https://sports.yahoo.com/article/least-fourth-nfls-teams-looking-144904601.html
Thursday’s #PFTPM had a through line that won’t make it any easier for the various teams to get through the opening to the vault that contains the public money.
The salary cap is up significantly, again. Which means revenues are up, again. And franchise values have increased to the point that the 49ers are considering selling up to 10 percent at a record valuation of $9 billion — less than two years after the Commanders sold for only $6 billion.
But teams still want free cash to replace their perceived clunkers. Mainly because politicians keep coughing it up, like the contents of a wallet during a mugging.
Really, who wouldn’t want free money? No matter how much money you already have, free money is free money. Building a house? Why pay for it yourself if the government can be persuaded to kick in half?
After the news that the Texans are exploring a new stadium to replace a home that’s less than 25 years old, we made a list. Checked it twice. At least eight of 32 teams are actively looking for significant public money for the construction of a new stadium or the renovation of a current one.
That group includes the Texans, Browns, Bengals, Chiefs, Broncos, Eagles, Commanders, and Bears. Currently, the Bills, Titans, Panthers, and Jaguars are getting new venues or expensive stadium renovations with public contributions. That’s 12 of 32 teams that are either getting or trying to get updated or new places to play. With significant taxpayer money sought or included in each one.
So when and where does the faucet close? For years now, public sentiment has been turning stronger and stronger against subsidizing multi-billionaires. Last year, the Chiefs couldn’t parlay two straight Super Bowl wins and the presence (and involvement) of stars like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce into enough votes to extend an existing sales tax that would have paid for a new stadium.
And while the transfer of the site of RFK Stadium to the District of Columbia came at no taxpayer expense, there’s no way the Commanders will build a stadium there without a taxpayer contribution. Good luck getting it, given the current slash-and-burn climate in and around D.C.
Sports owners ask for taxpayer money because it works. Because no politician wants to be responsible for a local team leaving. And if/when some other city or state will cough up the free cash the team’s current home won’t, that’s why a team will move.
As long as one viable city will give an owner the combination to the Kitnerboy Redoubt, the process will continue. If/when no one will, that’s when it will be game over for the league — and when the owners will have to pay for their own stadiums.
And then they’ll pass along the costs by jacking up the price for tickets accordingly.
But if anyone in a given community is going to be digging deep to pay for a new football stadium, shouldn’t the money come from the people who attend the games and not the people who don’t care about football at all? Strange as it may seem, in most cities where NFL teams play, the people who don’t care about the NFL outnumber those who do.
https://sports.yahoo.com/article/least-fourth-nfls-teams-looking-144904601.html
