Odds & Ends: Stadium Subsidies for Falcons, Dolphins, & Spring Training

While Atlanta fans celebrate "only" paying $200 million for a $1 billion stadium (that isn't necessary), Neil deMaus from Field of Schemes rains on the parade with news that it will likely cost taxpayers $400 million or more.  Local media outlets may have championed using bed taxes to pay for up-front construction costs, but deMaus identifies a number of other concessions the city/state will have to make.

Oh, and almost falling under the radar - more leaked financials from Deadspin.  Much like the Marlins' leaked financials, the Carolina Panthers appear to have been raking in the cash ($112 million over two years) while crying poor.

Meanwhile, in Florida's capital, legislators tacked a controversial amendment onto the Dolphins' bill to land subsidies for stadium improvements.  According to the Miami Herald, foreign banks in Florida could lose a long-standing tax break to pay for the stadium.  No indication if that would help or hurt a referendum's odds, which at this point, appear long.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/07/3273089/banks-versus-dolphins-in-the-florida.html#storylink=cpy

As for Florida's spring training stadium subsidies, which could grow in the next few years, Deadspin argues the Sunshine State shouldn't fall for the MLB "hustle":  "With big-league stadiums, teams can plausibly pretend to need new event technology to catch up...But with spring training games, fans are content, literally, to plop themselves down on the outfield grass. All they want is baseball and warm weather, the same old things they've found in Florida, every March, for more than 100 years."

Finally, the Tampa Tribune reports the Tampa City Council wants Mayor Bob Buckhorn to pursue foreign EB-5 investors.  The program has been used to help jump-start stadium financing in other cities.  But its bonding capacity is usually limited, and Buckhorn - citing SEC investigations into EB-5 in other cities - pushed back against council, saying, "I'm not going to put the city at risk in any form or fashion...we've got to make sure we safeguard the city's reputation and protect it against litigation."