Publicly Funded Football Stadiums Don't Help Cities

[Bubba T]

Pretty much what was happening here with Chris Hansen trying to get the taxpayers to fund HIS arena in order to get us a basketball team. I am all for the Sonic's coming back but it shouldn't be at the expense of the taxpayers when we don't benefit from having a team here other than for entertainment value. I'm glad the city turned down his proposals. It's the scam of the century how these billionaires are like "hey taxpayers, give me $400 million and in return you get to watch basketball live!"

The city may benefit from the taxes that a new team will generate but it will just go back to paying off the debt from getting the team here.

Studies have shown that isn't that much of a benefit of a city building a stadium. That money would be spent elsewhere. Each time a Super Bowl is held in a city, the lions share of the money is going to private owners who are not otherwise affiliated with the city. It is really the ultimate finesse these owners do.

This shyt isn't even limited to professional sports. People are so indoctrinated by sports that they shell over money to pay for high school stadiums.

High school plans $62.8 million football stadium

What these articles don't appear to be doing is factoring in the interest that has to be paid by the city/state (the taxpayer). They only mention how much in bonds they issue. I'm certain they could calculate a weighted average interest and figure out how much taxpayers are REALLY on the hook for (ie the present value).

 

[KENNY DA COOKER]

That’s a hotel tax that any visitor in Atlanta pays for lodging. It’s not funds out of taxpayers true pockets.

Ultimately it’s a cycle where the facility drives tourism that pays into that tax. That’s basically why that tax exists.

I know what your are getting at but MBS is a different set-up than most other stadiums.

aint a gottdamn thing different about the MBS (mercedes benz stadium)

that article clearly states how Arthur Blank's "hustle" is parallel to the other stadium ventures thats been happening in the NFL the past decade

i know yall falcons fan love to ride hard for the brand..but this "EXECUTIVE" raped the state of georgia...

call it what it is............


Any hotel-tax money collected after the first $200m would be put into a “waterfall fund” that the team could use for future “maintenance, operation and improvement” of the new stadium. Since those would normally be team costs, this meant Blank would get to stick taxpayers with the bills for future upgrades to his new playpen.

Blank eventually acknowledged the present value of all this future money would be “close to $700 million.” Add in a handful of other goodies – $30 million in sales tax rebates on construction materials, $24m in city-provided land, a pedestrian bridge that was supposed to cost $12 million but ended up coming in at almost twice that – and the final public tab could end up clearing three-quarters of a billion dollars.

 

[AVXL]

where was you at ..when this was all in the georgia media??!?!

breh this was common knowledge that Blank was sticking the bulk of the bill to taxpayers....the atlanta constitution...and the savannah morning news ran op ed stories on the situation criticizing this HUSTLE

Why are Georgia taxpayers paying $700m for a new NFL stadium?



he funding saga for Mercedes-Benz Stadium points up the elusive nature of US public sports subsidies in the modern age. A couple of decades back, a team owner could just go before a city council or state legislature and ask for a check. That’s how the Georgia Dome, the Falcons’ previous home scheduled to meet the wrecking ball in November at age 25, was built: a $214m gift from the state treasury. These days, though, elected officials are slightly warier of handing over a simple wad of bills – and sports owners have grown more clever at obscuring their demands.

The Falcons story begins in early 2013, when team owner Arthur Blank was seeking $300m in state hotel tax money toward a new stadium to keep up with the Dallas Cowboys’ recently opened $1.15bn home (itself aided by $325m in city sales taxes). Running into public criticism, he announced a compromise: He’d settle for a mere $200m, covering the rest out of his own pocket.

But there was a catch. Thanks to a clause buried deep in the stadium agreement, Blank would get to convert this initial subsidy into a gift that kept on giving: Any hotel-tax money collected after the first $200m would be put into a “waterfall fund” that the team could use for future “maintenance, operation and improvement” of the new stadium. Since those would normally be team costs, this meant Blank would get to stick taxpayers with the bills for future upgrades to his new playpen.

The Atlanta Constitution? You realize that the Atlanta Constitution and Atlanta Journal merged into the Atlanta Journal Constitution more than 35 years ago.

BTW, you do realize that the hotel/motel tax is driven by downtown Atlanta tourists who are paying a tax to stay in hotels so yes if you come into Atlanta and stay at a downtown hotel you are a Georgia taxpayer. It is not an additional tax to City of Atlanta residents or any other residents of the state of Georgia

Please see below for a breakdown of how MBS was funded:

The Falcons organization has closed on $850 million in permanent financing for the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, team officials said Monday.


The new financing from Bank of America, SunTrust Banks and 18 institutional investors converts construction loans to long-term financing about a year earlier than the team had projected, according to Falcons executive vice president and chief financial officer Greg Beadles.

Beadles said in an interview that approximately 1/3 of the financing is from the two banks and the other 2/3 from private placement with institutional investors such as large insurance firms and pension fund managers. The debt will be repaid to the institutional investors over 26 years and to the banks over a shorter term, he said.

Some contractually obligated revenue from stadium naming rights, other sponsorship deals and suite sales are pledged toward re-paying the debt, Beadles said.


“The timing of getting this done early … speaks really well of the project overall,” Beadles said. “Typical of what we had modeled was for the permanent financing to take place after the construction was done (in 2017) and maybe even into the operation (of the stadium) a few months.

“We let the banks (and) these institutional investors take a peek under the hood and so think of it as some outside validation on what we’re doing from the marketplace that is familiar with these kind of projects and deals. They came back resoundingly and said, ‘We feel great about the project … and can move forward with this permanent financing.’ So that is what we chose to do.”

The financing, which closed late last week, involves the Falcons organization’s portion of stadium costs and does not affect the taxpayer portion of the funding.


“I’m very pleased to see this significant milestone being reached so early,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank said in a prepared statement. “… What the team has accomplished puts the project in a very strong position moving forward.”

Beadles said “very favorable” interest rates were obtained because of overall conditions in the credit market as well as investor confidence in the project. He declined to reveal the specific interest rates.

“We had really high demand from the marketplace” of institutional investors, about five times as much demand as needed, Beadles said.

“That allow(ed) us to really push on them in terms of pricing,” he said. “We didn’t have to accept everybody’s bids, and we didn’t, and we were still able to get a diversified group that wanted in at the rates we were able to put out there.”

Beadles said the private-placement debt was issued with a “green bond” designation, reflecting the stadium’s expected LEED Platinum certification for sustainability.

The total cost of building Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which will be home to Blank’s Atlanta United soccer team as well as to the Falcons, is currently projected to be $1.5 billion. In addition to the $850 million in loans, $200 million of the construction cost comes from bonds backed by Atlanta hotel-motel taxes, $200 million from the NFL and a yet-undetermined amount from sales of personal seat licenses. Blank is responsible for cost overruns.

Again you have a habit of getting your info from sources without reading the fine print

 

[The ADD]

aint a gottdamn thing different about the MBS (mercedes benz stadium)

that article clearly states how Arthur Blank's "hustle" is parallel to the other stadium ventures thats been happening in the NFL the past decade

i know yall falcons fan love to ride hard for the brand..but this "EXECUTIVE" raped the state of georgia...

call it what it is............


Any hotel-tax money collected after the first $200m would be put into a “waterfall fund” that the team could use for future “maintenance, operation and improvement” of the new stadium. Since those would normally be team costs, this meant Blank would get to stick taxpayers with the bills for future upgrades to his new playpen.

Blank eventually acknowledged the present value of all this future money would be “close to $700 million.” Add in a handful of other goodies – $30 million in sales tax rebates on construction materials, $24m in city-provided land, a pedestrian bridge that was supposed to cost $12 million but ended up coming in at almost twice that – and the final public tab could end up clearing three-quarters of a billion dollars.

It’s not as simple as that. MBS is part of an entire tourism, sports and convention machine on the GWCC campus.

I’m not saying that the he didn’t leverage the system but let’s not overlook the factors specific to Atlanta........

I’m not even looking at it as a fan.

 

[AVXL]

aint a gottdamn thing different about the MBS (mercedes benz stadium)

that article clearly states how Arthur Blank's "hustle" is parallel to the other stadium ventures thats been happening in the NFL the past decade

i know yall falcons fan love to ride hard for the brand..but this "EXECUTIVE" raped the state of georgia...

call it what it is............


Any hotel-tax money collected after the first $200m would be put into a “waterfall fund” that the team could use for future “maintenance, operation and improvement” of the new stadium. Since those would normally be team costs, this meant Blank would get to stick taxpayers with the bills for future upgrades to his new playpen.

Blank eventually acknowledged the present value of all this future money would be “close to $700 million.” Add in a handful of other goodies – $30 million in sales tax rebates on construction materials, $24m in city-provided land, a pedestrian bridge that was supposed to cost $12 million but ended up coming in at almost twice that – and the final public tab could end up clearing three-quarters of a billion dollars.

Do you understand how the hotel/motel tax works in Atlanta and what a taxpayer is? Or are you only motivated to sensationalize and distort one article because of the term "taxpayer"?

 

[KENNY DA COOKER]

The Atlanta Constitution? You realize that the Atlanta Constitution and Atlanta Journal merged into the Atlanta Journal Constitution more than 35 years ago.

BTW, you do realize that the hotel/motel tax is driven by downtown Atlanta tourists who are paying a tax to stay in hotels so yes if you come into Atlanta and stay at a downtown hotel you are a Georgia taxpayer. It is not an additional tax to City of Atlanta residents or any other residents of the state of Georgia

Please see below for a breakdown of how MBS was funded:



Again you have a habit of getting your info from sources without reading the fine print

That excerpt you posted came out the mouth of Falcons executive vice president and chief financial officer Greg Beadles.

do you expect him to be 100% honest with your azz?!?!?


dude....who are you JULIO JONES cousin or something....

do you got shareholder stock in any of ARTHUR BLANK's ventures?!?

why are u caping so hard for an EXECUTIVE?!?!??

it ain't worth even arguring with you and your life partner @ADD cause yall so hard dikkriding for a BRAND that don't doesnt benifit you nor the millions of taxpayers in georgia

talking about RISE UP.....SHYT only thing that's rising up is your personal debt dealing with these dumb azz SPORT BRANDS...


you probally one of them dudes that ride along 85 with NFL flags on his Crown Vic or some shyt

 

[KENNY DA COOKER]

It’s not as simple as that. MBS is part of an entire tourism, sports and convention machine on the GWCC campus.

I’m not saying that the he didn’t leverage the system but let’s not overlook the factors specific to Atlanta........

I’m not even looking at it as a fan.

Bird Brehs Season 3 Podcast is here! #RiseUp #AtlantaFalcons

@The ADD X @Motife43 X Tee Little

really breh???...yall n1ggas cant be unbias for shyt ......caping for Arthur Blank..smh

 

[WaveCapsByOscorp™]

There needs to be a big research effort on the economics of all this considering it’s something that’s practiced in a MAJOR, unchecked way. Cities making deals on your behalf but the citizens never reaping the benefits. I know it does provide in some sort of way but there needs to be a dissection of all it does

 

[CodeBlaMeVi]

Like I said in the sports fans thread yesterday, the city/state is paying 200 to 400 million (on average) for a stadium, yet takes little ownership or take little or any of the profits from stadium events. Where the hell else do you see this shyt going on?

Municipalities hope the stadiums and teams will attract tourists from nearby and afar to spend money around their cities. In turn, tax revenue. That’s the trade-off.

Team owners have a case that the stadium is an economic generator. The team owner doesn’t get any money from the surrounding businesses.

 

[The ADD]

Bird Brehs Season 3 Podcast is here! #RiseUp #AtlantaFalcons

@The ADD X @Motife43 X Tee Little

really breh???...yall n1ggas cant be unbias for shyt ......caping for Arthur Blank..smh

Or some people have jobs related to all this so they know the details.......

 

[The_Sheff]

aint a gottdamn thing different about the MBS (mercedes benz stadium)

that article clearly states how Arthur Blank's "hustle" is parallel to the other stadium ventures thats been happening in the NFL the past decade

i know yall falcons fan love to ride hard for the brand..but this "EXECUTIVE" raped the state of georgia...

call it what it is............


Any hotel-tax money collected after the first $200m would be put into a “waterfall fund” that the team could use for future “maintenance, operation and improvement” of the new stadium. Since those would normally be team costs, this meant Blank would get to stick taxpayers with the bills for future upgrades to his new playpen.

Blank eventually acknowledged the present value of all this future money would be “close to $700 million.” Add in a handful of other goodies – $30 million in sales tax rebates on construction materials, $24m in city-provided land, a pedestrian bridge that was supposed to cost $12 million but ended up coming in at almost twice that – and the final public tab could end up clearing three-quarters of a billion dollars.

You don't understand anything about the situation. The money comes from the hotel tax, which isnt paid by Atlanta residents because Atlanta residents dont live in hotels. Its a tax levied on hotel guests for the specific purpose of funding projects that increase Atlanta's tourism industry, in other words the money legally cannot be used for other purposes such as education and infrastructure.

 

[KENNY DA COOKER]

Do you understand how the hotel/motel tax works in Atlanta and what a taxpayer is? Or are you only motivated to sensationalize and distort one article because of the term "taxpayer"?

one article?!?!?...there has been a plethora of reports discussing this issue when Arthur Blank first raised the subject of a new stadium

and look i don't know if you aware of this..but the subject of public tax funding civic projects and the issuing of bonds is not as transparent as you think...

it's more convaluted than you can imagine...

not to insult you ...

but i really suggest you take one of the civic courses dealing with local government in action down there at the Georgia State campus

because you really are way off the mark here...

and i think it's do to the fact that you have an emotional attachment to the Falcons that has warped your sense of logic...

that devil Blank is not to be defended...thier is way too much data to counteract that propaganda that you posted from the ATL executive branch...

 

[KENNY DA COOKER]

You don't understand anything about the situation. The money comes from the hotel tax, which isnt paid by Atlanta residents because Atlanta residents dont live in hotels. Its a tax levied on hotel guests for the specific purpose of funding projects that increase Atlanta's tourism industry, in other words the money legally cannot be used for other purposes such as education and infrastructure.

dude ive lived in georgia for 20 plus years now....tax monies get MISAPPROPIATED ALL THE TIME for purposes other than it's original intent

look at all the LOTTERY DOLLARS...it damn sure ain't going to the schools



arthur blank and the state of georgia along with the Atlanta city council fukked over the common folk once again...

wow....i never seen so many people caping for the GOVERNMENT and PRIVATE SECTOR ...

who are u people???

 

[Easy-E]

Yep, 100's of millions in tax money is being used to keep the Saints afloat

Meanwhile the state is broke

 

[KENNY DA COOKER]

Or some people have jobs related to all this so they know the details.......

well i hope they "paying" you well for all this brand sukking u doing


im done...