stadium Page 15 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

"Megatron's Butthole" Is Stopped Up

The Atlanta Falcons will ostensibly begin play this fall in their new stadium (with its eight-petal retractable roof, which Drew referred to as “Megatron’s Butthole” and now I cannot think of it any other way). Except: the stadium was supposed to be open by now. But it wasn’t ready, so they pushed i...

Oakland Taxpayers Will Still Be On The Hook For $163 Million After The Raiders And Warriors Leave<em></em><em></em><em></em>

When the city of Oakland brought the Raiders back from Los Angeles in 1995, then-mayor Elihu Harris enticed Al Davis with $200 million in improvements to the Oakland Coliseum. The city paid for the construction with taxpayer-backed bonds, and their initial plan was to pay off the bond by selling per...

The Raiders Have Found Someone To Pay For The Rest Of Their Big Dumb Stadium

The Oakland Raiders would very much like not to be the Oakland Raiders for much longer, and their ability to shed their Bay Area digs for the desert depends in part on how well they can put together a $1.9 billion deal for a new stadium. Billionaire GOP donor/goblin king Sheldon Adelson was supposed...

As Expected, The New Vikings Stadium Is Killing A Record Number Of Birds

No one can say they didn’t see this coming. Well, the birds can....

The FBI Is Now Investigating Hartford's Disaster Of A Minor-League Stadium Deal

The Rockies’ Double-A affiliate in Hartford, Conn. has run into plenty of problems since deciding to build a taxpayer-funded ballpark two years ago, including but not limited to lawsuits and construction delays. Here’s a new one: an FBI probe into how public money has been spent on the new park....

Mike Ilitch Was No Saint<em></em>

If you only went by what you read in the Detroit papers this week, you’d think Mike Ilitch—the pizza baron and owner of the Detroit Red Wings and Tigers who died last week at the age of 87—was a god incarnate. And for the last three decades, if you’d asked anyone in Michigan, you’d have gotten the s...

Report: Arizona Coyotes Exploring Possible Relocation To The Pacific Northwest [Update]

The Arizona Coyotes are not happy with their situation in Glendale. The team had the framework of a plan to move to Tempe until late last week, when Arizona State pulled out of a potential deal. Taxpayers still owe $150 million on the Coyotes’ 14-year-old stadium, but owner Anthony LeBlanc is going ...

Legislative Auditor Smacks Down Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority Over Luxury Suite Freebies<em></em>

The Minnesota Legislative Auditor has released an extensive special report on the use of luxury suites at the publicly funded Minnesota Vikings stadium by commissioners of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, finding that commissioners “violated a core ethical principle” when they gave free ti...

Sacramento's MLS Bid Possibly Derailed By Last-Second Ownership Coup

Of the 12 cities that formally applied to be part of the next round of MLS expansion today, Sacramento has perhaps the strongest case. Or at least they did, until its team’s owner made a bid that possibly excluded the city’s highly successful team....

Electricity Turned Off At Rio's Maracanã Stadium After Olympic Organizers Can't Pay Bill<em></em>

Two weeks ago we wrote about the decaying state of Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic facilities and noted that the Maracanã stadium, despite missing seats and dealing with a mold problem, was still hosting club soccer. The stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, and it’s one of the most famous st...

The Braves Are Trying To Squeeze Another $14 Million Out Of Taxpayers

Cobb County taxpayers have been on the hook for close to $400 million since the county commissioners approved the Braves’ expensive new stadium construction project without hearing from dissenters and without letting the constituents vote on the deal almost three years ago. Residents made their disp...

Jazz Owner Creates Legacy Trust In Effort To Secure Team's Future In Utah<em></em>

This afternoon, Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller announced that ownership of the team would be restructured and the team would henceforth be owned by a legacy trust. Miller and her husband Larry paid a total of $26 million for the franchise in 1985, and they’ve doubtless had several offers to cash out fo...

Charlotte CEO: A Publicly Funded MLS Stadium Can Heal Racial Division After Police Brutality

Charlotte’s latest plan to apply for an MLS team includes $87.5 million in public funding, along with a $75 million loan from the county....

Report: The Chargers Are Finally Announcing That They'll Head To L.A. 

I hope you enjoyed last season’s dose of terrible football and unlivable stadium conditions, Los Angeles residents, because you’re in for twice the fun next season! ...

Plan To Steal Money From St. Louis In Order To Build MLS Stadium Effectively Dead

We’re still a long, long way away from every local and state government having the backbone to refuse paying for major sports stadiums with public money, but today brings news of a step in the right direction....

Pissed Off Diamondbacks Sue Because They Want Another Stadium<em></em><em></em>

The protracted fight between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Maricopa County has reached a boiling point. The Diamondbacks announced tonight that they had filed a lawsuit in Arizona Superior Court against the Maricopa County Stadium District, the legislative body that operates their stadium, in an atte...

Missouri Governor-Elect Takes Bazooka To MLS Hopeful's Stadium Financing Plans

Missouri’s recently elected governor, Republican Eric Greitens, is a former Navy SEAL, a devoted humanitarian, and a man who ran a campaign ad that was just 20 seconds of him firing a Gatling gun. All of that means he doesn’t take any shit, not when justice is at stake. The vampires trying to suck o...

Two Random Dudes Started A Twitter Rumor About The Vikings Sheltering The Homeless And A Lot Of People Bit

For a few hours yesterday, word raced around Twitter—and, ever-so-briefly, onto the blogs—that the Vikings would be opening up their stadium as a homeless shelter on a night of subzero temperatures in the Twin Cities. It wasn’t true, but everyone really, really wanted it to be. And in the end, isn’t...

Jamoke Running For Mayor Of Omaha: Let's Build An NFL Stadium

Taylor Royal, a 26-year-old accountant who is running as a Republican in Omaha, Nebraska’s mayoral election, has a really stupid idea:...

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