And speaking of city officials lying down on the job and the All-Star Game, apparently Miami-Dade County got Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria to promise to pay for security costs for this year’s game, but then the city of Miami went and paid for them anyway:
Under the team’s operating agreement for its heavily subsidized $515 million stadium, the Marlins are supposed to pay for off-duty police and fire services for “jewel events,” such as the All-Star Game…
Back in February, when the team asked the county to support the event by providing its police officers and firefighters free of cost, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez told the team that it would have to pay the bill due to the terms of its operating agreement…
But the team’s operating contract didn’t stop the city from agreeing early on to pick up the tab. Back in 2014, Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado — who like Gimenez used his opposition to the Marlins’ controversial stadium agreement to help win his election — committed in a letter to then-Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig that the city would pay for public safety “subject to available resources.”
I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that the Marlins Park fiasco is the standard by which all stadium scams in ‘Merica will be measured for years to come.
The Bengals stadium agreement has to be in the conversation…
No love for Glendale?
How long before the Marlins ask for renovation money and get it ! Especially if the Cuban guy buys the team.
Raiders BS is becoming text book fleecing
Not slightly different–these are very different situations. The Boston example was the team failing to put on those events they were obligated to host and it sounds like there will be restitution for the failure and/or future events will happen. In this case it sounds like the city knowingly let the Marlins off the hook which probably isn’t going to be fixable after the fact.