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[Seattle Times] 15 years after moving Sonics, now it’s the Thunder asking for publicly funded arena
(www.seattletimes.com)
this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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The fact that it's coming from the state and not the municipality is the truly wild part of the Buffalo stadium deal. It's one thing if the money's coming from the area because, even if they're still atrocious "investments" when it comes to public funding, at least it's still the people that will gain whatever benefits there are to be had from having a stadium and NFL team. The vast majority of NY state taxes come from NYC, though, and I feel damn confident saying that at least 99% of NYC residents are literally never going to see any benefit in the slightest. That's next level fucked, IMO.
the base essential idea of taxes is that they are collected in one place and spent in another, money collected from one person provides a service for another
im not saying stadiums are a good investment just that its not "truly wild", or "next level" that taxes collected from NYC go to a project in Buffalo, very much the same level that we've always been on
Kathy Hochul, the NY governor, is a Democrat who is up for re election soon. She is from Buffalo and doesn’t give a shit about downstate
I mean they are the only team that plays in New York so maybe it’s not a big ask.
I can tell you that most nyc citizen would not give a shit if they left.
Imagine paying what it costs to live in NYC and watching a bunch of idiots use your money to jump through a table at their brand new stadium.
We downstaters already subsidize upstate enough, let Western NY pay for their own fucking stadium.
I would be thrilled if 0 tax dollars went to a new Bills stadium.
Dumbasses won’t even be able to host a Super Bowl either cause it’ll be open air! The whole point of the new stadiums is to get in the SB circuit. They’ll never host an outside SB in the winter in Buffalo.
It's especially funny when you consider that the Jets and Giants, who really do represent NYC, play in a privately funded stadium
There's very little musicians left who can draw crowds big enough to fill these places up. Especially in poor smaller markets. Then the NFL stadiums which are custom built for 8 home games a year.
I don’t know Chase Center in San Francisco doesn’t seem to have this issue. I know the income level there is higher than other places, but the tours don’t start and stop in SF so they must be filling arenas in other areas… no?
I think the one or two preseason games make up the difference /s
8 games a year unless one of your home games is moved to Europe or Mexico.
Also preseason and maybe playoffs.
This is the number one issue for me.
How many days a year is the average football stadium in use? The answer is “not nearly enough for it to be worth public resources”
Lumen Field is probably the exception that I can think off the top of my head. Currently, four professional sports franchises call it home: Seahawks, Sounders, Reign, Sea Dragons.
It's also seen a decent amount of concert use too.
I used to have season tickets to the Seahawks and Sounders. I was at the stadium at least 28 weeks a year for over a decade.
Lumen Field in Seattle hosts the Seahawks and the Sounders. It does have concrete here and there. That being said Seattle is a sports city and can support NBA NFL MLB NHL MLS easily.
The basketball stadiums do have artists that can fill them up but a football stadium is like Michael Jackson in his prime level seating.
There are legitimately only 3 or 4 artists in the world with any possibility of filling a stadium right now. Unless you have Taylor Swift and Beyoncé coming regularly, there’s just no chance of a decent return.
Ehh. I’d say any of the following could still fill an NFL stadium:
Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Madonna, Britney Spears, Blackpink, The Weekend, Lizzo, reunion tours of NSYNC/Spice Girls/Backstreet Boys/U2/Guns n Roses/Metallica/Foo Fighters/One Direction, others I’m forgetting. But yes, most could not.
And like 5-10 country artists, too.
Maybe in any given year a stadium would be used for a concert 3-4 times, but there's definitely more than 4 acts that can fill stadiums. George Strait just did a sold out stadium tour this year.
Still not something the city/state should pay for.
That's the standard and the stadium doesn't even come close to paying itself back
Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Bad Bunny, and aging classic rock acts doing a "final tour". And those last ones are gonna start to get few and far between
U2, Paul McCartney, and The Rolling Stones did notable stadium tours in the last decade or so I think. But yeah other than that it's one-offs like when the dead did Fare Thee Well. I bet outside or major markets the NFL stadiums don't get used for concerts more than like 3x a year on average.
Was about to chip in with a David Gilmore - Roger Waters suggestion
Which will be really hard to see again due to the pollution of the medium with the internet.
Beyonce and Taylor Swift are the only two that can
I am not sure if SoFI count as an average football stadium, but the event calendar of that place looks crazy. One of the few venue that actually earn its money
It being in Los Angeles removes it from average football stadium contention.
NYC, LA, and Vegas (maybe Miami) are the only cities that get major entertainment attractions year round and have the demand for it. Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix are all close but they aren’t entertainment hubs like those first 3
I’m in PHX. We get the final four on rotation, college bowl games, we got both Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, CONCACAF soccer games, international friendlies. The stadium gets used.
being in LA County goes along way
LA is probably the #1 city in the world for music events so it makes sense?
Yeah, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta is also a good candidate to say it was worth it. 8-9 NFL home games, 17 MLS plus any other tournament matches Atlanta United plays, at least 2 college football games per year with one of those being a New Years Six Bowl. Monster truck and motocross events are relatively common. I don’t remember if the DCI circuit still goes through Atlanta but I know the GA Dome used to host one of the last big competitions before finals. I know Elton John and Taylor Swift have both played there in the last couple of years.
https://www.sofistadium.com/upcoming-events/
Is it? Unless there's another calendar that I'm missing something, it just looks like 2 NFL teams
That's because it's NFL season and it's actually getting used for football. Major concerts usually require preparations a week in advance to load everything in and build out a stage, etc..
Most stadiums don't have two NFL teams.
When I lived in NY the cable company would advertise that they had all NY sports teams, which included the NJ Nets and not the Bills
all the new amsterdam sports teams
Catch a game at Ebbets Field, and afterwards we can check out one of those new talkies
more like head down to the wall (street) and trade some wampum for beaver pelts if you know what i'm sayin'
people were pissed at aoc for refusing to fund a new amazon lol
Hello I pay NYC taxes and the Bills can go fuck themselves
The Bills should not be very high on your list of reasons to be angry at NYC or the taxes you pay there lol
And it still doesn't have a roof so they can keep playing 1 game a year in Ford Field