Team Owners Continue to Take Taxpayers to the Cleaners
Is there any better financial deal in the world than being an NFL owner?
What other business owner gets a deal where they have a protected monopoly with antitrust exemptions up the gazoo, and virtually guaranteed appreciation of the business?
Name the last NFL franchise that sold for less than the owner paid for it … I can’t think of any either.
Due to all the public handouts and tax advantages, the supposed Lords of Capitalism are actually Masters of Socialism when it comes to their NFL franchises.
The Minnesota Vikings stadium is but the latest scam by NFL royalty. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell comes riding into town, suggests the team could soon be in Los Angeles if the fine people of Minnesota don’t build a new sports palace for the Vikes owners, and then quickly heads back out of town. Local politicians start tripping all over themselves to come up with a scheme to keep the Vikings in town without having to have a messy public vote. A last second deal is pushed through and signed by Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton — a deal that will hurt taxpayers and possibly charities based on a bizarre sales tax deal that could increase the tax burden on Minnesota charities.
In a Huffington Post piece, Ilya Shapiro and Nicholas Mosvick write:
“The reality of the Vikings deal is that the owners will gain the most, not taxpayers or fans. Taxpayers will bear most of the risk, while the expected increase in the franchise’s value will accrue wholly to the owners — who will also be free from facility-financing costs. The owners will also have new revenue opportunities in the form of higher ticket prices, club seats, stadium-naming rights, and advertising. With all these luxury goodies, the only fans who will be able to actually attend the games are those with luxury incomes, many of whom will surely be writing the cost off their taxes as a business expense.”
Study after study on these sweetheart stadium deals for super wealthy owners show that the economic impact on the local community is in effect zilch at best. Not only that, some communities are left servicing debt on now-demolished stadiums (See the Kingdome in Seattle and the Meadowlands in New Jersey). Meanwhile, owner revenues from media deals and luxury boxes continue to skyrocket and franchise values appreciate at rates unheard of in other industries.
The move by Dayton (and the other pro-stadium politicians in Minnesota that pushed this stadium deal through in a brutal economy without a referendum) is despicable. I simply can’t think of a stronger word at this time.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #30 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The State of College Athletics with Dr. David Ridpath: Problems and Potential Solutions – Ridpath is a sports administration professor at Ohio University and a long-time member of The Drake Group, a college sports reform think tank.
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Episode #29 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Honorable Tom McMillen Visits League of Fans’ Sports Forum – McMillen is a former All-American basketball player, Olympian, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Congressman. We discuss the state of college athletics today.
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world. We discuss problems in youth sports today.
Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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