At Ace of Spades H.Q., Ace offers some advice to Texas or to any other state on the receiving end of some NFL “persuasion”:
Texas Governor to NFL: Worry About Your Own Spousal Abuse Scandals Before You Go Dictating to Us That We Need to Allow Penises in the Ladies’ Rooms
The NFL warned a Texas that a bill proposed in its senate — which would reserve bathroom use to the “biological sex” indicated on the door — might jeopardize Texas from getting to host any future Super Bowls.
Governor Greg Abbot had some words for the NFL.
However, if Texas, or any other state, wishes to bar professional sports teams from ever attempting to blackmail them into what laws they can and cannot pass or enforce, I have a much more powerful corrective.
States should begin proposing this law:
No municipality shall have the authority to issue any bonds, or direct any public monies, towards the construction of any arena, stadium, or venue of any type intended partially for use by a private company, unless permission to do so is first granted by an act of the state legislature itself or a statewide referendum affirmatively permitting such a corporate-enrichment boondoggle.
Municipalities are delegated whatever powers of the state the state wishes to confer upon them. Municipalities, you may or may not know, act with the power of the state when they pass ordinances and tax bills and such — but that power derives from the reservoir of powers the state possesses, and which the state has conferred upon them via charters of incorporation.
Those powers can be circumscribed, expanded, limited, or cancelled.
You don’t have to include that last part, the part about the legislative or popular referendum override of the general forbiddance, but that could be thrown in there for RINOs who really do want to do favors for corporate bullies and who therefore won’t vote for such a bill without an escape clause.
When the states get serious about simply cutting off cities’ rights to issue bonds or directly subsidize, with taxpayer money, the new stadiums these free-riding vulture socialists are always demanding, then you’ll see the NFL and NBA adopt a much less high-handed tone.
Previous posts about the economic idiocy of local or state governments subsidizing billionaire sports team owners here, here, and here.
Just as tax exempt charities and associations are severely limited in what they can do to influence legislation, so too should any sports leagues that have accepted tax abatement deals be barred from influencing legislation.
Rather than waiting for a new bond issue to come into play, I’d suggest that the minute a league even threatens to influence legislation, that their existing tax abatements be immediately revoked.
Comment by Junk Science Skeptic — February 19, 2017 @ 19:27
Ooooooh, I like that idea!
Comment by Nicholas — February 19, 2017 @ 21:06