The corporate welfare the NFL received in Chicago is just a small slice of a much larger problem with the league, which is highly subsidized by taxpayers and elaborately protected by government. Here, surely, is another way in which America's biggest sport holds up a mirror to American society: The very rich receive too many publicly funded favors, while celebrities are treated as above the law. Taxpayer support for the NFL draft combined with police escorts for NFL "dignitaries"—dignitaries!—shows both problems.
The league's primary subsidies flow to construction and operation of stadia. All are at least partially publicly funded: some, entirely so. Judith Grant Long, a professor of sports management at the University of Michigan, estimates that taxpayers provide about 70 percent of the cost of building and operating the fields where NFL teams play. Yet the NFL's owners keep more than 90 percent of revenue generated at their subsidized facilities, while AT&T, CBS, Comcast/NBC, Disney/ESPN, Fox, Verizon, and Yahoo profit through transmission of the copyrighted NFL images produced in publicly subsidized stadia.
The NFL is on the dole in numerous other respects. Most of the league's facilities either pay no property taxes (such as Texas's AT&T Stadium, where the Cowboys perform) or are taxed at a far lower rate than comparable local businesses (such as New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, where the Giants and Jets cavort). Stadium construction deals often involve significant gifts of land from the public for NFL use (such as Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where the "San Francisco" 49ers play).
Hidden costs may include city or county government paying electricity, water, and sewer charges for a stadium (such as First Energy Stadium in Cleveland, where the Browns perform), the city paying for a new electronic scoreboard out of "emergency" funds (ditto First Energy) or the issuance of tax-free bonds that divert investors' money away from school, road, and mass-transit infrastructure (Hamilton County, Ohio, issued tax-free bonds to fund the stadium where the Cincinnati Bengals play, and has chronic deficits for school and infrastructure needs as a result).
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/how-taxpayers-keep-the-nfl-rich/418971/
I think this is beginning to reach the peak of the bubble. The cash cow is TV rights and people are unplugging.
The overall perceived value of the game tickets is declining.
San Diego clearly cant see the value. St Louis is 50/50 about their stadium deal.
Chicago kept threatening to start a 2nd team when the Soldier Field redux was not economic. (NFL paid the difference)
So yes, I agree we spend too much on new stadium builds but I think its going to slow down as they eventually lose ratings.
There certainly must be an entire litany of things that are..."highly subsidized by taxpayers and elaborately protected by government."
Quote from: spuwho on December 08, 2015, 02:36:48 PM
I think this is beginning to reach the peak of the bubble. The cash cow is TV rights and people are unplugging.
The overall perceived value of the game tickets is declining.
San Diego clearly cant see the value. St Louis is 50/50 about their stadium deal.
Chicago kept threatening to start a 2nd team when the Soldier Field redux was not economic. (NFL paid the difference)
So yes, I agree we spend too much on new stadium builds but I think its going to slow down as they eventually lose ratings.
Absolutely nailed it. We're at or near the top of the NFL bubble and nobody stays on top forever. Younger generations don't watch TV really at all, if they do, it's on demand. The amount of commercials in a game is staggering. It's to the point where I "time shift" games by starting them a bit late.
The public will lose interest, the directTV exclusive sunday ticket contracts will come to an end as more and more people cut the cord.
(http://i.imgur.com/mNHkbgH.png)
Quote from: coredumped on December 08, 2015, 04:32:40 PM
The public will lose interest, the directTV exclusive sunday ticket contracts will come to an end as more and more people cut the cord.
I beg to differ. There's a very real financial reason why the NFL teams keep rising in value -- they have a product that is increasingly isolated in its ability to regularly bring together the most Americans for a viewing event in an era of the long tail where viewership keeps fracturing into ever smaller pieces.
This fact serves to make the NFL even
more valuable than ever, and (by extension) the Jaguars all the more a phenomenal asset for the city.
Taxpayer dollars are not keeping the NFL rich. The "sporting" public has combined with the "event-loving" public and they, together, will keep the NFL rich for the foreseeable future.
I'll believe they are in a decline when the value of the TV deals decreases. Live sports is about the only thing a cord cutter and DVR lover can't watch. Making those properties that much more valuable. Also, the gambling helps too.
Kind of a dumb article in that it only touches on the reason the NFL-qua-NFL is so popular. It's a monopoly that controls professional football. It's able to artificially keep the number of teams lower than the number of cities that want them, so they're always competing with each other, and they defend their monopoly through court and government assistance.
dumb thread
Don't your knees get sore from your nonstop fellating of the NFL, edjax?
I would think that would be something more related to a fine hoe such as yourself actually. Sore knees that is.
Children, let's play nice!
Intersting points Gator, I'm a huge jags fan, and watch Monday, Thursday and Sunday night games (thanks to $20/month and sling TV). But for me the commercials are getting to be a bit much.
Maybe it's just me and it doesn't bother people so much, but I think with the rise of Netflix and younger folks never having cable their entire life, they might change.
Remember when baseball was king? ;)