memphis and Pittsburgh, residents are paying for stadiums and arenas that were abandoned by the teams they were built for.

So how and why does this happen?

How municipalities acquire so much debt on buildings that have been torn down or are underused illustrates the excesses of publicly financed stadiums and the almost mystical sway professional sports teams have over politicians, voters and fans.

Rather than confront teams, they have often buckled when owners — usually threatening to move — have demanded that the public pay for new suites, parking or arenas and stadiums.

Translation: you may want to stand strong when the next stadium referendum comes across the ballot. Otherwise, you and your kin could be paying for it for years to come. Or as Steven Malanga of the Manhattan Institute puts it: “This has become a rather familiar story, which should be filed under the heading, if you build it for them, they will fleece you.”

Comments (23)

  • JayTee82
    Posted on September 9, 2010 at 12:31am

    Hmm. I can’t seem to get the facebook like button to work for this article.

    Report Post »  
  • smartypoop
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:02pm

    The beauty of pork barrel spending. The projects live on long after the pig dies, as do the taxes to pay for it.

    Report Post »  
  • dimonds2000
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 3:08pm

    It’s happening in Florida too, sadly it has become a Banana Republic – before you think I am a racist know that I am a “minority”

    Report Post » dimonds2000  
  • oldsalty1
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 1:29pm

    What do you see the chances are of the government giving you a few million to build a building for a loosing business. With a little luck all sports will be on tv only in the near future. Look at the benefits. NO drunks driving home, no fighting at the arena, and beer for only a buck a bottle.

    Report Post »  
  • myrkat
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:33pm

    If you think sports arenas, parking lots and suites are something, perhaps the NY Times should look into Universities and Colleges around the country. Heck, any construction dealing with “higher education.”

    Local teams are pretty low on the sacred (cash) cow lists, quite often. Here in California, if you want a lot of taxpayer money, mention children, education, or elderly (pre-Obama era, anyway… now, gramps is on his own). WHAT? you hate children, education, or the ? You *must* because you don’t want to spend your great-grandchild’s money on them!

    Silly.

    Report Post » myrkat  
    • Geetee52
      Posted on September 9, 2010 at 7:45am

      This is a very good point. The cozy relationship between Universities and big government is a largely unexplored story…and the consequences and influence of this coziness negatively impact us all in a big way.

      Report Post »  
  • barbaraw62
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:50am

    It used to be that one could afford to go to the games… not me. I am paying for the games with my taxes!

    Report Post » barbaraw62  
  • Libertarian Infidel
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:48am

    Who cares..paper currency will all be worthless before long anyway. Get your seashells and beads ready.

    Report Post » Libertarian Infidel  
  • Geetee52
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:37am

    I simply do not understand why any city pays even a single dime for a stadium or arena. The fans have no say in the pricing of $8 beer, $5 hot dogs, $30 parking spaces, and the biggest slap in the face which are Personal Seat Licenses (PSL’s). The taxpayer gets almost nothing in terms of percent on concessions and for all this organized extortion and welfare, local fans are supposed to be thrilled to have a team. I used to be a season ticket holder until one day it hit me how ridiculous it was to spend thousands of dollars annually to attend football and baseball games. To even think there are still cities considering new stadiums in light of essential service layoffs…teacher reductions and school activities jettisoned is just absurd. I still watch on TV…and attend a game or two each year…but I will oppose public money being spent on any sports facility for the rest of my days. I wish all fans would come to their senses and just tell the owner goodbye the next time he starts to threaten to leave unless a new palace is built. Buy a big beautiful HD flat screen with a quality sound system with the money you’ll have in your pocket.

    Report Post »  
  • patriots22
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:30am

    States need to take a better look at the way the Kraft Family paid for Gillette Stadium. The stadium itself was privetly funded by the team and the State paid out around $70 Million for improving the infrastrucre around the stadium..
    Anyone want to compare the states liability in Mass. to that of what Texas has invested in the BILLION dollar Stadium for the Cowboys.

    Report Post »  
  • sandysalt
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:53am

    It doesn’t really matter if they build the biggest and nicest stadium if the team sucks or the sport is losing fans. In this tight economy it is a heck of a lot easier to watch the games on TV or find a cheaper alternative to a $300 pair of seats. Sports are games and they don’t bring in huge amount of money into the economy (just ask Jacksonville). There are teams that do bring in the bucks like the Sox and Yankees, but those are the exception rather than the rule. Teams should pay their own way and if they want a big shiny temple the get the players and owners to pony up the cash, which there seems to be a heck a lot of if they can give out $100 million contracts and still make money.

    Report Post » Sandy Salt  
  • Flannery
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:52am

    Welfare is welfare, regardless of the recipients. Someone “in need” gets the government to stick up his neighbors and give the proceeds to him. Get government out of our pockets. Quit giving our money to someone the politicians determine to be more deserving. Let the markets decide.

    Report Post »  
  • Ramcharger
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:52am

    If my fellow citizens put the same priority, energy and time into politics as they put into sports, they would know their politicians names, positions on issues, and how they have performed. This informed citizenry would not approve or have voted for politicians that waste money on stadiums in exchange for sport fans votes. An ignorant citizen distracted by sports and other entertainment is the useful idiot Stalin spoke of.

    Report Post » Ramcharger  
    • Grandpa
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:36am

      You are so right

      Report Post »  
    • SlumpDog
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:01pm

      Excellent point. Maybe we should create trading cards of politicians with their voting records on the back to help inform the public. Could give a new meaning to the pharse switch hitter.

      Report Post »  
    • artskoe
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 3:49pm

      So true, but what irks me is Fed bail out money going to Citi corp which then passes it on the the NY METS for stadium naming rights. This is really getting tiresome…

      Report Post »  
    • missmarie
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:57pm

      I agree! We really need to do a better job of interviewing and supervising our employees. I am responsible. I wasn’t paying close enough attention to the details. Well, I’m awake now.

      Report Post » missmarie  
  • snowdogx
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:17am

    Absolutely stunning the ways our politicians choose to waste huge amounts of our money. Maybe we should leave the business of professional sports to the business people involved, and remind our local governments they are not in business, they are in government. Of course that sounds scary too.

    Report Post »  
  • jrboulware
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:13am

    Or, as is the case here in Charlotte, taxpayers can vote down a proposal to build a taxpayer-funded arena and have the city build it anyway!

    Report Post »  
    • mcter123
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 8:41pm

      In Seattle, we had a vote about demolishing the King Dome and replacing it with a smaller stadium with a roof on rollers (news flash: it RAINS ALL THE TIME in Seattle. We voted against it. Then we heard ‘the Public is confused’ and, after a massive advertising campaign, we voted against it a second time. That‘s when the politicians decided we shouldn’t really VOTE on issues, “our teams might leave” and they went ahead with its destruction anyway – and, yep, we’re still paying for the non-existent Dome. Socialism ROCKS!

      (BTW, we now have two stadiums because the first stadium didn’t adequately replace the single King Dome …and ‘our teams might leave’…)

      Report Post »  
    • Dieclown
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:56pm

      That really is what Washington state is all about. we voted down a new toll bridge across the narrows and now there is a toll bridge, we voted against a tunnel thru Seattle and now we are beginning construction on a tunnel. and lets not even begin to talk about all the initiatives we have passed and been sued out of existence.

      Report Post »  
    • BigSkyGuy
      Posted on September 9, 2010 at 1:16am

      On a positive note in Sunny Seattle, our family saved $110,000,000 yes that’s right….$110 million) when previous to the Kingdome being razed we chose Not to buy it. We haven’t exactly found it on our balance sheet as of yet………but we know that math works for our wonderful state politicians in the Socialist Republic of Washington so we are hopeful it will work for us as well.

      Report Post »  
    • Elucidate
      Posted on September 9, 2010 at 1:23am

      W.R.T. King County, I would disagree about the true context. King County acted very responsibly about the stadium. JR was correct in his/her comment, but left out key elements. King County does owe large amount of money (I don’t know the number, but $80mil seems ball park). But neglected to mention that prior too…the Kingdome was in critical death liability. Multi-ton concrete ceiling tiles were falling on the chairs. It was a miracle that no one died when they fell. King County had two choices, shut down all sports franchise in the “dome” with severe penalties to breaking contracts or doing something. They chose to do something. In one off-season, they fixed the ceiling at a cost of $65mil. There was no certainty of any kind that a new stadium was going to happen. So they chose to make immediate repairs. Two years later, they flattened it. I think if you put anyone in that situation every single person would make the same choice.

      So while they’re may be many examples, King County is an exception. Are there others? I don’t know.

      Report Post » Elucidate  

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