Time for a Bake Sale!
It’s a sad state of affairs when a New York sports team is reduced to beg for money, because they simply don’t have enough to finish a small simple project, like building a $1.3 million ballpark. Sadly, due to IRS regulations, they’re having trouble getting the $400 million more they need. The state is presently paying $450 of this cost (reference).
To put that in perspective, the Mets new stadium costs $850 million--and they’re going to finish their project. New York is paying $165 million (reference).
Another team set to open a new ballpark soon--a year after the two New York ballparks--is the Twins. Their total project will cost $522 million, with $392 million from a public subsidy (reference). The Twins, despite playing in the arctic circle where snow could play a factor in about one quarter of the regular season (and the entire post-season), could not get an extra $100 million to add a roof onto their new building.
The Yankees payroll, by the way, for 2008 is $70 million more than the Yankees, and $150 million more than the Twins. (In 2007, the payroll differences between the Yankees versus the Twins and Mets were $74 million and $120 million, respectively.)
Is that enough perspective for you? Bear in mind when reading the numbers that there is cost of living. The same ballpark built in Minneapolis would cost more if built in New York City. However, the approximate cost of living difference is 61% from Minneapolis to New York City, so just multiply the Minneapolis numbers by 1.61 to get how much the Twins stadium would cost in New York City. Thus, the Mets and the Twins have similar costs in their ballparks.
Some public funds go to ballparks. It’s a fact of life that I shall not debate here. But I do think that if you design your ballpark to cost significantly more than the other ballparks around it, you’ll need to chip in and pay a bit more of your own money. When another team in the same city is building a ballpark, designed by the same architectural firm (all three stadiums in question were designed by HOK Sport), there’s no reason that one needs to cost twice as much as another, which the Yankees are claiming by demanding the extra $400 million, which would bring their stadium cost to $1.7 billion. Maybe it’s time they held a bake sale to fund their luxuries.
Twins pitcher Scott Baker is off the DL! Official period of mourning is over!
To put that in perspective, the Mets new stadium costs $850 million--and they’re going to finish their project. New York is paying $165 million (reference).
Another team set to open a new ballpark soon--a year after the two New York ballparks--is the Twins. Their total project will cost $522 million, with $392 million from a public subsidy (reference). The Twins, despite playing in the arctic circle where snow could play a factor in about one quarter of the regular season (and the entire post-season), could not get an extra $100 million to add a roof onto their new building.
The Yankees payroll, by the way, for 2008 is $70 million more than the Yankees, and $150 million more than the Twins. (In 2007, the payroll differences between the Yankees versus the Twins and Mets were $74 million and $120 million, respectively.)
Is that enough perspective for you? Bear in mind when reading the numbers that there is cost of living. The same ballpark built in Minneapolis would cost more if built in New York City. However, the approximate cost of living difference is 61% from Minneapolis to New York City, so just multiply the Minneapolis numbers by 1.61 to get how much the Twins stadium would cost in New York City. Thus, the Mets and the Twins have similar costs in their ballparks.
Some public funds go to ballparks. It’s a fact of life that I shall not debate here. But I do think that if you design your ballpark to cost significantly more than the other ballparks around it, you’ll need to chip in and pay a bit more of your own money. When another team in the same city is building a ballpark, designed by the same architectural firm (all three stadiums in question were designed by HOK Sport), there’s no reason that one needs to cost twice as much as another, which the Yankees are claiming by demanding the extra $400 million, which would bring their stadium cost to $1.7 billion. Maybe it’s time they held a bake sale to fund their luxuries.
Twins pitcher Scott Baker is off the DL! Official period of mourning is over!
Labels: G-g-g-girl, I'm probably never going to use that tag again so here's another longer tage I'll never use again, MLb
posted by thisisbeth | 9:56 AM
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