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Sports Title: Bills Blocking Taxpayer Funding Of Sports Arenas Could Gain Steam Amid Anthem Protests A companion measure to the legislation was already proposed in the House back in March by Oklahoma Republican Rep. Steve Russell. Last June, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker and Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford put forth a bill that would ban professional sports teams from using municipal bonds in relation to federal funding to build their sports arenas. “Professional sports teams generate billions of dollars in revenue,” Booker said in a statement. “There’s no reason why we should give these multimillion-dollar businesses a federal tax break to build new stadiums. It’s not fair to finance these expensive projects on the backs of taxpayers, especially when wealthy teams end up reaping most of the benefits.” The Oklahoma Republican senator agreed, saying, “The federal government is responsible for a lot of important functions, but financing sports stadiums for multi-million – sometimes billion – dollar franchises is definitely not one of them.” A spokesman from Lankford’s office told The Daily Caller Sunday that in the last four weeks interest in the bill has picked up since both members proposed it four months ago. Should taxpayers have to pick up the tab for stadiums for wealthy professional athletes and team owners who thumb their noses when the national anthem is played in those very stadiums? Players on the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars, all who can potentially benefit from taxpayer dollars at the local, state and federal levels, followed the lead of former San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick Sunday. They kneeled during the national anthem at a game against each other in London. Other teams stayed in their locker rooms for the anthem. The incident happened one day after President Donald Trump criticized professional football players who kneel during the anthem, which set off a war of words on Twitter between the president and professional sports figures. Kaepernick claimed his protest of the national anthem last season stemmed from treatment of blacks by law enforcement, but by the end of the season Kaepernick’s demonstrations, joined at that point by other players, led the reason to the league’s TV ratings plunge, ESPN reported. Not only have viewers bid farewell to the NFL but attendees at teams’ taxpayer-funded stadiums appear to be refusing to fill seats. Last Thursday, the San Francisco 49ers and the L.A. Rams played before a poorly attended crowd. According to Booker and Lankford, for the past 17 years, 36 professional athletic stadiums have been built or renovated by federal tax-exempted municipal bonds. This cost taxpayers $3.2 billion dollars, the Brookings Institute reported last year. Despite claims from local officials and team owners that the construction of these stadiums would create jobs and economic growth, research from the Journal of Economic Perspectives showed “there is no statistically significant positive correlation between sports facility construction and economic development,” specifically aimed at income growth or job creation. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 12. Despite claims from local officials and team owners that the construction of these stadiums would create jobs and economic growth, research from the Journal of Economic Perspectives showed “there is no statistically significant positive correlation between sports facility construction and economic development,” specifically aimed at income growth or job creation. If this is true, cut off the funding even if the players stand for the anthem.
#6. To: misterwhite (#3) If this is true, cut off the funding even if the players stand for the anthem. It is certainly true and it has been known for some time. In exactly the same way that the Olympics always hurt the local economy of the city and the country that hosts them. Not that that ever stops them. Just more pols piling up debt to aggrandize themselves and screw the little people who have to ultimately pay those huge bills and accrued interest over the long haul. If we can't stop this kind of wasteful spending, can we stop anything? It is discouraging to think about.
#9. To: Tooconservative (#6) If we can't stop this kind of wasteful spending, can we stop anything? We could stop all of it and make things right. Whether we actually WILL or not is an open question.
#10. To: Vicomte13 (#9) You aren't cheering me up.
#11. To: Tooconservative (#10) You aren't cheering me up. After having gotten a good spanking by Jesus and adopting a resolution to be nice and not do things like call Republican politicians "shitstains" anymore, I am more hopeful than I have been for awhile. I do see the social welfare aspects of health care moving where I want it to go, and once that gets put to bed I really see a lot of good development in things. People are fed up about the national anthem, and that's starting to spill over in lost billions to TV stations and sports teams. And because the other side is resisting, the issue now is lateralizing into the question of tax breaks for stadia. This is the sort of thing that can just grow and grow, like yeast, and do so much incredible damage to the people who stand on the other side, without really doing any harm at all to those who just turn off that form of entertainment and move on to something else. Their model doesn't have to die, but if THEY choose to sacrifice their wealth and profession to make an obnoxious political statement, I am more than happy to see it all fall apart and shut down. It's symbolic of something new. If we can get past instituting public health care there is a lot we can do, socially, just as we for the most part have accepted Social Security as necessary. Things are going in the right direction. There is hope. Football is symbolic of a new time ahead. Winter is coming, and it will be glorious.
#12. To: Vicomte13 (#11) Well, we'll see if Trump can actually #MakeFootballGreatAgain. I have doubts.
Replies to Comment # 12. #13. To: Tooconservative (#12) Well, we'll see if Trump can actually #MakeFootballGreatAgain. I have doubts. He can't. But we can. Or rather, we can walk away and the swells who run football can fix stuff in order to save their businesses. Or they can cut off their noses to spite their faces. Either way, I win.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 12. Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
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