Public funding for new arena in Milwaukee

[Winehole23]

the NBA requires state funding? can't it stand well enough up on it's own?

why should the public pay to support NBA teams, let alone build their arenas for them? is it consonant with the free enterprise system to subsidize pro sports?

why or why not?

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13382070/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-sign-milwaukee-bucks-arena-bill-next-week

[ElNono]

There's probably an argument to be made that some of the money could be recouped in the form of taxes in the long term (sales tax from tickets, parking, arena vendors, income taxes from owners, players, employees, etc)... provided the state didn't also hand out tax breaks.

But even in that case, the taxpayer is still taking a big leap of faith in a big infrastructure project, and shouldering some of the inherent risk.

Ultimately, corporate welfare is alive and well in 'Murica...

[Winehole23]

Public goods from subsidies?

Perish the thought!





(clutches pearls)

[Winehole23]

come on free traders, justify this!

[ElNono]

Follow the money...

In the year leading up to the announcement of his presidential campaign, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker championed a high-profile proposal to spend a quarter of a billion dollars of taxpayer money to help finance a new Milwaukee Bucks arena -- all while pushing to slash roughly the same amount from state funding for higher education. One of those who stands to benefit from the controversial initiative is a longtime Walker donor and Republican financier who has just been appointed by the governor to head his presidential fundraising operation.

Real estate mogul Jon Hammes, who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates and causes, is a prominent member of the investor group that owns Milwaukee’s NBA team.

http://www.ibtimes.com/scott-walker-push-milwaukee-bucks-arena-subsidy-could-benefit-his-fundraising-chief-2012890

[Winehole23]

stealing from Peter to pay Paul. how very Protestant...

[spurraider21]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcwJt4bcnXs

[Clipper Nation]

I personally think all these cities need to just rise up and tell the owners to pay for their own shit, tbh. If you can't afford a stadium out-of-pocket, then you're not wealthy enough to own a pro sports franchise.

[Pelicans78]

This is a big racket for owners and the league. They lie to the public claiming it will create jobs and other nonsense but none of it is true. Just one big lie after another.

[boutons_deux]

In Stadium Building Spree, U.S. Taxpayers Lose $4 Billion

That’s because the 80,000-seat Cowboys Stadium was built partly using tax-free borrowing by the City of Arlington. The resulting subsidy comes out of the pockets of every American taxpayer, including Giants fans.

The money doesn’t go directly to the Cowboys’ billionaire owner Jerry Jones.

Rather, it lowers the cost of financing, giving his team the highest revenue in the NFL and making it the league’s most-valuable franchise.

“It’s part of the corruption of the federal tax system,” said James Runzheimer, 67, an Arlington lawyer who led opponents of public borrowing for the structure known locally as “Jerry’s World.” “It’s use of government funds to subsidize activity that the private sector can finance on its own.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-09-05/in-stadium-building-spree-u-s-taxpayers-lose-4-billion

[boutons_deux]

btw, Milwaukee metro population is on 1.5M.

[ChumpDumper]

As long as one government does it, they will all do it. This goes for any business.

I can't believe the amount of money Austin and Texas give away to companies that were already going to move here.

[boutons_deux]

St Louis Rams owner wins lawsuit, can get stadium built on public's dime without public vote (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/07/1409825/-St-Louis-Rams-owner-wins-lawsuit-can-get-stadium-built-on-public-s-dime-without-public-vote)


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/07/1409825/-St-Louis-Rams-owner-wins-lawsuit-can-get-stadium-built-on-public-s-dime-without-public-vote?detail=email

private gain, public payments

[SpursforSix]

St Louis Rams owner wins lawsuit, can get stadium built on public's dime without public vote (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/07/1409825/-St-Louis-Rams-owner-wins-lawsuit-can-get-stadium-built-on-public-s-dime-without-public-vote)


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/07/1409825/-St-Louis-Rams-owner-wins-lawsuit-can-get-stadium-built-on-public-s-dime-without-public-vote?detail=email

private gain, public payments




Maybe now, BigPublic won't fee so entitled. Good win for human Americans on this one.

[CosmicCowboy]

You gotta win a championship before you can get a free arena.

At least in San Antonio.

[baseline bum]

Public subsidy of private business is as American as apple pie or Chinese crap.

[Blake]

You gotta win a championship before you can get a free arena.

At least in San Antonio.

Uh there's the alamodome...

[Blake]

come on free traders, justify this!

worse, justify this:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/11/Katy-texas-58-million-high-school-football-stadium/382437/

[SpursforSix]

worse, justify this:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/11/Katy-texas-58-million-high-school-football-stadium/382437/

Oh well.

[boutons_deux]

In Stadium Building Spree, U.S. Taxpayers Lose $4 Billion


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-09-05/in-stadium-building-spree-u-s-taxpayers-lose-4-billion

A series of beneficial moves

http://static.espn.go.com/mlb/bush/timeline.html

[Blake]

Oh well.

Yah that's pretty much it. If the taxpayers have to have that stadium that hosts 6 home games a year so be it. Their money.

[TeyshaBlue]

Yah that's pretty much it. If the taxpayers have to have that stadium that hosts 6 home games a year so be it. Their money.

Not defending the expense, but we do use the shit out of the Deathstar. There's something going on there constantly.

[Blake]

Not defending the expense, but we do use the shit out of the Deathstar. There's something going on there constantly.

Well at least it's somewhat justifiable then.

[boutons_deux]

Scott Walker is America’s biggest hypocrite: The “fiscal conservative” is giving $450 million to wealthy sports owners

Tomorrow, Scott Walker will stand on a stage at State Fair Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and betray virtually every conservative economic principle there is by handing out up to $450 million in taxpayer money to wealthy sports owners to pay for private infrastructure at a time when public infrastructure is crumbling.

Of all the things desperately wrong with this, perhaps the most salient is the fact that the “old” arena, the BMO Harris Bradley Center (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMO_Harris_Bradley_Center), is only 27 years old, inaugurated in 1988. Incredibly, this makes it the 3rd-oldest arena housing a professional basketball franchise, behind only Madison Square Garden in New York and the Oracle Arena in Oakland, both of which have been substantially renovated over the years.

We don’t upgrade anything in this country after 27 years. There are pipes carrying water to homes that date back to the 19th century. In Milwaukee, in fact, hundreds ofthose pipes burst (http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/cold-has-milwaukee-area-water-pipes-bursting-at-record-pace-b99195953z1-243402501.html) at a record pace in 2014 due to the cold weather. Seventy-one percent of Wisconsin roads are in mediocre or poor condition (http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/07/transportation-infrastructure-scott-walker-highways-000153), and fourteen percent of its bridges are structurally unsound. If you wanted to prioritize infrastructure projects needing attention in the Badger State, “replacing the arena we built in the late 1980s” would fall down the list, somewhere below “make sure the thing Wisconsinites are riding on in cars doesn’t crash to the ground.”

Herb Kohl, the former Democratic senator, sold the Milwaukee Bucks (http://www.jsonline.com/sports/bucks/milwaukee-bucks-sold-by-herb-kohl-for-550-million-to-billionaire-investors-b99249475z1-255535471.html) to two New York-based hedge fund managers, Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens, in 2014; and they immediately demanded a new arena, lest they abandon Milwaukee. Lasry and Edens are worth around $2 billion each (http://deadspin.com/wisconsin-senate-votes-to-give-250-million-to-billiona-1718118750?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitte r&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow), but under the purchasing agreement they would only put up $150 million for the arena, with Kohl kicking in another $100 million. The rest would come from city, county and state taxpayers.

etc

http://www.salon.com/2015/08/11/scott_walker_is_americas_biggest_hypocrite_the_fis cal_conservative_is_giving_450_million_to_wealthy_ sports_owners/

[Winehole23]

worse, justify this:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/11/Katy-texas-58-million-high-school-football-stadium/382437/that was at least voted on by the people who will carry the debt. elsewhere, connections to high officers of government, such as Scott Walker, seem to tell.

[Blake]

that was at least voted on by the people who will carry the debt. elsewhere, connections to high officers of government, such as Scott Walker, seem to tell.

Yeah it kinda stinks but many times I'm not sure it's practical for citizens to vote on every project that uses tax dollars.

[Winehole23]

that's what wise, benevolent technocrats are for. god forbid we should ever disagree with people who know better.