Welfare for Billionaires – St. Louis and State of Missouri Offer to Fund Stadium
My hometown and home state are being suckered into ponying up 40% of the cost of a new billion dollar football stadium necessary to keep the St. Louis Rams (formerly of Cleveland, formerly of Los Angeles) from moving yet again. That’s $400 million dollars for a building that will likely house happy football fans 4 times a year (assuming an 8-8 record for the Rams which is really fantasy). Figuring it’s likely 8 years before Stan Kroenke likely agitates for another stadium. Do the math and Missourians are going to shell out over $10 million a win.
Seriously?
Kroenke’s personal net worth is $7.7 Billion. That’s BILLION. He could build the stadium himself with the change in his sofa cushions.
So my next question is this: Since when did my hometown get so flush with cash so that it could waste $400 million dollars for a building that will be used AT MOST 8 times a year? St. Louis and Missouri politicians are evidently ready to transfer their taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars (Missouri per capita income, $25,649) to a billionaire. Are there no better ways to spend $400 million on Missouri’s 6 million residents?
I have a suggestion: Buy every Missourian a ticket to a baseball Cardinals game. The team is one of the league’s best, isn’t going anywhere and doesn’t bully politicians into subsidizing their hobbies.
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