Text 21320, 227 rader
Skriven 2015-02-25 00:44:33 av Lee Lofaso (2:203/2)
Kommentar till text 21311 av TIM RICHARDSON (1:123/140)
Ärende: Gotta love those real USA
=================================
Hello Tim,
BF>>> It must be a matter of money. Covering a cross country skiing event
BF>>> costs a lot more than a baseball or US Rugby (AKA Football) event.
BF>>> With 5% of the worlds population, surely the US should be able to
BF>>> compete with Norway, Finland and Sweden with a combined total of less
BF>>> than 1%?
BM>> Bj%rn, the US does compete, that's not the issue. The $$$ is. There is
BM>> absolutley ZIP $ to be made in cross-coutry sking here.
DD>> I had this daft idea that Olympic sports were all about physical
DD>> excellence, not about making money.
DD>> I was obviously confused.....
TR> Over here they have politicians hooked up with very rich sports team
owners,
TR> and together they con the taxpayers into laying out the money for
expensive
TR> stadiums the team owner doesn't want to put the money oout for...
That about sums it up in a nutshell. Tom Benson,
who owns both the New Orleans Saints football team
and the New Orleans Pelicans basketball team, gets
essentially "free" rent from the state of Louisiana
for use of the Mercedes Benz Superdome and the
Smoothie King Center (including the naming rights
of those stadiums/arenas). In addition, the state
agreed to allow Benson to rent out office space
to the state (which it had apparently given to
Benson for free in order to get him to agree to
keep the Saints in New Orleans).
Benson also wanted to get 100% of the concessions,
but the politicians refused to give him that.
When negotiations had begun, Benson had sought a
brand new stadium in Algiers (across the Mississippi
River from the French Quarter), but the state balked
at that, knowing the cost would have been astronomical.
So Benson got mad, put a bumper sticker on his car
reading "Jindal for Governor" and went about having
talks with then Governor Kathleen Blanco. After
the election, with Jindal as governor, Benson came
to terms with the state.
You have to realize what is missing in this story.
Kathleen Blanco was governor of Louisiana when Katrina
came roaring through town, destroying much of what was
the outside of the Superdome (African Americans tore up
the inside, as it was used as a shelter of last resort).
The federal government paid for most of the repairs,
which the state could not have afforded to have done.
The Saints could not play in the Superdome, so Benson
scheduled the Saints home games to be played at LSU in
Baton Rouge. But not many fans showed up - less than
30,000 if that - so Benson quickly did an about face
and took the Saints to San Antonio, where they finished
the season.
Tom Benson owns 100% of the Saints - and can do whatever
he wants with the team. As long as he can get a majority
of the other NFL owners to go along with him. At the end
of the season, Benson wanted to permanently make the city
of San Antonio the new home of the Saints. The owners
were willing to go along with him. However, the NFL
commissioner was dead set against it - as this would have
set a poor example for the NFL as it would have made
the NFL seem like it did not care about New Orleans
in the aftermath of Katrina.
Fast forward to today. A few weeks ago, Tom Benson's
daughter and two of his grandchildren tried to declare
him mentally incompetent in an effort to take over the
Saints and Pelicans sports teams. Tom Benson fired
back at them by basically disowning them, naming his
wife to be his successor of those teams when he croaks.
The matter is being litigated in the courts, but it
appears that Tom Benson still has all his marbles and
is still able to very much speak for himself. So much
so that even the NFL commissioner agrees with Tom Benson
rather than his children and grandkids ...
TR> the ruling city councils go for it....a new stadium gets built.
The original estimate of the cost for the Superdome
was to be about $26 million. Of course, this was back
in the 1970s. The real cost back then wound up being
over $130 million. This was paid for using mainly
state funds. I seriously doubt such a state of the
art stadium could be built today. Not with solely
state funds, anyway.
Without the Superdome being built, the city of New
Orleans would not have a skyline today. The Superdome
was built in the CBD (central business district), not
in an area far away where folks have to travel away
from the city. As a result, the city of New Orleans
has been able to host more Super Bowls than any other
city in America (except for Miami, which has hosted
one more Super Bowl than New Orleans). Everything
is in walking distance (restaurants, hotels, bars,
etc.) in New Orleans, which is one of the reasons
why the city of New Orleans is also known as Party
Town, USA.
TR> The players make big money....the team owners make money...the
TR> concessionaires make TONS of money (try $8.00 for a six ounce paper cup of
TR> warm beer, and about the same for a hotdog and bun!), and the taxpayers
are
TR> in debt for about thirty years to pay off the bonds!
Local taxes foot the bill in New Orleans. The Superdome was paid
for with state funds. Tom Benson gets free rent for use of the
Superdome and basketball arena (along with naming rights to both).
But the state holds on to the concessions (80% is the state cut,
as I think Benson is allowed a small portion).
TR> About twenty years ago the stadium used by both an NFL and a MLB team was
TR> said to need an `upgrade' or one of the teams was gonna leave town!
I would love for New Orleans to have a major league baseball team.
Then I wouldn't have to travel to Houston, Dallas, or Atlanta.
TR> The mayor conned the city council into issuing $70 million in bonds to do
TR> the
TR> `upgrade'. There was supposed to be a vote on it before any work started.
TR> But
TR> (low and behold!) `wrecking' started in the middle of the night...and the
TR> mayor was (conveniently) out of town attending a `mayor's meeting'
somewhere
TR> and couldn't `stop the work'. And...of course...before she got back to do
TR> anything about it, around $40 million in damage had already been done, so
TR> the
TR> only thing to do was `do the upgrade'!
TR> By the way....the `$70 million-dollar upgrade' turned into around $135
TR> million
TR> before it was over!
TR> And THEN.....about five years down the road...the city went in the tank
for
TR> a
TR> new stadium for the MLB team anyway!
And now the city of Los Angeles got suckered into supporting not one,
but two, NFL teams - the Chargers and the Raiders. But at least L.A.
had the brains to only give them one stadium rather than two ...
TR> But it ain't over yet!
You do realize the NFL Commissioner is going to be obligated
to award the city hosting the Chargers a Super Bowl, as well as
the city hosting the Raiders a Super Bowl ...
TR> Just recently...the NFL team started making noises about leaving town!
Tom Benson tried that approach. Got him a new deal with the state
of Louisiana. And then came Katrina. That got him a new deal with
Uncle Sam. And then came his daughter and grandkids ...
TR> And that `upgrade' isn't paid off yet!
Be patient!
TR> Not only that....the MLB team is ALso looking for greener pastures!
New Orleans will welcome them with open arms!
TR> And the bonds from THAT are also not paid yet!
The Superdome is paid for, at least two times over ...
TR> It gets better.....
It always does ...
TR> Both the MLB team and the NFL team get blacked out here if they're playing
a
TR> home game and somebody somewhere thinks not enough tickets got sold!
The NFL Commissioner has recently changed the blackout
policy - essentially doing away with blackouts.
TR> ... at the station,as they make their move to their new host city!
Should government (whether local, state or federal)
be in the business of supporting private enterprise?
Why, or why not?
A few years ago, Governor Piyush "Bobby" Jindal
decided to give $100,000 in state funds to a private
group of businessmen who wanted to host a country
music concert in Tiger Stadium at LSU (Baton Rouge).
Jindal got the state legislature to go along with
it, making it legal. The promoters made $50 million
in profit from the concert. The next year, the
same promoters had the hand out again, receiving
$800, 000 from their good buddy, Piyush "Bobby"
Jindal. Another $50 million profit made. And
this year, I am sure their best friend Piyush
"Bobby" Jindal will get them a cool $1,000,000
guaranteed state funds to put on their music
concert - only this year rather than being
a two-day affair it will be a three-day affair -
with Taylor Swift leading the way!
(Actually, the promoters say that Taylor Swift
has her own separate show - which they themselves
are promoting - with state funds not specified -
trying to make it sound as if the state is only
paying them for two days rather than three)
Talk about socialism for the wealthy!
Subsidizing private business to that the
only ones who have to pay are the suckers
who have to actually pay taxes!
--Lee
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* Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)
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