Several individuals, including sports analysts and urban development experts, have criticized the use of taxpayer funds to finance new NBA arenas without receiving any equity in return. The public financing of arenas is seen as a means for team owners to profit from retail, hotel, and residential spaces without sharing the proceeds with the public. Critics argue that the construction of these arenas, often located in non-urban areas, perpetuates unproductive land use and places a financial burden on taxpayers, particularly in states like DC, Virginia, and Oklahoma.
Easy to see why Leonsis. He’d put just 20% equity into a $2bn project & Virginia taxpayers are creditors for the $1.6bn balance & are bag holders for any cost overruns. No new taxes is a lie, VA taxpayers are the full recourse creditors here. It’s a shit deal for Virginians.
Take a look at how many of the new arena deals come in non-urban, centrally located areas because they want the space for "development" around it. And ask yourself if those developments are going to generate so much revenue why the public is paying for it.
Public financing of arenas, which will then be used to pull in customers for retail, hotel, and residential spaces which the team owners will profit off without any of that money going to the public, is an insane grift that gets worse over time.
I love new basketball arenas but it doesn't make having taxpayers fund them any less idiotic. https://t.co/V60qOn77Ka
Remarkable that taxpayers in DC, Virginia and Oklahoma are willing to fund new NBA arenas in exchange for zero equity, given how much money NBA owners make off the clubs.
Stadiums are the universal sign of desperation in economic development. They cost hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to build, and millions more in ongoing infrastructure maintenance, all while perpetuating unproductive land use. https://t.co/XFExJeJ0ec