Financial Priorities: Spending on Stadiums vs. Schools

[Metro Jacksonville]

Financial Priorities: Spending on Stadiums vs. Schools



Is it time to re-evaluate the amount of public money utilized to subsidize sports stadiums at the expense of other community needs? The editorial team at FormSwift believes so. With that in mind, FormSwift shares an easy-to-digest, user-friendly resource to begin learning about the misplaced spending priorities of many state governments regarding sports stadiums.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2017-feb-financial-priorities-spending-on-stadiums-vs-schools

[Gunnar]

Bread and Circuses ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses

[Tacachale]

BUH BUH...MY FOOTBAW! TEH JAGZ R SO IMPORTANT! DON'T U KNO HOW MANY FORTUNE 1 MILLION BUSINESSES COME HERE JUST CUZ WE GOT TEH JAGZ?!!? STICK 2 SPORTS

YEAH TEH GATAS ARE THE ONLY FOOTBAW WORTHY OF SHOUTED CAPS AND SWITCHING NUMBERS 4 WORDS BEC4USE NO SCAMS IN COLLE6E FOOTBAW AND ONLY SOPHISTICATED SMART F4NS. TEBOOOOOOOOOOW

[Dapperdan]

Haha. No one on here  likes to talk about all the public money the Jaguars have taken and continue to take. Has it been worth it? Has the city seen a return or are we still paying it off and will we continue to pay it off decades into the future? I love the NFL but history will show it was the biggest public monies rip-off in history. Jacksonville is not alone.
I am happy that several cities, mostly in California since they have to vote on all stadium monies now, have said enough is enough. Let the teams walk. They will eventually run out of cities willing to finance these billion dollar stadiums. I do like the fact that the Jaguars are continuously upgrading their existing stadium. That does tend to be cheaper than building a new 2 billion dollar joint. I am looking at you Atlanta and your new Mercedz Benz Stadium. The Georgia Dome is barely older than Everbank Field yet its public financed replacement opens next year. Their new stadium by the way eclipses our LED boards as largest LED boards in a stadium. That didn't last long..lol.

[FlaBoy]

For some cities like LA, New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Miami, Seattle, or even St. Louis, is is a complete rip off. But those cities are well known centers that don't need a professional franchise to put them on a map. Dallas, LA, and NY saw completely privately funded stadiums. The Dolphins ended up privately financing their upgrades to their stadium after the Richard Corcoran told the Miami owner to screw himself basically. Atlanta certainly has gotten screwed with their over $3 billion in investments from Fulton and Cobb County with two viable stadiums already there.

Whether for little Jacksonville in 1993, as like the 50th largest metro at the time, to have an NFL franchise, was and still is a big deal that got the city on the map. Literally, I had no idea about Jacksonville other than the Jags and FL-GA for years. Even today, as a resident, when I travel to other cities and say where I live, the first thing that they say is, "I don't know much about Jacksonville other than your bad football team." For this city, the publicity may be worth it for our one team in by far the most popular league in America.

I also believe that the NFL will want teams in Mexico City and London by 2022 (maybe not playing yet but expansion on the way or relocation) due to the new television rights coming up so we better be on our toes. They need to expand the pool of money and they may have already maxed out the US.

[Adam White]

I don't know how "on the map" Jacksonville is. Whenever I tell anyone I'm from Jacksonville, they say, "Like the song?" No... that's Jackson.

[FlaBoy]

I don't know how "on the map" Jacksonville is. Whenever I tell anyone I'm from Jacksonville, they say, "Like the song?" No... that's Jackson.

Maybe we deal with different constituencies 

[Adam White]

I don't know how "on the map" Jacksonville is. Whenever I tell anyone I'm from Jacksonville, they say, "Like the song?" No... that's Jackson.

Maybe we deal with different constituencies 

True. But in all fairness, the Jaguars are my 'home' NFL team 

[BridgeTroll]

Every city and town in the nation has schools... some are funded better than others with or without a stadium or football team.  There are only 32 cities with teams...

[Snufflee]

Every city and town in the nation has schools... some are funded better than others with or without a stadium or football team.  There are only 32 cities with teams...

32 Teams, not cities as NY and LA have 2 teams. While I agree with your basic premise and the editorial is poorly written in so much as it really fails to establish a link between school funding and stadium construction, the bigger issue is the use of Tax Payer money where the tax payer does not have a voice in it's use to go to stadium construction/improvements which benefits the few where a solid and comprehensive local public education system benefits the many.

[BridgeTroll]

Every city and town in the nation has schools... some are funded better than others with or without a stadium or football team.  There are only 32 cities with teams...

32 Teams, not cities as NY and LA have 2 teams. While I agree with your basic premise and the editorial is poorly written in so much as it really fails to establish a link between school funding and stadium construction, the bigger issue is the use of Tax Payer money where the tax payer does not have a voice in it's use to go to stadium construction/improvements which benefits the few where a solid and comprehensive local public education system benefits the many.

Well that makes it even more exclusive... 30 cities have NFL teams and facilities.  I think we all understand tax payer money is used for the construction and upkeep of these facilities.  San Diego said no more and perhaps their schools will now be better for it.  Perhaps someone will do a study outlining where the money that would have been spent replacing the crappy old stadium is now being spent...

[Tacachale]

BUH BUH...MY FOOTBAW! TEH JAGZ R SO IMPORTANT! DON'T U KNO HOW MANY FORTUNE 1 MILLION BUSINESSES COME HERE JUST CUZ WE GOT TEH JAGZ?!!? STICK 2 SPORTS

YEAH TEH GATAS ARE THE ONLY FOOTBAW WORTHY OF SHOUTED CAPS AND SWITCHING NUMBERS 4 WORDS BEC4USE NO SCAMS IN COLLE6E FOOTBAW AND ONLY SOPHISTICATED SMART F4NS. TEBOOOOOOOOOOW

Pretttttty sure my tax dollars aren't making the billionaire owners of the Gators (or the Dawgs, or the Noles) more rich. 

The NFL is kleptocracy.  Pure and simple. Tax dollars enriching billionaires at the expense of the poor. And then they gauge you on tickets, food, drink etc.  It's why I dont really give a shit about the Jags and laugh when they lose.  They're a drain on us.  All academic studies prove this.  But, as I have said ad nauseum on this website, no one fucking cares because football.

College football certainly is just as bad as you're claiming about the NFL. There's the fact that most don't make enough to support themselves and rely on subsidies from the schools, meaning public schools do take money from students and other taxpayers. Your Gators are one of the few that don't, but the patsies they pad their record with multiple times a year sure do, so they benefit from it. Then there's the fact that all teams, including Florida, make their budgets through boosters. Boosters' donations qualify as tax-deductible "charitable donations" to the schools, meaning a loss of tax revenue. And then are the truly egregious problems, like the fact that college football is a billion dollar industry that doesn't pay the players even though the coaches routinely make several times the salary of their college's president and highest paid faculty.

Your posts imply that all Jaguars or NFL fans are totally blind to the various problems of the NFL model BECAUSE FOOTBAW. This is false on its face, as many of us Jags fans on this very forum talk about these problems pretty regularly. But what's irritating is that you make these statements despite being one of the biggest Gators fanboys on Metro Jacksonville. This suggests that either (1) you're blind to the problems of college footbaw, which would make you just as bad as your straw NFL fans, or (2) that you understand the problems but like the game in spite of them, which would make you pretty equivalent to most of the Jags fans who actually post on this site. Neither option justifies a sense of superiority.

[spuwho]

Sometimes stadiums have little to do with school funding and quality.......


Several Years and $1 Billion Later, San Diego Schools Are Actually in Worse Shape

Per the Voice of San Diego;

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/several-years-and-1-billion-later-san-diego-schools-are-actually-in-worse-shape/

[JBTripper]

BUH BUH...MY FOOTBAW! TEH JAGZ R SO IMPORTANT! DON'T U KNO HOW MANY FORTUNE 1 MILLION BUSINESSES COME HERE JUST CUZ WE GOT TEH JAGZ?!!? STICK 2 SPORTS

YEAH TEH GATAS ARE THE ONLY FOOTBAW WORTHY OF SHOUTED CAPS AND SWITCHING NUMBERS 4 WORDS BEC4USE NO SCAMS IN COLLE6E FOOTBAW AND ONLY SOPHISTICATED SMART F4NS. TEBOOOOOOOOOOW

Pretttttty sure my tax dollars aren't making the billionaire owners of the Gators (or the Dawgs, or the Noles) more rich. 

The NFL is kleptocracy.  Pure and simple. Tax dollars enriching billionaires at the expense of the poor. And then they gauge you on tickets, food, drink etc.  It's why I dont really give a shit about the Jags and laugh when they lose.  They're a drain on us.  All academic studies prove this.  But, as I have said ad nauseum on this website, no one fucking cares because football.

Ad nauseum, you got that right.

Just because you don't care for professional football does not make the NFL a kleptocracy. The market dictates that if Jacksonville taxpayers do not subsidize the Jaguars, the Jaguars will no longer exist in Jacksonville. If the people of Jacksonville want the Jaguars, they aren't stupid for supporting public financing of stadium improvements. They are allocating their tax dollars toward something they value. So cut the HURR DURR FOOTBAW shit.

And it's gouge. They GOUGE you on concessions because you are a captive audience inside the stadium, but they GAUGE demand and set ticket prices based on that. Of course, they also allow you to bring in outside food, so they aren't even very good at gouging you. HURR DURR.

[Adam White]

BUH BUH...MY FOOTBAW! TEH JAGZ R SO IMPORTANT! DON'T U KNO HOW MANY FORTUNE 1 MILLION BUSINESSES COME HERE JUST CUZ WE GOT TEH JAGZ?!!? STICK 2 SPORTS

YEAH TEH GATAS ARE THE ONLY FOOTBAW WORTHY OF SHOUTED CAPS AND SWITCHING NUMBERS 4 WORDS BEC4USE NO SCAMS IN COLLE6E FOOTBAW AND ONLY SOPHISTICATED SMART F4NS. TEBOOOOOOOOOOW

Pretttttty sure my tax dollars aren't making the billionaire owners of the Gators (or the Dawgs, or the Noles) more rich. 

The NFL is kleptocracy.  Pure and simple. Tax dollars enriching billionaires at the expense of the poor. And then they gauge you on tickets, food, drink etc.  It's why I dont really give a shit about the Jags and laugh when they lose.  They're a drain on us.  All academic studies prove this.  But, as I have said ad nauseum on this website, no one fucking cares because football.

Ad nauseum, you got that right.

Just because you don't care for professional football does not make the NFL a kleptocracy. The market dictates that if Jacksonville taxpayers do not subsidize the Jaguars, the Jaguars will no longer exist in Jacksonville. If the people of Jacksonville want the Jaguars, they aren't stupid for supporting public financing of stadium improvements. They are allocating their tax dollars toward something they value. So cut the HURR DURR FOOTBAW shit.

And it's gouge. They GOUGE you on concessions because you are a captive audience inside the stadium, but they GAUGE demand and set ticket prices based on that. Of course, they also allow you to bring in outside food, so they aren't even very good at gouging you. HURR DURR.

I like professional football, but I agree with MMR that it is a kleptocracy (well, I agree with what he meant by saying that - I think the NFL is more like a cartel or a cabal - or any other number of words starting with "c").