Shadow of Stadium

Headlines from Tampa Bay #Rays' campaign for a new stadium since '09 (and other #SportsBiz stuff). Named to Forbes' #SportsMoney50 list.

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

No idea why you’d trust me.

I’m just a guy who:
- worked in pro sports
- covered the biz of sports
- exposed corporate fraud
- busted bad politicians
- has no financial interest in a new Rays stadium
- will never get free luxury box tickets to a new stadium.

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

@lmower3 @Colleen_Wright For future articles, it’s not a “$976M public contribution.”

Maybe it’s a $976M LOCAL public contribution…

But it’s really higher than that when you include the free land, federal tax breaks on construction loans, donated naming rights, discounted rent, etc.

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

Enjoyed this MLB commissioner headline more when I first saw it in 2010.

[Marc Topkin @TBTimes_Rays]

Rob Manfred: MLB officials ‘hopeful’ #Rays can proceed with stadium plan https://t.co/jfJQnkSFvA

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

@SteveCona @RaysForeverHome County commissioners, city councilmembers.

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

@mat_pagano @MattFaustini This is incorrect. $80 million for infrastructure around a new stadium would be $80 million that is redirected from other county priorities. It is not already earmarked.

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

Tampa has never had the money without pillaging essential needs. This is not new👇

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

Reminder that while Hillsborough has land too, it's Pinellas w/the funding system for a stadium: http://bit.ly/c5bmlV #Rays #StadiumSaga

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

@mat_pagano @MattFaustini Yes, the 1996 CIT was passed to
Build a stadium.

But voters were specially told the 2026 extension would NOT be used for new stadiums. They were lied to.

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

@mat_pagano @MattFaustini The MLB thing is pure hearsay. Unless your sources are better than mine.

We know it’s false because the league approved Trop 2.0 under Stu.

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

@mat_pagano I spent many years exposing fraud and waste in Hillsborough. Who has picked up that mantle since I’ve left?

If it were easy, everyone would do it.

But unless you have a magic wand, the county doesn’t have that kind of money free.

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

@A_Katzman83 @LucasBoggPhotog Of course not

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

Claim: The Battery/Braves subsidies “pay for themselves!”

But to make that fuzzy math work, as @jc_bradbury points out, Cobb has to undercount the subsidies given to the team…and ignore the operational/maintenance costs taxpayers (and not the Braves) absorb on the development.

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

@A_Katzman83 @AnthonyClose I could virtually guarantee nobody east of MLK felt it.

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

@RyanGormanShow @JohnMorganESQ Team wants $2B when you add up everything, not $1B lol

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

If only there was a Tampa Bay stadium watchdog who had warned us…

[Florida Politics @Fla_Pol]

Source: @RaysBaseball stadium deal ‘on the rocks’ amid @GovRonDeSantis’ property tax cut push

Reporting by @PeterSchorschFL

#FlaPol

https://t.co/avqVCpTVGG

[Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL]

There’s not much this Governor has been more excited about this last month than building sports stadiums with some part of public dollars.

But, yeah, cut those property taxes for libraries, hospitals, and parks!

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

@PeterSchorschFL But that’s not what JP Petersen and Ken Hagan tell us!

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

Welp…

[Tampa Bay Times @TB_Times]

Tampa Sports Authority says Bucs should trump Rays in cash requests https://t.co/s4b6HihvJd

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

In the above thread, you’ll see other blatant accounting errors Cobb relies on to “balance its books” on Braves spending. But it’s just a ruse.

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

Claim: The Battery/Braves subsidies “pay for themselves!”

But to make that fuzzy math work, as @jc_bradbury points out, Cobb has to undercount the subsidies given to the team…and ignore the operational/maintenance costs taxpayers (and not the Braves) absorb on the development.

[J.C. Bradbury @jc_bradbury]

It seems that the plan is to just keep insisting that Cobb's ballpark investment is paying for itself, even though the numbers show it clearly hasn't. https://t.co/ZSOux19RPi

[Shadow of Stadium @StadiumShadow]

I hope people in Tampa are paying attn to what’s happening in KC.

There’s a fight over who picks up the Royals stadium tab if the TIF/CRA district doesn’t meet projections.

Tampa has to navigate same issue w/Rays, risking core services if the stadium project doesn’t deliver.

[Field of Schemes @fieldofschemes]

Even though $5 million a year in tax revenue that is currently being used for other city expenses would instead be given to the Royals, Mayor Lucas says K.C. wouldn't really be losing anything, because of, uh, something about isosceles triangles? https://t.co/Rqu9wWeCxs