CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Panthers owner David Tepper is asking taxpayers to foot part of the bill to renovate Bank of America Stadium but he is not the only NFL owner making the same ask from the public.
More times than not recently, cities have come forward to pitch in taxpayer money to renovate and build new stadiums.
Bank of America Stadium would get a massive makeover under a new plan that has taxpayers putting in about half of a $1.3 billion dollar stadium facelift cost.
Panthers officials say the public portion would be funded by hospitality and tourism taxes.
“It falls in line honestly with a lot of the other stadium projects that are being talked about right now,” said Kurt Badenhausen, a sports valuations reporter for Sportico.
City leaders in Jacksonville, Florida, are considering a similar plan to renovate EverBank Stadium with a fifty-fifty split between public money and the Jaguars.
The appetite for using public dollars for NFL stadium construction and renovations varies from region to region and city to city.
“Big cities traditionally have shunned it, and the idea is the little cities, smaller cities are held hostage a little more in terms of you don’t want the Bills to leave Buffalo and move to Toronto. Again there’s this kind of veiled threat that isn’t always voiced, in other words, ‘We might leave if we don’t get the public money,” said Badenhausen.
SoFi Stadium, where the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers play, cost a whopping $5 billion to build.
It was funded solely by private dollars.
“The appetite to fund public stadium projects in California is much different than in a lot of other places in the country, there was never going to be public money available for SoFi Stadium,” said Badenhausen.
Badenhausen says it’s easier to sell to the public if there’s a greater benefit in the renovations than just the NFL.
“If you’re talking about developing stuff around the stadium that will have a bigger impact than just 10 home football games a year, that is more conducive to getting approval from the public.”
Met Life Stadium, where the New York Giants and Jets play, was also built without public money.