Broncos ‘privately funded’ stadium comes amid ballooning public subsidies

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00:00the nfl stadium game has kicked into high gear recently with team owners hoping to

00:05keep up with the joneses as franchise valuations and profits soar that hasn't

00:11stopped teams from passing much of the costs onto taxpayers and local governments

00:18there are two new nfl stadiums currently under construction the bills and titans should be moving

00:25into their new digs in 2026 and 2027. five other teams are in various stages of negotiations and

00:32planning for their new homes the browns bears commanders and broncos have all chosen new sites

00:39only the kansas city chiefs are still in search of a location and are actively fielding offers

00:45for public assistance from prospective hosts journalist neil demas has been studying and

00:51writing about stadium finances for three decades he along with author joanna kagan

00:56wrote the book field of schemes and demas continues to run a website by the same name

01:01the playbook by sports owners also continues to be relevant very little has changed you know we keep

01:07updating the book field of schemes and there's you know it's yep same story same thing going on just

01:14the numbers go up you know it's 30 years ago we were talking about 200 300 million dollars in public

01:20money and now we're talking about one billion two billion the broncos and the city of denver are

01:26touting a completely privately funded new stadium in the burnham yards area of the city paid for by

01:32the team's ownership group the mayor of denver mike johnston is on board we will have a brand new nfl

01:39stadium with a retractable roof where we can host the super bowl and taxpayers don't pay a dollar for

01:44it you know and so for us the ability to have an ownership group who says we're going to privately pay for

01:49the stadium privately pay to acquire the land that is a huge win-win for the city that we get a 50-year

01:54extension of the broncos franchise the taxpayers don't pay a dollar for it is such a selling point

02:01for denver nfl analyst troy aikman recently mentioned it on monday night football while that statement may

02:07be accurate in regards to the stadium and the land it's on the public will be on the hook for hundreds

02:13of millions in infrastructure improvements and a development project surrounding the stadium

02:18a fact that is not publicized and something de moss says is often overlooked so the one thing i think

02:24that has changed over the years is that the costs have become more hidden right i think the team owners

02:31and the you know like the officials who are working with them have realized that it sounds worse to give

02:37a check a taxpayer check to the team for the stadium than to say okay we're not going to give you that

02:44but we will give you money for infrastructure we will give you tax breaks we will give you a break on

02:49land costs a domed or retractable roof will be included in six of the seven new stadiums being built or

02:55planned the reason to be able to host events like concerts and other sporting events year-round the big draw

03:03as mayor johnston and others like the kansas city chiefs have alluded to is the possibility of hosting

03:09a super bowl but that may not be as lucrative as it's often portrayed the fact that arlington heights

03:15in illinois is talking about well we're going to build a roof on a chicago bears stadium and then we're

03:20going to get the super bowl you will undoubtedly get a super bowl right are you going to get more than

03:25one super bowl in anybody's lifetime probably not because there are just way too many cities out there

03:30that want one the bears also claim their stadium will be privately funded but they're seeking

03:36hundreds of millions in tax breaks from arlington heights and the state of illinois as well as

03:42infrastructure improvements however teams and cities spin their need or desire for public help

03:47when planning a new stadium demas says they always have a fallback we'll move if we don't get what we

03:53want as jerry reinsdorf the owner of the white sox said famously right after um getting a new

04:00stadium in chicago years ago by flying down to tampa bay and flying back and when he was asked later

04:07were you really going to move there he said well a savvy negotiator creates leverage the owner's playbook

04:12is still working and as recent new deals suggest the cost for cities and fans to keep their favorite

04:18teams from leaving keep going up whether they know it or not for straight arrow news i'm chris francis

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