#Neil deMause

[subsidystadium]

Ohio State Politician slips in language to a bill at 1am so that the Bengals can save almost $10 million dollars in taxes

The Cincinnati Bengals are known to be run by one of the cheapest owners in the NFL, Mike Brown. In 1996, local leaders were not prepared to competently negotiate against the team of lawyers brought in by the Bengals. Everyone was shocked when they found out that the county had agreed to pay for “nearly all operating and capital improvement costs”. It gets worse though, as the county also agreed…

[hanakogames]

i link here in the vague hope that i remember to play it someday

[st-just]

Sports stadiums long ago became a preferred method of legalized graft in America, with even such struggling cities as Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore, and Oakland, California, willingly shelling out hundreds of millions apiece to retain or attract major-league franchises. But New York has taken the practice to stygian depths. The two major-league stadiums opened in 2009 were far from the first or the only large public subsidies the city has given to the Yankees and the Mets. New York had already spent more than $100 million building free minor-league parks for both teams’ farm clubs, in Staten Island and Coney Island, respectively. The current Yankee Stadium, erected on the site of what had been two beloved public parks, cost $2.3 billion, according to journalist Neil deMause, making it one of the most expensive stadiums ever built anywhere in the world. Construction was helped along with federal, state, and local government subsidies totaling $1.2 billion. Nonetheless, the Yankees reduced the number of seats available to the general public by more than 9,000 so that the team could make room for thirty-seven additional luxury suites in its ballpark.

Kevin Baker

[scottbcrowley2]

Neil deMause: Trump right to question NFL subsidies - Fri, 13 Oct 2017 PST

If the party in control of Washington really wanted to put an end to all these stadium games, it could do so in an instant by passing an excise tax on all local-level subsidies. Neil deMause: Trump right to question NFL subsidies - Fri, 13 Oct 2017 PST

[baseballinblonde]

Week 3

This week we explored issues bigger than baseball itself. The first article from this week that I felt covered this topic well was Neil Demause’s “Stop the Subsidy Sucking Sports Stadiums.” Demause argues against the wasteful use of our tax money to build shiny new stadiums through referencing many reputable figures and presenting statistics. I find his tone to be knowledgeable and passionate, and the article was super informative. Something Demause mentions that surprised me was that “Owners of teams in the "big four" sports leagues — the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL — have reaped nearly $20 billion in taxpayer subsidies for new homes since 1990. And for just as long, fans, urban planners and economists have argued that building facilities for private sports teams is a massive waste of public money.” I mean WHAT??? WHY? Out of all the things our money could be used for, this is an option? Demause goes onto explain why this may be happening, to which I would roll my eyes. This article was great, it was interesting, informative, and it even made me a little mad.  

Next, Lily Rothmans “Emancipation of the Minors.” Rothman argues that a union would be a great idea in the world of underpaid baseball players. I found her argument to be clearer and more entertaining than Jon Shelton's, “How Free Agency Changed the Course of Baseball's Labor History.” She references many players who have experienced the repercussions of not having a union to protect them and even refers to the issue and an “injustice.” I liked the way she went about her article; I completely agree.  

This week was interesting, I had no idea about the topic, and it turned out to be more intriguing than I anticipated.

[shihtzuman]

The Village Voice to shut down after 63 years - CBS News

The Village Voice, the Pulitzer Prize-winning alternative weekly known for its muckraking investigations, exhaustive arts criticism, naughty personal ads and neurosis-laden cartoons, is going out of business after 63 years.

Its publisher, Peter Barbey, announced Friday that the paper is ceasing publication altogether because of financial problems, a year after it stopped circulating in print and went to digital-only.

Eight of the Voice's 18 remaining staffers were laid off. Others stayed behind to digitize its print archive so that future generations can read it.

News editor Neil deMause said staffers were more saddened than shocked by the news.

"It's 2018 and we're all aware of the state of the journalism industry," said deMause, 52, who started reading the Voice as a teenager in the 1980s.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-village-voice-to-shut-down-after-63-years/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-village-voice-to-shut-down-after-63-years/

[welcome2thebronx]

The Gentrification of Highbridge

The Gentrification of Highbridge

The Village Voice explores the gentrification of The Bronx neighborhood of Highbridge where folks from local residents to realtors are noticing changes.

Whether it’s craft beer popping up at local bodegas and more and more organic options, the signs are clear to all: Gentrification is here and will only get worse.

Coco McPherson and Neil DeMause explore what’s going on and provide valuable…

[kitmillsdraws]

Another infocomic for the Village Voice, this time about the (unsurprisingly) very bad GOP tax bill. Tombstones and extended boat metaphors abound.

Thank you to AD Ashley Smestad Vélez and editor Neil DeMause for direction and for making sure I didn’t fuck up US tax law explanations.

[christinamac1]

Climate strategies to stave off ecological disaster

Climate strategies to stave off ecological disaster

Media on Climate Crisis: Don’t Organize, Mourn,

, NEIL DEMAUSE  31 JAN 2920 The year 2019 was, by all accounts, the year of climate awareness. To an unprecedented degree, in the three decades since scientists first warned of the imminent dangers of rising carbon emissions and the resulting global warming, we were transfixed by record-setting heat waves, wildfires…

[junker-town]

Farhan Zaidi could make the Giants contenders if ownership allows it

Wednesday’s Say Hey takes a quick look at how Farhan Zaidi might impact the Hot Stove season

Thus far, the bulk of Hot Stove action has–predictably–come from front office acquisitions, with the most recent move being Farhan Zaidi’s switch from Dodgers’ GM to President of Baseball Operations for the Giants. With this switch, Zaidi gains autonomy in the form of greater control over roster creation, while the Giants hope to have acquired the answer to their recent woes, including finishing an MLB worst 5-21 in September.

Crucial to the Giants’ success moving forward is building a strong farm system to supplement a largely over-30 roster. In the past couple of drafts, the team has done well in selecting outfielder Heliot Ramos and catcher Joey Bart, but overall, the system remains light on pitching and stuck in the bottom third of rankings. Zaidi promises to bring an updated analytical approach to the more traditional scouting-oriented Giants front office. Despite missing the playoffs the past two seasons, the Giants have nonetheless maintained a desire to remain competitive rather than begin a rebuild.

Of course, the immediate success Zaidi will have with the Giants seems largely dependent on the moves he can make this offseason. With Clayton Kershaw now off the market, it seems unlikely that any big-name pitchers will be moved, but there is ample opportunity to improve the offense if the Giants are willing to spend. However, if MLB ownership remains dedicated to tactics bordering on collusion, it could be another slow off-season in which San Francisco is unable to re-home some of its veteran players with contracts deemed far too costly for billionaires to pay.

But before we’re able to gauge the collective approach to free agency this season, it seems likely we’ll have to wait for both the Dodgers and Giants to fill their GM vacancies and settle on managers. It’s probably a fairly safe bet that LA will bring back Dave Roberts and find an internal GM. Baltimore, on the other hand, will likely find its answers externally, as it would be wise for the team to find a manager entirely opposite to the geriatric Buck Showalter. Hopefully we won’t be subjected to a “hurry up and wait” situation once all teams have their front offices and managerial staffs in place for next season.

Deadspin’s Neil deMause discusses the pros and cons of MLB expansion.

Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman asserts that due to the current roster construction, he has “no regrets” on passing on Chris Sale in 2016.

Dustin Nosler dives into the impact losing hitting coach Turner Ward might have on the Dodgers’ offense.

Adam Sobsey wrote an excellent introduction to Toronto’s new manager, Charlie Montoyo.

MLB released the Today’s Game Era HOF ballot, which includes Harold Baines, Joe Carter, and George Steinbrenner.

GQ Magazine released a list of the best baseball hats to wear with a suit, in case you want to look like an idiot.

Sports Illustrated provides an excerpt of The Story of Baseball in 100 Photographs.

[currentbdnews]

http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.pngNYC’s alternative paper Village Voice shuts down year after going digital-onlyhttps://ift.tt/eA8V8J NYC’s alternative paper Village Voice shuts down year after going digital-only For update news visit All Bd Newspaper

NEW YORK — The Village Voice, the Pulitzer Prize-winning alternative weekly known for its muckraking investigations, exhaustive arts criticism, naughty personal ads and neurosis-laden cartoons, is going out of business after 63 years.

Its publisher, Peter Barbey, announced Friday that the paper is ceasing publication altogether because of financial problems, a year after it stopped circulating in print and went to digital-only.

“Today is kind of a sucky day,” he told staff members.

Eight of the Voice’s 18 remaining staffers were laid off. Others stayed behind to digitize its print archive so that future generations can read it.

News editor Neil deMause said staffers were more saddened than shocked by the news.

“It’s 2018 and we’re all aware of the state of the journalism industry,” said deMause, 52, who started reading the Voice as a teenager in the 1980s.

The Voice was the country’s first alternative newsweekly, founded in Greenwich Village in 1955 by a group that included writer Norman Mailer. It once had a weekly circulation of 250,000 copies and was home to some of New York’s best investigative journalists and music writers.

The combative, left-leaning paper became known for its brash political reporting and its coverage of music and theatre. It also became a powerful advocate for New York’s gay community.

It won three Pulitzers, for editorial cartooning and feature writing in the 1980s and for international reporting in 2000 for a series on AIDS in Africa.

The Voice nurtured such talents as jazz maven and civil libertarian Nat Hentoff; investigative reporter Wayne Barrett, whose targets included Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Donald Trump; and culture writers such as Manohla Dargis, now a film critic for The New York Times.

“This is a tragedy, and it hurts my heart,” Dargis wrote on Twitter. “This is where I started my professional writing life and where I met brilliant writers — and many friends — too numerous to mention.”

This is a tragedy, and it hurts my heart. This is where I started my professional writing life and where I met brilliant writers – and many friends – too numerous to mention. The Village Voice ends editorial production, lays off half of staff https://t.co/dglQHotfKk via @cjr

— Manohla Dargis (@ManohlaDargis) August 31, 2018

Cartoonist Jules Feiffer’s jagged, satirical comic strip ran in the Voice form 1956 through 1997. His obsessions included psychoanalysis, sex and the manifold urban anxieties of Cold War America.

“As a longtime reader and fan of the Voice even more than as a writer and editor, I am deeply saddened that we won’t have the Voice’s voice anymore,” deMause said. “It’s a huge, huge loss.”

Barbey, also president of The Reading Eagle newspaper in Pennsylvania, bought the Voice in 2015 in an attempt to save it following a series of ownership changes, staff departures and losses in readership and advertising that had left it in a state of perpetual peril.

He tried to stem the paper’s losses by giving up print publication last summer and publishing online only — a step that removed the Voice from the sidewalk boxes that were a fixture on New York street corners for generations.

It failed to stop the financial bleeding.

//

“In recent years, the Voice has been subject to the increasingly harsh economic realities facing those creating journalism and written media,” Barbey wrote. “Like many others in publishing, we were continually optimistic that relief was around the next corner. Where stability for our business is, we do not know yet. The only thing that is clear now is that we have not reached that destination.”

// from https://ift.tt/2LLWtkK https://ift.tt/2wB9f00

[marilynngmesalo]

NYC’s alternative paper Village Voice shuts down year after going digital-only

NYC’s alternative paper Village Voice shuts down year after going digital-only https://ift.tt/eA8V8J NYC’s alternative paper Village Voice shuts down year after going digital-only

NEW YORK — The Village Voice, the Pulitzer Prize-winning alternative weekly known for its muckraking investigations, exhaustive arts criticism, naughty personal ads and neurosis-laden cartoons, is going out of business after 63 years.

Its publisher, Peter Barbey, announced Friday that the paper is ceasing publication altogether because of financial problems, a year after it stopped circulating in print and went to digital-only.

“Today is kind of a sucky day,” he told staff members.

Eight of the Voice’s 18 remaining staffers were laid off. Others stayed behind to digitize its print archive so that future generations can read it.

News editor Neil deMause said staffers were more saddened than shocked by the news.

“It’s 2018 and we’re all aware of the state of the journalism industry,” said deMause, 52, who started reading the Voice as a teenager in the 1980s.

The Voice was the country’s first alternative newsweekly, founded in Greenwich Village in 1955 by a group that included writer Norman Mailer. It once had a weekly circulation of 250,000 copies and was home to some of New York’s best investigative journalists and music writers.

The combative, left-leaning paper became known for its brash political reporting and its coverage of music and theatre. It also became a powerful advocate for New York’s gay community.

It won three Pulitzers, for editorial cartooning and feature writing in the 1980s and for international reporting in 2000 for a series on AIDS in Africa.

The Voice nurtured such talents as jazz maven and civil libertarian Nat Hentoff; investigative reporter Wayne Barrett, whose targets included Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Donald Trump; and culture writers such as Manohla Dargis, now a film critic for The New York Times.

“This is a tragedy, and it hurts my heart,” Dargis wrote on Twitter. “This is where I started my professional writing life and where I met brilliant writers — and many friends — too numerous to mention.”

This is a tragedy, and it hurts my heart. This is where I started my professional writing life and where I met brilliant writers – and many friends – too numerous to mention. The Village Voice ends editorial production, lays off half of staff https://t.co/dglQHotfKk via @cjr

— Manohla Dargis (@ManohlaDargis) August 31, 2018

Cartoonist Jules Feiffer’s jagged, satirical comic strip ran in the Voice form 1956 through 1997. His obsessions included psychoanalysis, sex and the manifold urban anxieties of Cold War America.

“As a longtime reader and fan of the Voice even more than as a writer and editor, I am deeply saddened that we won’t have the Voice’s voice anymore,” deMause said. “It’s a huge, huge loss.”

Barbey, also president of The Reading Eagle newspaper in Pennsylvania, bought the Voice in 2015 in an attempt to save it following a series of ownership changes, staff departures and losses in readership and advertising that had left it in a state of perpetual peril.

He tried to stem the paper’s losses by giving up print publication last summer and publishing online only — a step that removed the Voice from the sidewalk boxes that were a fixture on New York street corners for generations.

It failed to stop the financial bleeding.

//<![CDATA[ ( function() { pnLoadVideo( "videos", "dzR_NP-zh_U", "pn_video_156832", "", "", {"is_mobile":""} ); } )(); //]]>

“In recent years, the Voice has been subject to the increasingly harsh economic realities facing those creating journalism and written media,” Barbey wrote. “Like many others in publishing, we were continually optimistic that relief was around the next corner. Where stability for our business is, we do not know yet. The only thing that is clear now is that we have not reached that destination.”

//<![CDATA[ ( function() { pnLoadVideo( "videos", "V4KV1micniI", "pn_video_129189", "", "", {"is_mobile":""} ); } )(); //]]> Canoe Click for update news world news https://ift.tt/2PWRpxs world news

[rodenthour]

I do my best to support the artists that are my guests and last night at Bluestockings was no exception with @villagevoice writer Neil deMause. His book "The Brooklyn Wars" is a must read. #authortalk #brooklynwars #gentrification #colonization #artistssupportingartists (at Bluestockings Bookstore, Café, & Activist Center)

[christinamac1]

"Balance" a dangerous practice - journalists presenting as equal -Trump's and scientists' opinion on coronavirus science

“Balance” a dangerous practice – journalists presenting as equal -Trump’s and scientists’ opinion on coronavirus science

Presenting Trump and Science as Equals Isn’t Balanced, It’s Dangerous, FAIR, NEIL DEMAUSE, 23 Mar 20, With more than 32,000 COVID-19 infections and 400 deaths in the US to date, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams predicting that “this week, it’s going to get bad,” as hospitals prepare for the eventuality of rationing treatment for patients least likely to survive, the president of the United States…

[junker-town]

Columbus Crew might move because 'business is struggling.' Financial records suggest otherwise

The biggest thing wrong with the Columbus Crew is ownership.

On Oct. 31, the Columbus Crew eviscerated New York City FC, 4-1, at home in the MLS playoffs. However, it was not all cheers in the crowd. Here’s why: Nov. 1, the very next day, the president of the Columbus Crew, Dave Greeley, appeared at an event in Austin, Texas, to gauge the city’s support for a relocated Crew. The club’s owner, Anthony Precourt, had stated a week beforehand that the team needed a new downtown stadium or it would have to move to Austin.

Precourt’s threat is based on the claim that the “business is struggling.” On the surface, he has a point. The Crew have the lowest average attendance in MLS and the lowest ticket price. However, that’s not the whole story. By gathering information obtained from records requests and other publicly available resources, we were able to piece together a picture of the Crew's costs and revenue. Struggling they are not.

Rather, Precourt’s claim looks like posturing in hopes of obtaining a sweeter stadium deal.

The Crew’s costs aren't paying much to play in Columbus

A big part of any sports franchise’s “business” is their stadium and lease agreement. The Crew have a 25-year lease to play at MAPFRE Stadium which began in 1999. It was the first soccer-specific stadium in MLS, and is comparable in size and location to later stadiums erected in Colorado, Dallas, and Chicago. The Crew pay annual rent of $50,000, regularly adjusted for inflation. Since 2014, they have paid $72,000 per year. From 1999 to this year, the Crew has paid $1.14 million dollars in rent.

That seems like a big chunk of change until you do the math on what the Crew might have paid in tax as property owners. Franklin County appraises the stadium site at a value of $28 million. The property tax rate for Franklin County is 1.48 percent. Thus, the annual property tax payment on the stadium would be $414,000 per year if the construction and lease agreement had not structured the Ohio Expo Commission as owner. The current rent is 17 percent of what the team would pay in property taxes.

By comparison, the New York Red Bulls pay about $1.4 million per year in property taxes, which is more than the Crew have paid in 19 years of rent. Newer club Orlando City pays $264,829 in property taxes. Florida is a tax haven, and yet Orlando pays more than three times what Columbus does.

One could argue that paying rent and paying property taxes are inherently different. After all, in one situation you are owner of the structure, in the other you just occupy it. However, the Red Bulls are also technically tenants, paying taxes plus rent of $150,000 per year. The Colorado Rapids also pay property taxes and then pay an “additional rent” not to exceed $1.2 million per year to help pay off city bonds.

The Crew pay no property taxes and pay annual rent that’s cheap relative to other MLS clubs. New York is a much bigger market than Columbus, granted, but Denver and Orlando are comparably sized metro areas.

The Crew seem to be doing just fine, financially

We can reasonably estimate the Crew’s ticket revenue with public info. In 2017, the Crew had 17 regular season home games and a total of 262,429 people showed up. Though the Crew have the lowest ticket prices in the league, they hovered around $41.95 per ticket as of 2014. At that price, the Crew still earned roughly $11 million in ticket revenue this year, not including the playoffs.

In public information requests, we obtained records of MAPFRE Stadium’s parking revenue. The 25-year lease between the Crew and the OEC states that parking revenue is split between the OEC and Crew. The OEC gets 25 percent of the “gross amount charged per car for all paid parking for Sporting Events and Other Events” held by the “lessee,” a.k.a. the Crew.

The OEC said that its share of parking revenue for events at MAPFRE stadium was $333,000 in 2016 and $335,000 in 2015 — one quarter of the total parking revenue. The Crew’s portion was thus roughly $999,000 in 2016 and $1 million in 2015, or three-quarters of the total parking revenue.

The Crew also make money from naming rights and franchise fees, though the exact amounts are unknown. They signed a stadium naming right agreement with MAPFRE Insurance back in 2015, but only stated it was a “multimillion-dollar agreement.”

The Crew make money simply by being stakeholders in the league, sharing in league-wide costs and revenue. MLS’ six-year, $700 million sponsorship deal with Adidas works out to $116 million dollars per year. Split among 22 clubs, that’s about $5.4 million per year. Then there’s the league TV deals in English and Spanish; MLS earns $90 million per year. Divided by 22, that's $4 million per club per year.

MLS club owners also benefit from the league’s partial ownership of Soccer United Marketing (SUM), which gets a slice of revenue from every soccer match broadcast in the United States, and from the fees paid by new clubs to join the league. SUM is valued privately at $2 billion dollars. Teams joining MLS now pay more than $100 million dollars to join the league.

When you add up the Crew’s parking revenue, likely gate revenue, and probable league-wide TV and sponsorship revenue, they earn more than enough to keep the power running while fielding a competitive team.

So the Crew’s move has little to do with “business struggles”

But if the Crew are in no financial trouble, the question then is why? Why would the Crew want to talk about relocation and push for a shiny new downtown stadium? Just a few months ago, their press officer stated “there’s no rush to get this right” and that they “are not ready to move out of MAPFRE Stadium.”

A major factor is that the 25-year lease ends in just six years. By threatening to move, ownership strengthens its hand in bargaining. Right now, the Crew has to pay for renovations and improvements; this would stay the same if they renovated the current lease for another 25 years. However, if they got a new downtown stadium, then they could try to shift some of that burden to taxpayers like other teams have done.

Crucially, there is no incentive for the Crew to stop flirting with other cities. The lease between the Crew and OEC does not include an “early relocation penalty” clause. Thus, the Crew can relocate before the 25-year ends lease and only be liable in a potential lawsuit for breach of contract in which any monetary damages would be low. The missed parking revenue and rent for the remaining years of the contract would total $1.62 million.

Could the Crew thrive in Austin? Maybe. But the Texas Capitol has already had two incarnations of a lower league club named the Aztex. In 2010, one version of the club left for Orlando in large part due to the lack of a viable stadium. In 2016, the second incarnation also closed shop … due to the lack of a stadium. The city of Austin lacks an NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL team. There’s no history of Travis County taxpayers forking over subsidies to billionaire sports owners. The mayor has stated the Crew should not expect any public funds.

If Precourt really wanted to spur business, he could push for that new stadium with a better location. In talking online and by phone with Crew fans, they thought a downtown stadium could help; the parking is great at MAPFRE, but there are no surrounding bars or restaurants. Crew fans pointed out that the Triple-A baseball team, the Columbus Clippers, experienced a surge in attendance after opening a new stadium in the arena district.

Some had even answered the Crew’s fan survey this summer and stated that they 1) Wanted a downtown stadium, 2) Were willing to pay more for tickets, but, crucially, 3) Did not want public funds used. Fans are still mad about the perceived “wealthfare” bailout of the local NHL team’s Nationwide Arena. They don’t want the same situation with the Crew.

A new stadium, paid for in part by taxpayers, would increase the Crew’s value. And as Neil deMause explained in his 2002 book Field of Schemes, the real money in North American sports is not in annual profits, but the moment you sell a team. The formula never changes: (1) Buy a team, (2) Negotiate a new stadium deal, and (3) Sell the club for a one-time profit years later. Teams often operate at a thin margin or a loss with the effect of lowering (or eliminating) annual tax liabilities. They can also plead poverty when negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the Players’ Union.

Thus, if the Crew move to Austin, it won’t be because “the business is struggling.” The Crew have a serviceable stadium, very low rent, and field a really good team. This botched PR ploy smells like a taxpayer cash grab. We've seen this form of exploitation before in American sports. Now it has come home to roost in MLS.

The Columbus Crew and Major League Soccer did not respond to request for comment prior to this article’s deadline.