What The Puck
Bill McGurn ·
Mar 11, 2011 at 3:08pm
Why is the head of the National Hockey League so angry at the free-market Goldwater Institute? Maybe it's because the Goldwater Institute refuses to stop asking why the Glendale City Council in Arizona is using $100 million in taxpayer dollars to keep it's hockey team, the Coyotes, in town. The money would go to a new buyer. File under: corporate welfare.
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Re: What The Puck
Have you any idea how difficult it is to quietly enjoy a bowl of soup in a public restaurant when reading a headline like that?
Re: What The Puck
Amazing, isn't it, how glamor industries seem immune to cries of corporate welfare? We've seen it with professional sports for years, and now we're seeing it increasingly in the subsidies to the film industry to avoid "runaway production" (on which point a good piece is here -- not everyday that I link to Michael Kinsley).
Taxpayers almost always take a bath on these projects. When I lived in Nashville, the city and the state spent a combined total of nearly $300 million to attract the Houston Oilers to move. In California, where I currently live -- and where we have enough financial headaches to worry about as it is-- public money is at issue in one form or another in (1) putting a new NFL team in Los Angeles (2) the probable relocation of the Sacramento Kings to Orange County and (3) Plans for a new 49ers stadium in Santa Clara.
You've got to hand it to us: we know how to go broke with gusto.
Jan '11
Re: What The Puck
The whole story about the Coyotes is a testament to the stupidity of public officials. Glendale lured the Coyotes with a $180 million tax payer funded stadium out of the central Phoenix area to the far west outskirts of Phoenix. They did this in hopes of spurring increased development and tax revenue. The fundamental problem is that the location is out of the way for many in Phoenix - its at least 30-40 minutes away from the more affluent parts of Phoenix where a lot of your season ticket holders live. The attendance figures plummeted, tons of money was lost by the team and in 2009, they declared bankruptcy in order to break the 30 year lease and sell/move the team to another city. Glendale objected since they just built the stadium in 2003. The NHL did not like the owner trying to sell the team with their approval and took over the team. They have been trying to sell it since which is difficult because anybody with any business sense knows that it will be almost impossible to make the team viable at its current location . Consequently, Glendale is forced to creatively bribe someone into buying the team.
Sep '10
Re: What The Puck
Ack.
Edited on Mar 11, 2011 at 9:37pmSep '10
Re: What The Puck
Fun site of the week: Fire Bettman dot com
And watch this YouTube video of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman getting roundly booed by the fans during the awarding of the 2009 Stanley Cup. That boy has some serious talent.
Oct '10
Re: What The Puck
Troy,
Houston/Harris County is STILL paying off the bonds that they used to fund improvements for the Astrodome to keep those same Oilers in Houston. So, after extensive renovation the Oilers stuck around for a few years, then demanded new stadium. Not getting one, they decamped to Nashville as the Tennessee Titans.
The Astrodome is now derelict, But local taxpayers, stupidly incapable of learning, decided to build a new NFL stadium for a new NFL team, the Houston Texans.
Words fail me.
Jun '10
Re: What The Puck
Remember how George Bush became part owner of the Texas Rangers with a similar scheme? Taxpayers funded the construction with a bond issue. The land was acquired by seizing the property under eiminent domain law. He was even acused of insider trading for selling his oil company stock to fund his share of the team.
Sports is a dirty business. Has there ever been a stadium built or a franchise run that is squeaky clean? I am sick to death of taxpayer funds being used to make franchise owners rich. Stadiums are built in unsuitable, unsustainable markets because the backers don't carry the risk --- taxpayers do. Some delusional politicians try to capture their high school sports glory days and act as the big cheese, luring a franchise with their constituents' money. Even when the stadium is successful in bringing jobs and development in the area there is plenty of graft & corruption enriching the insiders on our dime.