So . . . you don’t care if the stadium that you helped pay for as a taxpayer repays that debt to you in the form of public works like police, fire, snow removal, etc? Really? Do you want to think about your statement a little bit? The lockout and subsequent failure to generate revenue doesn’t just effect a nebulous entity called The State — it affects you. To borrow your (apocryphal) historical reference, you are the rabble who are supposed to eat cake, because you have no bread.
===================================
NoHomeTeam, read much? Marylanders have been paying for public works from taxes, long before the Ravens, Redskins, or Colts came to the state so a lockout is not going to affect me any different than if there wasn’t one. Taxes will always be in place. They will rise if there is or isn’t football. New taxes will be created if there is or isn’t football. Instead of relying on a sport for a revenue stream, local governments around the country should cut its spending, how is this or my earlier comment hard to grasp? And you are very naive if you believe that the money taxpayers shell for these stadiums actually do come back to them.

So . . . you don’t care if the stadium that you helped pay for as a taxpayer repays that debt to you in the form of public works like police, fire, snow removal, etc? Really? Do you want to think about your statement a little bit? The lockout and subsequent failure to generate revenue doesn’t just effect a nebulous entity called The State — it affects you. To borrow your (apocryphal) historical reference, you are the rabble who are supposed to eat cake, because you have no bread.

tiproast says: Money spent on football tickets is disposable income. Why couldn’t an NFL franchise argue that it’s likely that the fan would also spend this money something taxable, and that the state would still collect its taxes?

Because then NFL franchises would have a pretty difficult time using the argument that an NFL team provides a tangible financial benefit to a city or state the next time they want a city or a state to contribute to the building of a shiny new stadium.

realitypolice says: You should have stopped after the first sentence. I guarantee you that NO lease for ANY of the teams contains language that holds them liable for lost revenues in the event of a lockout/strike . . . In fact, I am quite certain that EVERY lease contains specific language indemnifying teams from ANY liability in this case . . . You, on the other hand, are NOT the best former [sic] in the world. You should assume that any possible legal situation you could possibly think of has been covered a long time ago by lawyers who actually know what they’re doing . . . *former lawyer* I meant. I hate it when I skip words.

I’ll bet the “best lawyers in the world” hate it when they skip words, too. Especially in things like stadium leases.

Say we’re not all dust floating in the stratosphere in forty years time this whole last twenty years of big-time sports (and trust me, I do like big-time sports) is going to look insane for the resources that were thrown at it.

You’re probably the last remaining “voice of reason” still alive in this league.

The Jones’ and the Richardsons of this league are threatening to destroy the success that you and the rest of the original old-timers built.

did you ever go to a minor league ball game, AHL, Arena, christ little league.

I have had just as much fun at these other venues as I have had in most NFL games I attended.

would the quality of play suffer, yes, but not as much as you would think.

That the TV networks and the municipalities allow themselves to be dicked over by this bunch of aging blowhards with delusions of grandeur would be funny if it wasn’t pathetic. Actually, it’s both

You know that the players would be rolling over and playing dead if the owners were really unified.

If the season does wind up being lost the relevant associations of mayors and governors ought to be holding Congress’s feet to the fire to prevent this sort of travestry from happening again.

If you get monopoly protection you get regulation.

You should have stopped after the first sentence. I guarantee you that NO lease for ANY of the teams contains language that holds them liable for lost revenues in the event of a lockout/strike.

In fact, I am quite certain that EVERY lease contains specific language indemnifying teams from ANY liability in this case.

When are you going to get it through your head that the NFL has the best lawyers in the world.

You, on the other hand, are NOT the best former in the world. You should assume that any possible legal situation you could possibly think of has been covered a long time ago by lawyers who actually know what they’re doing.

If a lawsuit were to be filed, it would have to be from the city, and even then I’m pretty sure most courts would find that the city doesn’t have standing either.

I want to know if i’m going to have to draft replacement players in my fantasy league. These are important questions!

Sure beats the hell out of laying off cops and firemen to balance the state budget. I usually put lawyers between roaches and rats on the evolutionary scale, but in this case, sue away!!! Couldn’t happen to a nicer group of guys. I hope some state judge awards any city that sues millions.

His last line was something like: It’s not about us, it’s about all the jobs that will be lost.

It has to boil over before cooler heads prevail.