Video: Johnny Manziel has a personal dunk contest on Instagram
March 25, 2014Has Dion Waiters (finally) arrived?
March 25, 2014
I am very wary when talking about sports at its occasional and inevitable intersection with politics. Sports debates are contentious enough without that injection of volatility juice plus lightning into Frankenstein’s monster. Here in Cleveland we’ve already been through it once in the past calendar year to some extent as Joe Banner and the Cleveland Browns negotiated the financial implications of improving Cleveland Browns stadium. That construction is already underway and Joe Banner is gone from Cleveland, but now it’s officially Sin Tax season. The two sides of the debate have established themselves, but it seems to me that it will be an uphill battle for the opposition.
The Goliath on this issue is pretty obviously those proposing that the vote go “yes” and in politics Goliath often wins. When it comes to campaigns and advertising, it’s never a bad thing to have a financial advantage and the people who want the vote to go “yes” on Issue 7 have it. I got an email just this week from a public relations firm touting the message of unions and organized labor.
“This is an existing tax and it generates multiple benefits for Cuyahoga County and for workers here,” said Harriet Applegate, Executive Secretary of the North Shore Federation of Labor â which represents 146 unions in Greater Cleveland.
“Those buildings were built by union labor, and the repairs going forward will be done by union men and women,” she said. “It means jobs, but it also means that we will protect and preserve our very valuable reputation as a major league city â which is important on multiple levels.”
Obviously the sports teams themselves are in favor of the vote going “Yes” for Issue 7. A group called “Keep Cleveland Strong” even has a YouTube channel with videos promoting the message. And you might recognize the person doing the voice-over on this 30-second clip.
The opposition is starting to come together too though. Cleveland Frowns site operator, attorney (and occasional WFNY draft party co-host) Peter Pattakos is chairman of a group encouraging voters to say no to the Cleveland Sin Tax. His group lays out some of the reasons why Cuyahoga county should say no.
The group lists many more reasons than I will re-broadcast here, but here are some examples.
A fair partnership with Clevelandâs pro-sports owners.The partnership between Greater Cleveland and its sports owners was reached decades ago, before the Great Recession. Weâre concerned that taxpayers are paying an unfair share of costs while the owners take an unfair share of profits, such as the $100+ million that Jimmy Haslam just pocketed for the naming rights to âthe publicâsâ Browns Stadium.
No more âbusiness as usual.â Economic conditions have changed a lot since the current deals with the sports teams were reached in the 1990âs, when the sports Sin Tax was first approved. Now is exactly the wrong time for us to be rushing into business as usual by approving a renewal of the Sin Tax before we can be sure it represents a fair deal that makes sense for everyone.
Tim Russo, a candidate for Cuyahoga County Executive, is also opposing the Sin Tax, and he’s laid out an alternative. His starting point is something that I talked about frequently when we were discussing the deal that the Browns made with the city of Cleveland over the lease and stadium improvements.
First, the Browns pay a ludicrously low rent on the stadium â $250,000. In comparison, the Pittsburgh Steelers pay 10 times that amount, $2.5 million, and the San Francisco 49ers pay 10 times that, $25 million. Even the Minnesota Vikings rent on their new stadium starts at $8.5 million the year the stadium opens and climbs 3 percent a year until reaching $20 million in Year 30. The Browns paltry rent is a joke, $125,000 less than the minimum NFL rookie contract. That rent is dated and a legacy of the gun which Art Modell and the NFL had pointed to our heads in 1995, when the sin tax Modell begged for was on the ballot as he planned to turn up in a parking lot in Baltimore two weeks before the election.
The rent issue is one that galls me about the stadium deal. If you’re going to own a property and waive the property taxes for the convenience of the tenant while also allowing them to make all the profits from operating the facility, that should be worth a higher rent factor than $250,000 per year. Yes, the city garners other economic benefits from events being held in the stadium, but this particular issue has always seemed one-sided to me.
It seems that nobody wants the city to just abandon its obligations, which is important. That appears to be the one thing that both groups have in common. Nobody is claiming that the city of Cleveland should just let the issue fail and leave teams hanging. Even the alternatives proposed by Russo and Pattakos’ Coalition Against the Sin Tax are trying to explore other funding options to help redefine the partnership between the region and our pro sports franchises.
For the record, I don’t even have a vote on this issue. While I work in Cuyahoga county, I live 2.2 miles into Geauga county, so it won’t be on my ballot when I go vote.
In all practicality, I think that the issue will likely pass and the Sin Tax will be extended. I think it’s a healthy debate and one that is going on nationwide as cities and regions explore the largely one-sided relationships they have with privately-owned sports franchises. I don’t expect Cleveland to blaze the trail on this issue, though.
Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me that even as we continue to gain more and more distance from Art Modell’s theft of the Browns on November 6th 1995 that the emotional hangover from the sense of loss that this region felt without the Cleveland Browns will be too much to overcome. No matter how much merit there might be for debate of the finer points on even the most common sense approaches to re-defining the terms of Cleveland’s financial relationship with its sports owners, I really don’t expect the region will collectively find its way to voting no at the ballot box.
It’s a shame too. While it is a complex issue, as Pattakos’ group points out, the Sin Tax proposal is committed to 20 years while none of the team leases are signed beyond 15 years. How does that make sense? If that doesn’t say all that needs to be said about the codependency of this region related to its sports franchises, I don’t know what does.
48 Comments
“Maybe Iâm wrong, but it seems to me that even as we continue to gain more and more distance from Art Modellâs theft of the Browns on November 6th 1995 that the emotional hangover from the sense of loss that this region felt without the Cleveland Browns will be too much to overcome.”
I completely agree. It is in line with my “Cleveland’s insecurities have insecurities” comment from yesterday. Collectively, we are always afraid the worst is going to happen (because it always seems to happen). And we’ll grasp at straws to try to prevent it.
You can use the “nothing is easy in Cleveland” moniker as well. It applies to not only sports but just about everything else it seems.
Ain’t it the truth.
If they can’t get their money one way, they always find another way. Might as well renew it.
I haven’t seen any polling that indicates the sin tax will pass. I’m surprised the author thinks it will.
Completely disagree. Voting this issue down will at least force a longer discussion about the best ways to raise revenues for the city, and what the franchises and city’s obligations to the other should be, which is not a bad thing.
There’s a reason that the pro sin tax group has been trying to rush this through the system.
“For the record, I donât even have a vote on this issue. While I work in Cuyahoga county, I live 2.2 miles into Geauga county, so it wonât be on my ballot when I go vote.”
Which brings up an interesting point to me. Craig, and all the other suburbanites use these facilities frequently. How much of the brunt of the tax will they bear? Why can’t any revenue raised to support these facilities come from a metropolitan area that more clearly represents the users of the facilities?
I think the thought is that people outside of Cuyahoga might not contribute in the form of Sin Tax, but that as season ticket holders we contribute economically by buying tickets and attending events. But I agree that this is yet another opportunity to address regionalism.
Steve, I agree with your sentiment, but it’s never going to happen. Teams will move rather than give up a large part of their taxpayer subsidies.
We can have all the discussions you want, but talking is not going to change anything.
“Teams will move”
“but talking is not going to change anything”
Exactly what Rebate Jimmy would like you to believe. Until he’s on the hook for $10M a year in rent from somewhere else. Then he’ll be willing to talk about changing things.
Agree, but how much do you contribute economically to the city, and not Jimmy, Dan, and Larry’s checking accounts, by buying tickets? I think there are better, much better, ways for suburbanities who go downtown to better support the community.
Tough issue both sides have their points but the label “sin tax” leaves issue seven with a mountain to overcome right off the bat. It’ll be a shocker if it passes.
This is where we normally run into problems. Your comment seems to indicate that I’m disagreeing with you. I am not. đ
Hmm, maybe I could word it differently, but I don’t disagree at all. I think you hit the nail on the head as to what the plan was. But I think the next line of thinking is figuring out how much buying tickets and attending events helps the city vs helps the owners.
Steve, see that windmill over there? CHARGE!
It passed 20 years ago with the same moniker. If anything, the name will help it – it’s something Cuyahoga County residents are familiar with and associate with the construction of Gateway.
So, you don’t want to have a discussion?
I’ll admit, and I think it’s obvious from my posting here, I’m the type of person who thinks hashing out all the details, even if not in the nicest tones, provides important knowledge to all parties. I want to see Jimmy have to answer why he should get such great tax breaks on top of his insanely low rent, and why the city should commit 20 years to his 15.
You had horribly old building like Municipal Stadium not to mention the single most important factor: no professional football team. Not to mention binging the Cavaliers downtown instead of out in Richfield. That’s why it passed even with the label “sin tax.”
I said I agree with your sentiment. I too would love to see owners — and players — pay more for their first-class playgrounds. I just don’t think it will ever happen. But I admire people who will try anyway.
Even so, I think the victory margin was only 52% to 48%. That wasn’t overwhelming support even then.
And it makes me wonder how much help the measure got from the leak of Modell’s move, which if I recall correctly came only a couple days before the election.
The first sin tax was approved in 1990, long before any ideas of no professional football.
Well I’m speaking to the sin tax which led directly to the building of Gateway. In 1990 all I cared about was graduating high school and now I wish I could go back lol.
One and the same.
One and the same.
Yea it was still a close vote from what I seem to remember. In the end they got what they wanted. Kinda reminds me of the most recent vote to legalize gambling. Pretty tough to decide whether that helped Dan Gilbert more of the city of Cleveland or the state of Ohio.
The lines are very blurry if you ask me which goes to what Craig wrote in his opening.
Yea it was still a close vote from what I seem to remember. In the end they got what they wanted. Kinda reminds me of the most recent vote to legalize gambling. Pretty tough to decide whether that helped Dan Gilbert more of the city of Cleveland or the state of Ohio.
The lines are very blurry if you ask me which goes to what Craig wrote in his opening.
Well the topic can be hijacked either way relatively easily if people don’t bother to look into it. I find it an interesting discussion I’m personally in the middle. I don’t drink or smoke so my sins aren’t taxed and honestly when the Browns were gone I somehow managed to survive just fine. Of course those Indians teams sure helped pass the time. Sigh.
It’s certainly going to be an uphill battle given that the team owners and their corporate sponsors will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to ram this thing through, but the facts are overwhelmingly on the opposition’s side. The lack of transparency and fairness is so obvious here that there’s hope that enough people will see this for what it is.
More facts are available at a document posted here for folks who are interested. http://www.clevelandfrowns.com/2014/03/reasons-to-reject-the-proposed-20-year-sin-tax-to-fund-clevelands-pro-sports-facilities-by-saying-no-to-issue-7/
Thanks. And thanks for giving this issue some attention, Craig.
There is no way to say with a straight face that any of the three teams would move if voters rejected this sin tax. The current sin tax doesn’t expire until next May. Vote no on this one, and take a year to examine alternatives. It’s a no brainer.
I’ll make this as easy as possible…
Yes, this is an existing tax and YES, there are much better ways to spend that money.
To use this money for repairs for sports complexes while the city’s education and infrastructure literally rot to the core is appalling.
Oh but I am sure it will be said or inferred of that I have little doubt. Like I said I’m middle of the road/undecided at this point. I look forward to hearing and reading more before the vote.
Yeah, no question. The whole “Keep Cleveland Strong” campaign is little more than a veiled (and baseless) threat that one of the teams will leave. It should be offensive to voters.
You won’t see the words “sin tax” anywhere on the ballot or in the proponent’s campaign. It’s listed as “excise tax” on the ballot.
Thing is, taxes in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are crippling. I pay more dollars in property taxes on an $80,000 property in Cleveland Heights than a friend of mine pays on an $800,000 property in Washington, DC!! And don’t get me started on RITA and other local taxes. So where exactly does that money go? It’s not going into the infrastructure.
At least with the Sin Tax, I know exactly where it goes, and it’s limited to ‘sin’ items, which is far less insidious to me. I’m actually indifferent whether it passes or not, though I might lean voting no because I think it’s a bad deal for Cleveland as a whole. But I won’t be furious if it passes. My property taxes, and the lack of accountability for revenues in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, infuriate me plenty.
The teams are not going anywhere. California taxpayers have stopped the welfare for billionaires by not funding stadiums. The Giants stadium was privately funded, the new stadium for the 49ers had no funding from the state.The proposed LA stadium will also be privately funded.
The billionaires can afford to build their own palaces if they wish.Do they even pay for the cops and fire that has to be present during the games?
Excise not to be confused with excess! đ
Madness. That awful team pays $20k a month to use the stadium?!?! That’s INSANE. Wake up Cuyahoga County.
The city of Santa Clara is going to have to pay for part of the stadium, it’s just unclear how much.
The 49ers PSLs are dedicated to paying off the loan that the city took out to pay for the stadium. The rent paid by the Niners should cover most of the rest.
Imagine that, a team and city worked out how to build a new stadium by passing along the costs to the primary users.
“I know exactly where it goes”
To Jimmy, Dan, and Larry’s pockets.
Your making my argument for me you understand… as Steve pointed out the highest amount of this tax revenue makes it’s way straight into the team owners pockets.
So what I am saying is either use this already in place “sin tax” money on something for the real future (education, infrastructure, reneweable energy, city green space) or cut it all together as the county is already taxed enough.
Don’t know why the “Defeat Issue 7” crowd is associating with a convicted sex offender in Russo.
This issue is the absurdity of absurdities. Let me get this straight: the purpose of the Sin Tax is to gouge those who purchase alcohol and cigarettes not because anyone is trying to discourage consumption but rather so the County can use that money to pay for sports stadiums that do not produce a…nything but a fleeting moment witnessing the passing of a football, the dribbling of a basketball and the throwing of a baseball so that such a minute
tidbit of diversion can be enjoyed by all. The stupidity of this proposition is enough to make your head spin even though the spin doctors advocating passage of this nonsense are already doing a pretty good job of hypnotizing the voters to actually consider supporting it. At least the Robber Barons of the previous centuries provided something tangible such as oil, steel,
railroads etcetera. These team owners do not even provide one tangible thing that could ever be considered with the term âvalue added.â Almost everyone discusses this âenterpriseâ as though it is the same thing as industry {which it is not}. The price of admission is essentially a voluntary tax paid by those who can afford it to pay those who donât need it. If this isnât a transfer of wealth I donât know what is.
The real outrage here is the fact that taxes on alcohol and cigarettes will not be used to aid in the reduction of addiction {hence the reference to âsinâ} but rather to stuff the pockets of all three teams who could easily afford to pay for the repairs themselves. The vote was rammed through the last time
{under somewhat suspicious circumstances} and hear we go again. But this time…not so fast!!! We the voters of Cuyahoga County are going to fight the proponents on this one and we don’t care if the teams up and go somewhere else {please see my views on entertainment below} because quite frankly there are simply more important things than sports and the unearned money that
comes with it. Those in public office who are too stupid and lazy to find other ways to grow a major American city need to resign and leave their self-seeking political ambitions on the scrapheap of history. Donât ever let it be said that this was time when the tide ran out on Cuyahoga County but rather was the time when the voters rose up to welcome the rising tide of change and rebuked
this pathetic paradigm our previous elected leaders embraced.
Let the battle be joined.
And now to the real underlying issue at hand:
One of the most disturbing facts about our capitalist nation is the
misappropriation of funds directed to the salaries of entertainers.
Everyone should agree that the value an athlete, movie star, talk-show host, team-owner, etcetera brings to the average citizen is very small. Granted, they do offer a minuscule of diversion from our daily trials and tribulations as did the jesters in the king’s court during the middle ages. But to allow these entertainers to horde such great amounts of wealth at the expense of more benevolent societal programs is unacceptable. They do not provide a product or a service so why are they rewarded as such?
Our society is also subjected to the “profound wisdom” of these people because it equates wealth with influence. Perhaps a solution to this problem and a alternative to defeated school levies, crumbling infrastructures, as well as all the programs established to help feed, clothe and shelter those who cannot help themselves would be to tax this undeserved wealth. Entertainers could keep 1% of the gross earnings reaped from their endeavor and 99% could be deposited into the public coffers.
The old ideas of the redistribution of wealth have failed, and it is time to adapt to modern-day preferences. People put their money into entertainment above everything else; isn’t it time to tap that wealth? Does anyone think this will reduce the quality of entertainment? It seems to me that when entertainers received less income, the quality was much higher.
Joe Bialek
Cleveland, OH
“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.” Bertrand Russell
This letter is in response to the articles covering the Sin Tax vote
occurring Tuesday, May 6, 2014.
This issue is the absurdity of absurdities. Let me get this straight: the purpose of the Sin Tax is to gouge those who purchase alcohol and cigarettes not because anyone is trying to discourage consumption but rather so the County can use that money to pay for sports stadiums that do not produce a…nything but a fleeting moment witnessing the passing of a football, the dribbling of a basketball and the throwing of a baseball so that such a minute
tidbit of diversion can be enjoyed by all. The stupidity of this proposition is enough to make your head spin even though the spin doctors advocating passage of this nonsense are already doing a pretty good job of hypnotizing the voters to actually consider supporting it. At least the Robber Barons of the previous centuries provided something tangible such as oil, steel,
railroads etcetera. These team owners do not even provide one tangible thing that could ever be considered with the term âvalue added.â Almost everyone discusses this âenterpriseâ as though it is the same thing as industry {which it is not}. The price of admission is essentially a voluntary tax paid by those who can afford it to pay those who donât need it. If this isnât a transfer of wealth I donât know what is.
The real outrage here is the fact that taxes on alcohol and cigarettes will not be used to aid in the reduction of addiction {hence the reference to âsinâ} but rather to stuff the pockets of all three teams who could easily afford to pay for the repairs themselves. The vote was rammed through the last time
{under somewhat suspicious circumstances} and hear we go again. But this time…not so fast!!! We the voters of Cuyahoga County are going to fight the proponents on this one and we don’t care if the teams up and go somewhere else {please see my views on entertainment below} because quite frankly there are simply more important things than sports and the unearned money that
comes with it. Those in public office who are too stupid and lazy to find other ways to grow a major American city need to resign and leave their self-seeking political ambitions on the scrapheap of history. Donât ever let it be said that this was time when the tide ran out on Cuyahoga County but rather was the time when the voters rose up to welcome the rising tide of change and rebuked
this pathetic paradigm our previous elected leaders embraced.
Let the battle be joined.
And now to the real underlying issue at hand:
One of the most disturbing facts about our capitalist nation is the
misappropriation of funds directed to the salaries of entertainers.
Everyone should agree that the value an athlete, movie star, talk-show host, team-owner, etcetera brings to the average citizen is very small. Granted, they do offer a minuscule of diversion from our daily trials and tribulations as did the jesters in the king’s court during the middle ages. But to allow these entertainers to horde such great amounts of wealth at the expense of more benevolent societal programs is unacceptable. They do not provide a product or a service so why are they rewarded as such?
Our society is also subjected to the “profound wisdom” of these people because it equates wealth with influence. Perhaps a solution to this problem and a alternative to defeated school levies, crumbling infrastructures, as well as all the programs established to help feed, clothe and shelter those who cannot help themselves would be to tax this undeserved wealth. Entertainers could keep 1% of the gross earnings reaped from their endeavor and 99% could be deposited into the public coffers.
The old ideas of the redistribution of wealth have failed, and it is time to adapt to modern-day preferences. People put their money into entertainment above everything else; isn’t it time to tap that wealth? Does anyone think this will reduce the quality of entertainment? It seems to me that when entertainers received less income, the quality was much higher.
Joe Bialek
Cleveland, OH
“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.” Bertrand Russell
This issue is the absurdity of absurdities. Let me get this straight: the
purpose of the Sin Tax is to gouge those who purchase alcohol and cigarettes
not because anyone is trying to discourage consumption but rather so the
County can use that money to pay for sports stadiums that do not produce
anything but a fleeting moment witnessing the passing of a football, the
dribbling of a basketball and the throwing of a baseball so that such a minute
tidbit of diversion can be enjoyed by all. The stupidity of this proposition is
enough to make your head spin even though the spin doctors advocating
passage of this nonsense are already doing a pretty good job of hypnotizing
the voters to actually consider supporting it. At least the Robber Barons
of the previous centuries provided something tangible such as oil, steel,
railroads etcetera. These team owners do not even provide one tangible thing
that could ever be considered with the term âvalue added.â Almost everyone
discusses this âenterpriseâ as though it is the same thing as industry {which
it is not}. The price of admission is essentially a voluntary tax paid by those
who can afford it to pay those who donât need it. If this isnât a transfer of
wealth I donât know what is.
The real outrage here is the fact that taxes on alcohol and cigarettes will
not be used to aid in the reduction of addiction {hence the reference to âsinâ}
but rather to stuff the pockets of all three teams who could easily afford to
pay for the repairs themselves. The vote was rammed through the last time
{under somewhat suspicious circumstances} and hear we go again. But this
time…not so fast!!! We the voters of Cuyahoga County are going to fight the
proponents on this one and we don’t care if the teams up and go somewhere
else {please see my views on entertainment below} because quite frankly there
are simply more important things than sports and the unearned money that
comes with it. Those in public office who are too stupid and lazy to find other
ways to grow a major American city need to resign and leave their self-seeking
political ambitions on the scrapheap of history. Donât ever let it be said that
this was time when the tide ran out on Cuyahoga County but rather was the
time when the voters rose up to welcome the rising tide of change and rebuked
this pathetic paradigm our previous elected leaders embraced.
Let the battle be joined.
And now to the real underlying issue at hand:
One of the most disturbing facts about our capitalist nation is the
misappropriation of funds directed to the salaries of entertainers.
Everyone should agree that the value an athlete, movie star, talk-show host,
team-owner, etcetera brings to the average citizen is very small. Granted,
they do offer a minuscule of diversion from our daily trials and
tribulations as did the jesters in the king’s court during the middle ages.
But to allow these entertainers to horde such great amounts of wealth at the
expense of more benevolent societal programs is unacceptable.
They do not provide a product or a service so why are they rewarded as such?
Our society is also subjected to the “profound wisdom” of these people
because it equates wealth with influence. Perhaps a solution to this
problem and a alternative to defeated school levies, crumbling
infrastructures, as well as all the programs established to help feed,
clothe and shelter those who cannot help themselves would be to tax this
undeserved wealth. Entertainers could keep 1% of the gross earnings reaped
from their endeavor and 99% could be deposited into the public coffers.
The old ideas of the redistribution of wealth have failed, and it is time to
adapt to modern-day preferences. People put their money into entertainment
above everything else; isn’t it time to tap that wealth? Does anyone think
this will reduce the quality of entertainment? It seems to me that when
entertainers received less income, the quality was much higher.
Actually cities have kind of figured out the game at this point and are stopping the hostage payments. Paying the ransom is actually the thing that most endangers your team, by supporting the hostage economy. There is no ceiling on what the owners will attempt to get. Whatever you pay this time just helps keep the circus going and brands you as a target.
Glad you took a look at this Craig. I actually don’t consider it politics at all, but rather consider it a point of Cleveland fandom to oppose these hostage payments. Other cities have already started doing so, and the quicker this hostage economy is ended the better for all the lower and mid-tier markets.
Especially from the point of view of the Browns, they have absolutely 0 ability to move right now. But keep this hostage economy in play, and they will be in much greater jeopardy in 10 years than they will be if this immoral idiocy ends. The only thing this hostage payment will do is further pad the already impressive monopolistic profits of the owner and send the signal that we’ll pay ransom if threatened.
Let them move then…no love lost for me.
I do know that no impartial economic study has shown that the money cities pour into sports teams provides any economic benefit whatsoever. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t feel that it’s worth paying billions to sports teams just to have them in town so you can enjoy the games. That’s every person’s decision for themselves. But I am saying that any argument that there is a financial benefit to a city to have a sports team is entirely fallacious. There is zero economic benefit.