The tongue-in-cheek nature of this story, the hilarity of the side remarks, elicit a laugh out loud response that would be even better if it could overcome the harrumphs of the rich plumping for one of their own to steal a small fortune from a city still a bit down on its luck and missing its star attraction, a transcendent basketball player who has decided to go elsewhere for his final years in the NBA.
The financing of sports arenas has to be hailed as the most blatant way in which the 0.01 percenters rip off the bottom 33.3%. Panem et circenses.........
This stadium deal is a scam. How is it that a World Championship team like the Cleveland Cavaliers can’t or won’t build and maintain their own stadium.
To take money from the public treasury for private enrichment is disgusting and should be unlawful.
Every city and state in America should pass a law that says no new stadiums can be built or refurbished with public funds. There are laws in many
states that forbid building anymore public colleges and or universities. Why? Because they are costly to build and maintain. And many could argue that colleges are a better bet and enrich the community
much more than a sports stadium.
Just look at how little has been done in Detroit to advance the standard of living in that city with the the millions of dollars used to build Ford Field
tax payers of the state footing the bill via the diabolical use of the Michigan education funds.
Ford, together with that states GOP and a terrible governor got one of the worst teams in the NFL a new stadium and abandoned The Pontiac Silverdome
leaving a huge bond that is still owed on and that the
citizen of Pontiac Michigan are still paying on.
Then the Detroit Pistons did the same to Auburn Hills
where they abandoned a beautiful stadium there and hightailed it to Detroit, and for no better digs and a more diluted arena fan base and costlier
tickets, and now share a new sparkling stadium with
the Red Wings. That move cost the public $324
million in bonds and from the Detroit schools. Alarming!
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Only when taxpayers realize they are the ones being rolled by pro-sports moguls dependent on public financing, who game indulgent politicians with threats of leaving or promises of championships, and refuse to pay taxes to fund such swindles will the practice of pro-sports looting come to a gratifying conclusion.
As for LeBron, if he will kindly retire now at the pinnacle of his unchallenged popularity, he is one potential 2020 Democrat nominee who could hand Trump his lunch. His life experience of overcoming hardship, succeeding in life on many fronts besides basketball, and remaining humble and honest in the face of the many inducements of great wealth and popularity to be otherwise, render him a fit candidate for the job of president. LeBrons' humility and decency would go a long way towards healing the rift Trump has sewn into the fabric of America.
LeBron for president in 2020.
On the other hand, if the Dems nominate a progressive or democratic socialist, Trump will be assured of four more years, no matter how far off the rails he goes before November 2020. It is about time Democrats faced up to the fact that what cost them the presidency in 2016 wasn't only Hillary's arrogance and inept campaign. It was the rational fear that Hillary would continue pursuing the progressive politics and policies of Obama of taxing and regulating the American economy to death.
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Poor Cleveland! On so many levels. Socialism for billionaires seems to be normal in stadium building and tax breaks. There are plenty of studies showing that these stadium deals are not only bad deals for taxpayers but corrupt deals for politicians.
Sports teams need to start paying for their own stadiums and cities need to band together to refuse to give into this kind of blackmail.
Voters need to rise up. Soon taxpayers will be paying for nothing but perks for billionaires while public services decline because city’s are broke! It must stop on both the local and national level.
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Sports Socialism: the opiate of the Oligarchs.
The obscene extortion of cities’ tax funds for billionaire “welfare” must end. They hate socialism so much. Pathetic.
Sums it up pretty well. I hope every leader in Cleveland is reading this. One note: the Greater Cleveland Congregations did not actually get *anything* for dropping the petition for the ballot issue - they got our county executive to 'consider' their proposal for more mental health crisis centers (there is no money to pay for it). It is all the more depressing that this could have been defeated at the ballot, but was killed by so-called liberal politicians like Marcia Fudge. Ugh.
If Karl Marx thought Cleveland is bad, I can just imagine what he would say about Saint Louis.
“Further, [Cleveland] has argued that money poured into the arena has seeded the rebirth of the downtown…”
Hmm, that has a familiar ring to it. The Saint Louis Cardinals astute owners boasted that building Ball Park Village across the street from their baseball stadium would increase the revenue flowing into the downtown area. Thousands of people would flood the streets downtown and with all of their money. Saint Louis would be a boomtown.
Despite the opinions of many architectural firms hired to determine the economic impact, they ignored the dire warnings of those that stated that building such a project would have the opposite effect. Of course, their predictions were ignored and the Village was built. At the time, downtown Saint Louis was making a comeback and downtown was on its way to recovery.
If you visit Saint Louis today, you might think you are in Aleppo. A vast wasteland of deserted buildings invested with an ever-increasing crime rate.
Here's why..."The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind."
And why shouldn't the public pay? I mean we can afford to take care of these millionaire players and owners? Right? As we are paying for it we should be allowed in for next to nothing right? This abuse of taxpayer funds to re-build these stadiums must end. This is sickening.
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When will the people get this country back? We must vote these people out of office and money out of politics.
You would think that Dan Gilbert owner of the Cavaliers could arrange a loan from Quicken Loans. They claim to be very quick and efficient, Mr Gilbert could simply call himself. And avoid further abuse of the over burdened Cleveland taxpayers.
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Fast-forward four years: the arena needs one more "emergency" renovation, and along comes LeBron James for his third and final stint with the Cavs. The city goes nuts, with taxpayers literally begging the city and county to drain their wallets in welcoming back the King.
Corporate Welfare is alive and well in the U.S. I wonder if any small businesses in Cleveland pulled the, "give me a tax break or I will take my (doughnut shop, diner, pizzeria) to another town" argument it would have the same success.
Educated millennials have choices: they vote with their feet and move on to greener pastures -- lower taxes, educated workforce, and safe neighborhoods. $140 million stadium upgrade is one way to perpetuate Cuyahoga County's low literacy, high poverty legacy.
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The aging Oakland Colosseum and Arena complex still has bonds and debt left over from the repairs demanded by Al Davis and the Raiders when they returned "home" from their brief time in LA decades ago. Now the Warriors are decamping to a self-financed arena in San Francisco, the Raiders are leaving for glitzy Las Vegas, and the A's are still speed-dating anyone that has space for a "downtown" stadium. The bonds and debt shared by the City of Oakland and Alameda county will surely outlive the place, even after the stadiums are gone, and the location converted to something else. Lesson to be learned, Cleveland.
Works every time: insiders get the public's money, and the public gets a little bread and circus action to distract them.
And if someone gets a little uppity and objects, they are either overwhelmed by legal maneuvering or eventually bought off for a few beads and trinkets.
Professional sports franchises are large-scale squeegee men: forcing people to pay for something they don't need and probably didn't want in the first place.
If we’re going to make such a big issue of who gets food stamps and other government subsidies, then we must include among welfare recipients the billionaires who reap extraordinary tax breaks and other benefits at the expense of our governmental treasuries.
The next time you hear someone express frustration as to why — in the world’s richest country — we cannot find enough money for education, healthcare, infrastructure and other normal amenities of life, tell them this is why. Imagine what $140 million might do for Cleveland’s schools or neighborhoods instead of handing it to a gluttonous billionaire.
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A sad commentary on the priorities of today’s America.
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This is very similar to what happened here in Milwaukee where the public contributed $250 million for a $500 million new stadium for the Bucks. We were not allowed to refurbish a beautiful old arena that was nearby, and the Bucks have already made a bid to influence the school system.
Wisconsin also has promised more than $3 billion in public funds to acquire a Foxconn factory for manufacturing television screens. This is the largest such investment(?) in U.S. history.
We will soon be flush with the immediate economic stimulus of this spending, but both these deals have 20 year time frames. I worry about how healthy we will be when the sugar rush ends.