Posted by
Always To The Right on Monday, November 24, 2008 2:32:51 PM
AIG and Citi will get billions in taxpayer money in order to keep from
failing, but they’ll still pay millions of dollars to keep their names
on sports stadiums. Brian Ross reports that taxpayer subsidies for professional sports have reached new highs
King Banaian has a more comprehensive list of banks with naming rights:
- Ameriquest Capital (Texas Rangers, $2.5 million a year through 2034)
- Bank of America (Carolina Panthers, NFL, $7 million a year through 2024)
- Bank One Ballpark (Arizona Diamondbancks, MLB, $2.2 million through 2028)
- Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies, MLB, $2.3 million, 2028)
- Comerica (Detroit Tigers, MLB, $2.2 million, 2030)
- Conseco Fieldhouse (Indiana Pacers, NBA, $2 million, 2019)
- Edward Jones Dome (St. Louis Rams, NFL, $2.65 million, 2013)
- Wachovia Center (Phila. Flyers/Sixers, NHL/NBA, $1.4 million, 2023)
- Fleetcenter (Boston Celtics/Bruins NBA/NHL, $2 million, 2010)
- Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati Reds, $2.5 million, 2033)
- HSBC Arena (Buffalo Sabres, NHL, $800k, 2026)
- Invesco Field (Denver Broncos, NFL, $6 million, 2021)
- KeyArena (now vacant in Seattle, $1 million, 2010)
- Lincoln Financial Field (Phila. Eagles, NFL, $6.7 million, 2022)
- M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore Ravens, NFL, $5 million, 2018)
- Mellon Arena (Pitssburgh Penguins, NHL, $1.8 million, 2009)
- Nationwide Arena (Columbus BlueJackets, NHL, unknown)
- PNC Park (Pitts. Pirates, $2 million, 2020)
- Raymond James Stadium (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NFL, $3.1 million, 2026)
- RBC Center (Carolina Hurricanes, NHL, $4 million, 2022)
- TD Waterhouse Centre (Orlando Magic, NBA, $1.6 million, 2003)
Taxpayers will wind up getting the shaft twice in most of these
cases, if not all of them. Most stadiums get built with substantial
public subsidies, despite record salaries and revenues for the teams
and athletes involved. Unlike the bailout, the taxpayers get no equity
stake in the teams — usually only receiving a vague promise from the
teams not to leave town for a few years, or at least until they get the
taste for more public financing for upgrades to the facilities.
When these got built, the naming rights were a mechanism to offset
some public financing through commercial sponsorship. Now with
taxpayers rescuing banks left and right, we’re now picking up the tab
for expensive sponsorships. Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense
says they should replace the bank names with “US Treasury,” and then
adds in a more serious vein:
“Up until now they were businesses who could invest or
waste their money as they see fit,” said Taxpayers for Common Sense’s
Ellis. “But now we’re the shareholders. And frittering their money away
with naming rights and ties to sports teams isn’t a really good
investment of taxpayers’ money — particularly when credit markets are
collapsed.”