Kansas City Taxpayer Funded Stadiums: Morally Bankrupt?!?

The idea of taxpayers funding BILLIONS worth of cash to benefit BILLIONAIRE OWNERS and MILLIONAIRE ATHLETES hasn't resonated amongst local voters. 

In fact . . .

The resistance has been surprisingly strong . . . Here's another important consideration from our favorite hipsters and the city college workers they asked about it . . .

Dr. Michael Kelsay, professor of economics at UMKC, says that high-dollar public financing doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

“When figures are thrown around, they never mention the opportunity cost,” says Kelsay. “The money you spend on stadiums is money you aren’t spending on public services that pay tangible dividends, like helping those without homes, education, healthcare, or infrastructure.”

Royals owner John Sherman said the team would ask for a public-private partnership to establish funding for a downtown stadium. The Chiefs are watching carefully; they will want anything the Royals get and then some [more on that later].

Ph.D. candidate and urban planner Erin Royals says asking the public to pay for stadiums is ethically bankrupt.

“These owners have more money than most of us could ever imagine, and they want us to build them a new stadium? Just saying it out loud is offensive,” says Erin Royals. “People are working their jobs every day to try to get enough money to pay their bills, and the hard work that we’re doing is then going to be funneled into a huge megaproject. Is that really what we’re working a 9-to-5 for?”

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Sports stadium owners need to address the slings and arrows of public financing

Frozen Arrowhead Stadium from last February. // Photo by Travis Young The Chiefs and Royals want to ask you for a billion dollars. That's what all the chatter around the stadiums boils down to. The Chiefs are listening to offers from KCK developers while the Royals are seriously eyeing a move downtown.

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