reason.com: Billionaire Welfare-Queen Liars

[ACW]

http://reason.com/blog/2010/08/25/billionaire-welfare-queen-liar

The great sports website Deadspin has obtained and posted a bunch of infamously well-guarded financial documents from Major League Baseball teams, and unsurprisingly, people combing through them are coming to unhappy conclusions about those tens of billions in taxpayer dollars that poverty-pleading billionaires have loosed from the public's pocket. Here's Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan:

Owner Jeffrey Loria and president David Samson for years have contended the Marlins break even financially, the centerpiece fiscal argument that resulted in local governments gifting them a new stadium that will cost generations of taxpayers an estimated $2.4 billion. They said they had no money to do it alone and intimated they would have to move the team without public assistance.

In fact, documents show, the Marlins could have paid for a significant amount of the new stadium's construction themselves and still turned an annual operating profit. Instead, they cried poor to con feckless politicians that sold out their constituents. [...]

Somehow a team that listed its operating income as a healthy $37.8 million in 2008 alone swung a deal in which it would pay only $155 million of the $634 million stadium complex. Meanwhile, Miami-Dade County agreed – without the consent of taxpayers – to take $409 million in loans loaded with balloon payments and long grace periods. By 2049, when the debt is due, the county will have paid billions. [...]

The team fought to conceal the $48.9 million in profits over the last two years because the revelation would have prompted county commissioners to insist the team provide more funding. [...]

t's clear what happened: The Marlins loaded money into their coffers and held hostage a city afraid of losing a team, then leveraged it into a sweetheart deal like so many teams across baseball during the stadium boom of the last 20 years.

Whole thing, with plenty more damning detail, here.

But remember kids, the biggest scandal in baseball is that a great pitcher might have lied to Henry Waxman about steroids. You can lie your billionaire face off about company profits in order to get that 10th digit on your welfare check, but dissemble about the substances you ingest to recover from workouts? Well, no one is above the law.

I wrote about Loria's evil lies in October 2003, May 2005, and July 2009.

Hey Loria, :finger:

And Congress, get your damn priorities straight jerks :mad:

[The Evil Genius]

http://reason.com/blog/2010/08/25/billionaire-welfare-queen-liar

Hey Luria, :finger:

And Congress, get your damn priorities straight jerks :mad:

The other 29 owners in MLB blackballed the SF Giants for paying for their own stadium. That's why they didn't get the MLB ALL Star game until 8 years after the park was open.

If you cannot finance your own stadium - then don't own a team.

[ACW]

The other 29 owners in MLB blackballed the SF Giants for paying for their own stadium. That's why they didn't get the MLB ALL Star game until 8 years after the park was open.

Well THAT'S maddening. And just wrong.

[The Evil Genius]

Well THAT'S maddening. And just wrong.

Yankee stadium.

Here is a team that spends roughly $250 million in payroll a year, has their own network, and still makes the public pay for the stadium.

WTF?

[aREDSKIN]

http://reason.com/blog/2010/08/25/billionaire-welfare-queen-liar

Hey Loria, :finger:

And Congress, get your damn priorities straight jerks :mad:

Must be a BIG dem donor so is therefore beyond Waxman's political radar.

[ACW]

Must be a BIG dem donor so is therefore beyond Waxman's political radar.

:doh:

Yeah, THAT'S it

[aREDSKIN]

:doh:

Yeah, THAT'S it

Obviously, you just don't know Henry Waxman.

[GhostofSparta]

Yankee stadium.

Here is a team that spends roughly $250 million in payroll a year, has their own network, and still makes the public pay for the stadium.

WTF?

WTF indeed. Maybe if these owners didn't need to build a new stadium every 2 decades to participate in a giant **** measuring contest (I'm looking at you, Dan and Jerry), then these stadium pricetags wouldn't be so astronomical. I mean, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field still seem to do their job, despite being 2 of the oldest stadiums in professional sports.

I think these local politicians should grow a pair (yeah I know I'm dreaming) and tell these teams "Fine, we'll help you finance a stadium, but you're still responsible for the final pricetag, including any interest WE owe for taking out the loan to cover your butts."

[Beans]

This is maddening. How the hell do we let these billionare crooks get away with this shiz? I highly doubt the benefits the Marlins provide locally will cover the estimated 2.4 billion over the next 40 years.

I want a taxpayer subsidized place of business.

[Beans]

Yankee stadium.

Here is a team that spends roughly $250 million in payroll a year, has their own network, and still makes the public pay for the stadium.

WTF?

I was really sad that George Steinbrenner died before the inheritance tax came back. If he only could have held on for a few more months... Would have loved to see the team stripped from his insufferable family.

[ACW]

Actually, I gotta give Jones SOME credit:

The City of Arlington provided over $325 million (including interest) in bonds as funding, and Jones covered any cost overruns. Also, the NFL provided the Cowboys with an additional $150 million, as per their policy for giving teams a certain lump sum of money for stadium financing.

"Only" 32.5% was purely public funding, and Jones covered overruns.

http://nflvenueinfo.com/fedex_field.htm

FedEx Field was a nearly 72-28 split.

EDIT: And don't even get me started on Nats Park :doh:

[Predicto]

This is why I will be a San Francisco Giants fan for the rest of my life.

They are the only baseball team in half a century to build a new ballpark with their own money rather than the taxpayers' money.

[Predicto]

I mean, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field still seem to do their job, despite being 2 of the oldest stadiums in professional sports.

Well, to be fair, those are two special little stadiums. Not all old stadiums have that charm. I used to go to games at old Comiskey Park, and it was horrible. Same with old Tiger Stadium and old Busch Field. Not to mention the worst of them all: The Candlestick refrigeration unit.

All of them sucked and replacing them was a great thing. But teams and their fans should pay for it, not the taxpayers.

[Beans]

This is why I will be a San Francisco Giants fan for the rest of my life.

They are the only baseball team in half a century to build a new ballpark with their own money rather than the taxpayers' money.

I don't really like baseball, but they are now my favorite baseball team. I wish I could quit the Skins...

[ACW]

What about Turner Field? 100% private.

[aREDSKIN]

Actually, I gotta give Jones SOME credit: "Only" 32.5% was purely public funding, and Jones covered overruns.

http://nflvenueinfo.com/fedex_field.htm

FedEx Field was a nearly 72-28 split.

EDIT: And don't even get me started on Nats Park :doh:

Regarding the 72-28 split for Fed-Ex I just don't remember it being over 200 million when it was built and the State funding portion is mandated by law. Public infrastructure ie roads metros etc cannot be built and owned by a private entity. Just any FYI. I'm unsure how much that cost at the time.

[mcsluggo]

Must be a BIG dem donor so is therefore beyond Waxman's political radar.

dude... you are such a one-chord bore. seriously! :beatdeadhorse::beatdeadhorse::beatdeadhorse::beatdeadhorse::beatdeadhorse::beatdeadhorse::beatdeadhorse:

and fwiw, yeah, waxman is a bit looney. It doesn't make throwing in a lame partisan political barb as your ONLY contribution to EVERY thread any more interesting.

[Destino]

Welcome to America. Small time criminals are publicly roasted to appease the masses, the rich are bailed out and handed tax payer money.

[Predicto]

What about Turner Field? 100% private.

Ummm... wasn't that stadium built for the Atlanta Olympics?

The Braves didn't build it, as far as I know.

[The Evil Genius]

Ummm... wasn't that stadium built for the Atlanta Olympics?

The Braves didn't build it, as far as I know.

That is 100% correct.

[Forehead]

Ummm... wasn't that stadium built for the Atlanta Olympics?

Someone should have been forced to pay for that hideous Atlanta Olympics mascot.

[GhostofSparta]

Ummm... wasn't that stadium built for the Atlanta Olympics?

The Braves didn't build it, as far as I know.

I hate to justify it, but that's kind of a unique situation. Atlanta had to build a real stadium to host the Olympics. The Braves/Falcons/whoever aren't gonna pay for it, they have no reason. But then once the stadium is built, the city can't just let it sit idle until the next time it hosts the Olympics.

I think the Nats and Skins need to lobby for the Olympics in DC for just that reason. :evilg:

[mattsb84]

To be fair, the local communities where some of these stadiums are located, GREATLY benefit from the stadium being there. Yankees and Nats stadiums are good examples of that. Not saying the public should cover most of the cost, because they shouldn't, but to think that the general public doesn't see a return on this is not entirely true.

[boysetsfire]

To be fair, the local communities where some of these stadiums are located, GREATLY benefit from the stadium being there. Yankees and Nats stadiums are good examples of that. .

You mean all the empty buildings that surround Nat's park??

[mcsluggo]

To be fair, the local communities where some of these stadiums are located, GREATLY benefit from the stadium being there. Yankees and Nats stadiums are good examples of that. Not saying the public should cover most of the cost, because they shouldn't, but to think that the general public doesn't see a return on this is not entirely true.

as opposed to say, a [church, private school, office park, commercial center, grocery store, etc....] there is a symbiotic relationship with EVERY business, with positive externalities (and in some cases, like a poluting paper mill, negative externalities).

Sports franchises are local monopolies, AND local monopsonies. The hold all of the leverage power, and they use it to extract monopoly profits AND to extract unseemly concessions from local governments as well. Personally i find the "market" structure to be absolute horsepoop. Sports franchises should be treated like public utilities that have been granted exclusive coverage to a local market and should be regulated up teh ying-yang to reflect that postion. OR private owners should be bought out, and the frachises become teh direct property of the municipality/ locality.