Shadow of Stadium

I get called a lot of names along the lines of “stadium naysayer” here. But I’m just here to remind you — after covering dozens of these — they all follow the same playbook. There is zero reason to believe your favorite subsidy-seeking team is any different from all the others.

@ThomasAKaspar FYI, there is no correlation between new stadiums and payroll bumps — or on-field success. You can find the studies on these things here: bsky.app/profile/jcbrad… (Or you can keep trusting the team. But no idea why you’d do that after so many other cities fell for it.)

It’s about Tampa economics and the Westshore Businesses districts blighted 850 acres no matter how much you dither and try to equivocate. The ownership group and location is a no brainer and very close to moving forward . The only one’s buying your opinions are old secretaries pretending to be political insiders.

Reminder: decades of this experiment have proven there is no correlation at all between new ballparks & success on the field.

@tcainkimball Tell that to team owners who don’t seem anxious to do so.

@StadiumShadow Just build the stadium!!

I’ve studied stadium negotiations for 20 years. Here are 6 big things I noticed after spending 6 minutes skimming the Rays’ new stadium MOU... 🧵

Does it really matter which $1,000,000,000 in tax money Hillsborough spends on a new Rays stadium?

@HerrLizzie Agreed. But the willingness to look the other way — when your special interest is getting money — doesn’t help.

@StadiumShadow That is absolutely not why we have huge federal debt, my goodness.

Nonpolitical political talk for a second… It’s always funny when people say the federal govt should cut spending — but support exceptions for their personal interests. If you wonder why we’re $40,000,000,000,000 in debt…look no further than emergency HUD funds for stadiums.

@ThomasAKaspar You enjoy elevating personal anecdotes over what history/big picture prove to be factual. Most teams that promised larger payrolls and success after opening a new ballpark did not do so. There are studies to prove this. Don’t fall for the deceptions.

@StadiumShadow You did no correlation and I instantly remembered two I personally attended World Series in new ballparks . You are just posting bullshit that condo Karen old lady anti everything cosplay activist tell you is wonderful .

@_j3r3my_T The opposite is true. The owners most interested in extracting concessions from the taxpayers are often the ones who tried to extract every penny of profit from operating budgets as well.

@StadiumShadow “Could” is doing so much heavy lifting here. Do any of these rabid supporters consider that the opposite could also just as easily be true?

@ThomasAKaspar So did Marlins, Pirates, Brewers, Reds, Padres, and Twins - right? Right???

@StadiumShadow Braves and Diamondbacks played in WS within three years .

@jasmartinez76 It was. Regularly, for like the last 15 years on this account.

@StadiumShadow Why wasn’t this posted when we were waiting for Stu to sign off on his portion of the st Pete deal

@TBTimes_Rays Reminder: decades of this experiment have proven there is no correlation at all between new ballparks & success on the field.

In building team on field, new #Rays Tampa ballpark could be ‘transformative’. Plus rumblings. tampabay.com/sports/rays/20…

@ThomasAKaspar @Aden_Yacobi Prob wouldn’t have anything to do with all my years in Hillsborough politics.

@StadiumShadow @Aden_Yacobi You are just trying to google total bullshit .

Important context: 1) Most of the profit was from rent ($500k), which the Rays don’t want to pay. 2) The sports authority has to split their profits with their renters, the Bucs, for some reason. 3) The profit was less than they anticipated. All too common.

@ThomasAKaspar @Aden_Yacobi Plant City, Brandon, and Sun City politely disagree.

@StadiumShadow @Aden_Yacobi Yet another example of nothing to do with sports business. Because those former orange grove and cattle properties are being developed into communities ridiculously fast with less regulation than Hillsborough Sarasota and Pinellas.

Gimme a ❤️ if you’re not at all surprised!

@ThomasAKaspar @Aden_Yacobi Why has Hillsborough’s economy & population grown at half the rate of Lee Co, which didn’t add an NFL or NHL team? Or Charlotte, Polk, Manatee, Collier? Maybe Hillsborough‘s growth had more to do with overall migration to Gulf Coast counties - and not sports?

@StadiumShadow @Aden_Yacobi Again I ask you in all your brilliance. What was the estimated economic impact of NFL and NHL in Tampa since their day 1 . Just the broadcasting , banking , hotel , airport, restaurant and homeowners value in Tampa totally obliterates your false narrative .

@Aden_Yacobi @ThomasAKaspar I don’t think there’s anything that will convince Thomas that public subsidies for his special interest, no matter how big they are, provide sub-par ROI.

@ThomasAKaspar @StadiumShadow That’s the whole point of tying incentives to actual results lol

@ThomasAKaspar @Aden_Yacobi I would argue Aden does. In fact, the state’s own official economist suggested putting money into tourism-drivers, instead of pro sports.

@Aden_Yacobi @StadiumShadow This is a blighted 850 acres go look on a Google map of what is to the left . International Airport , Interstate, business , hotels . It all becomes a state tax free hot spot . You don’t grasp Florida economics and tourism .

@ThomasAKaspar I’ll take that as a yes, that you believe taxpayers should give them cash without basic guarantees of the project they’re getting for it. You are likely in a very small minority on this one.

@StadiumShadow Maybe you should look at what the ownership group does for a living before your constantly changing opinions.

@CuriousAsTheCa1 Glazers get the first $2M every year from non-football events. It's free cash. They split it 50/50 after that.

@StadiumShadow I've been under the impression that the Glazers pretty much got ALL the revenue from any concert, game, truck show or religious revival . Taxpayers or Sports Authority did not profit from events

@ThomasAKaspar Investors have proposed billions in development that never came. The current proposal gives them free rent, with no guarantee of any additional development. Do you think they should be required, in writing, to follow-through on their promise to get these incentives?

@StadiumShadow If an investor is proposing an $8B investment on blighted properties you don’t need to charge them rent on their stadium.