We’ve now reached the divisional playoffs in the NFL, a league where “stadiums have the life expectancies of hamsters.” Such as the big nonplayoff news this week, that the Rams are moving back to Los Angeles since
their owners are upset with the offers they received to stay put. Missouri offered to pay for 40 percent of a new $1.1 billion riverfront stadium for the Rams. In response to this generous offer, Rams owner Stanley Kroenke said it would lead to “financial ruin.”
St. Louis taxpayers should be glad that they’ve rid themselves of the burden of keeping their “first tier promise” to the ungrateful tenants of the Edward Jones Dome, the Rams’ previous home stadium. Because of a lease agreement signed over two decades ago, the city was responsible for paying for upgrades to keep Edward Jones Dome in the top 25 percent of NFL stadiums.
Reason takes a look at the teams in the NFL playoffs and finds a nest of subsidy suckers, which includes our own Carolina Stadium-Upgrade Tax Raisers Panthers.
