Monday, March 05, 2007

Ballpark News


Well it looks like we're the closest that we've ever been to getting the new ballpark deal done for the Marlins. My personal feeling is that this is going to happen regardless of what some may say. I never understood why people are so viscerally against the spending of public funds on a Stadium but the same people never complain about the huge amounts of money wasted on other projects.

And we're not even talking about that much. Here's the latest breakdown according to Marlins Ballpark News:
Marlins Cash Up-Front: $45 million
Marlins Rent Payments: $162 million
County CDT & Pro Sports Facilities Franchise Tax: $145 million
City CDT Contribution: $108 million
State Sales Tax Rebate: $30 million ($2 million/year for 30 years)
So of the estimated $490 million $207 million are coming from the Marlins. The County and City portions are coming from hotel bed taxes that already exist for the specific purpose of funding convention development and sports development. The $30 million is a rebate from the state for sales tax collected by the team and the facility. Remember that the "Las Vegas Marlins" will not generate any sale tax for Florida so this is really a no lose.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is great to see you blogging about the Marlins again. Especially since you are so good at it.

Good to see you are back!

Craig
FishStripes

Henry Louis Gomez said...

Craig,

Thanks for the compliment. It means a lot coming from you.