For those of you seeking alternate platforms, Field of Schemes is now also available at fieldofschemes.bsky.social, mas.to/@fieldofschemes, post.news/@/fieldofschem…, and facebook.com/fieldofschemes, probably more to come as soon as I've finished typing this.

Pinellas County Commissioner Rene Flowers, who voted for the Rays stadium deal in July, says she's not sure if she'll change her vote because “I’m waiting to see how it looks for us financially” — spoilers, Rene, it still looks just as bad as it did then. fieldofschemes.com/2024/11/15/220…

Playing at Tropicana for two seasons would be way more of a benefit to the Rays than to the city — so there's no reason the city couldn't ask Stu Sternberg to chip in for repairs, as a token of appreciation for the $1B taxpayer check he's about to cash. fieldofschemes.com/2024/11/13/220…

Crain's reports, citing nobody at all, that "the Bears understand a larger private investment is needed," but also Civic Federation president Joe Ferguson previously noted that the Reese site is "eligible for TIF funding," i.e., property tax kickbacks. fieldofschemes.com/2024/11/12/220…

Scherer said the deal "needs to be looked at differently" post-hurricane damage; Nowicki added since the Rays ran attack ads against him and refused to meet with him, "I wouldn’t be very excited to give them $300m. I think that’s pretty reasonable, right?” fieldofschemes.com/2024/11/11/220…

Sacramento would put up $92m from property taxes on 220 acres around the stadium, plus provide free police, fire, EMS, traffic, and other services. The city council votes Tuesday, leaving three whole days to gather feedback, two weekend and one a holiday. fieldofschemes.com/2024/11/08/220…

It's symbolic and nonbinding and we pretty much knew from polling that Chicagoans don't want to give public money to the Bears' owners, but sure, now we effectively have a more in-depth poll of 3,000 West Siders as well. fieldofschemes.com/2024/11/07/220…

While elected officials are more likely to be removed from office for approving sports subsidies than opposing them — see George Petak, Tim Lee, Carlos Alvarez, etc. — they both have their risks, as does pissing off the local coal baron, apparently. fieldofschemes.com/2024/11/06/220…

St. Pete's decision comes down to whether it's cheaper to spend a $22m deductible plus whatever FEMA doesn't cover on repairing a stadium only set to last three years, or risk Rays owner Stu Sternberg presenting taxpayers with a bill for moving elsewhere. fieldofschemes.com/2024/11/04/220…

The question all this keeps coming back to isn't "Where can a billionaire find a billion dollars?" but rather "Is the Fisher family ready to throw a billion dollars of its own money down a stadium hole?" fieldofschemes.com/2024/11/01/220…

If St. Pete is obligated to pay for stadium repairs with insurance money but that won't cover the tab, could Rays owner Stu Sternberg sue the city for reducing its coverage earlier this year? This could get ugly, expect even more leverage plays to come. fieldofschemes.com/2024/10/31/220…

To pay off a $1B roof, Hamilton County would need to bring in ~$70m a year in new tax money. So new events would need to generate $4B in annual spending to make the math work out — unlikely even if Taylor Swift clones herself and goes on ten tours at once. fieldofschemes.com/2024/10/30/220…

The lesson from the Cleveland sin tax mess for cities negotiating sports venue deals: Maybe don't agree to leases that allow team owners to determine what counts as "repair costs" while committing taxpayers to cover all the bills for them. fieldofschemes.com/2024/10/30/220…

We need to move these beautiful totes out of our cavernous but overflowing waterfront warehouses to make room for new inventory. (More on that soon.) So we're having a sale! Act now, get your big red bag, get full access to@HellGateNY, and support worker-owned local journalism!

All this could either mean 1) St. Pete is giving up on trying to replace the roof, despite Dunn Lightweight's willingness to give it a go, or 2) St. Pete is just working on cleaning up the debris for now while it evaluates the possibility of repair. fieldofschemes.com/2024/10/28/220…

The Haslams sued to block the Modell Law on the grounds it violates the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause and is too vague but mostly "These damn 'laws' and 'democratic procedures' were getting in the way of our stadium plans, that could not be allowed." fieldofschemes.com/2024/10/25/219…

This is "For sale: share of MLB franchise, as-is, serious bidders only, comes with roommate" — while it's possible some billionaire will bite to try to leverage it into full ownership once Fisher drops an anvil on his own head, it doesn't seem likely. fieldofschemes.com/2024/10/24/219…

The district has now approved $515 million in taxpayer renovation spending on Leonsis' private arena — plus around another $50 million in rent breaks —in exchange for a new lease deal that at best is no better for city taxpayers than the one it replaced. fieldofschemes.com/2024/10/23/219…

The Modell Law doesn't specify penalties, doesn't say whether the Haslams can demand $100 trillion from a local buyer, and hasn't been tested in court. Still, it's a stick Cleveland can use to try to force the Haslams back to the table, if the city wants. fieldofschemes.com/2024/10/23/219…

These are standard Manfred mumbles™, and are as usual used as an excuse for major news articles, even if the commissioner doesn’t seem to have any better idea of what’s going to happen than anyone else. fieldofschemes.com/2024/10/23/219…

The old lease says if the Caps and Wizards move or their existing lease expires, D.C. can take possession of the arena for free. So spending $87.5m to get Leonsis to sign a new lease that costs the city at least $23m in lost taxes and rent is awfully WTF. fieldofschemes.com/2024/10/22/219…