Economics of Stadiums (NFL Division)

From what I've read PSL's are part of the deal so really it's Falcon fans that will be ponying up the 800 mil

 

I have no problem with PSLs. Set price, supply and demand, capitalism, etc.

My problem is with tax dollars going to billionaires when the public gets no benefit at all. Even for a stadium in a new spot, it's questionable. For a stadium to replace an existing one, there is no chance the public reaps any benefit of that investment. The existing stadium serves the public's purposes just fine, it's only the Falcons who don't like it.

 

Which hurts hotels & restaurants -- and their low wage employees -- because meeting and convention planners will book in lower cost cities.

 

Will there ever come a point where cities start telling team owners, "You want that stadium? Buy a plot of land and build it yourself." I imagine the first team that gets told that will move, but if it happens a few times - then what? It seems like the public is getting smarter about realizing how horrible these deals really are. Eventually, their political leaders will have to see it and not cave in to team demands.

Do teams just keep moving to smaller and smaller markets, who are simply glad to have a team? "Welcome... your Albany Falcons!"

 

Los Angeles gets shat on alot for having lousy fans, but I love what we've said to the NFL over the last 18 years.

 

What makes this particularly hilarious is that this will be the third stadium in 50 years built with tax money essentially to the whims of an NFL franchise (Fulton County 1965, Georgia Dome 1992 and now the new stadium), in an area which is a hotbed of rabid "i don't wanna pay no taxes for nothin' " screamers.

 

North Carolina also told Carl Polhad to fuck off when he wanted them to build a stadium for the Twins.

Also, and not to get too political, but Rahm put the Ricketts family on ignore about Wrigley renovations when the patriarch tried to start an anti-Obama PAC, rationalizing that since they didn't want government intervention into private business, then the city wouldn't help them out.

 

I'm not so sure Fulton County (Cobb County's another matter) is an anti-tax hotbed. Georgians in the room feel free to chime in, but IIRC Atlanta/Fulton County are pretty solid blue-state as the political winds blow.

 

On the one hand, the next Falcons owner might not be willing to pony up so much of the cost.
On the other, given their rep as apathetic fans, you wonder how much local demand there is.

 

The second biggest lie ever told is how publicly funded stadiums and arenas are worth the cost.

 

Frankly I don't care if the 49ers are the San Francisco 49ers or the Santa Clara 49ers or even the LA 9ers (well that does hurt a bit); not at the costs that are bandied about. Its not quite apples to apples, but those monies could be allocated better elsewhere, like back to the taxpayers or public education (my pet charity).