The bulk of Americans love professional sports so much, it's only fitting that millions in taxpayer dollars (okay, probably billions) have gone toward building or renovating football, baseball, basketball and, to a much lesser degree, soccer stadiums.
On the heels of the Hillsborough County Commission's nod to a nearly $90 million agreement between the county and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to upgrade Raymond James Stadium, Tampa City Council will vote on the agreement, which would use county tourist tax dollars and not general revenue, tomorrow. The county, according to multiple reports, would pay about a third.
The council will be its last stop; the Tampa Sports Authority and the Hillsborough County Commission were its first and second, respectively.
The Tampa Bay Times' Steve Contorno writes all but one commissioner, eastern Hillsborough conservative Stacy White, were on board. In fact, he notes, most thought it was a pretty darn good deal. From the story:
“I’d like to know what kind of adult beverages you feeded those people when you were negotiating because we have a heck of a deal here,” Commissioner Victor Crist said to county CFO Bonny Wise, who presented the agreement. (Bucs COO Brian Ford sat stone faced in the audience after the comment.)
Looks like some professional sports executive has no idea how to take a joke.
However, some members of the audience were, as White was, not amused.
Members of the Koch Brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity, a conservative Super PAC, had a few complaints, according to Florida Politics' Mitch Perry, namely that taxpayer funding of sports stadiums — whether said taxpayers live here or not — is kind of a violation of "free market principles."
Some commissioners acknowledged the deal wasn't the best for taxpayers, but a nearly 20-year-old deal sort of tied their hands.
Tampa City Council will weigh the deal at their regular meeting tomorrow; the discussion is the fourth item on the agenda and should take place shortly after 9 a.m.
This article appears in Dec 10-16, 2015.