Michael Brown

Fisher says cost for the Las Vegas A’s ballpark has risen above $2 billion - The Nevada Independent Fisher says cost for the Las Vegas A’s ballpark has risen above $2 billion. Read more from The Nevada Independent.

Somehow I missed this. How is this guy so nonchalant about not having near enough money to build the stadium he is supposedly already building? This whole thing is so weird.

We've now passed the 2-year mark since Nevada approved giving $380 million in subsidies to build the A's a new ballpark. We're still waiting. It ain't happening.

Suppose I attend a conference in Denver, get a hotel room, and eat a Subway. Acc to CSL, the Subway gets to count my conf fees, room fees/taxes as econ imp. And so can the conf and the hotel. So now all my spending gets counted x3. Please stop being terrible at thinking
ourrfk.dc.gov/sites/defaul...

Maybe this is old fashion, but the goal of government is not to hasten the deaths of Americans.

Republicans should reread the bible – Jesus did exactly the opposite of what they’re doing with their Big Ugly Bill.

JC Bradbury is the nation's leading expert on stadiums and film. He is now on Bluesky. His research is summarized here:https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3407921. It's too bad in 120 days no expert was invited to testify on what will become a $1.6 billion contingent liablity.

Opinion | Tax Incentives for Film Production? We’ve Seen This Movie Before When will state lawmakers learn that throwing money at Hollywood producers is a policy guaranteed to flop?

'Moviemakers play states against one another, leading to a cycle of bigger movie subsidies as lawmakers try not to be outbid by their neighbors. Analyst Robert Tannenwald has called this “perpetual competitive purgatory.”' www.wsj.com/opinion/tax-...

The funniest people are the folks who start running away when I speak up on film incentives or Rivian. (Oh no, those are good. Someone at the Georgia/Metro Chamber assured us.) Sorry, it's not just stadiums that lack any economic justification and end up as boondoggles.

There is no legitimate policy justification for government support of the film industry. None. There are two types of people who favor propping up entertainment on the backs of citizens. People who don't know any better and those who are in on the scam.

Community Benefit Agreements are nothing more than a ruse to get public stadium deals approved. The only people who are fooled into believing them are the people who want to be fooled.

City of Alexandria Statement on the Trump Administration Listing Alexandria as a Sanctuary City. Read more: alexandriava.gov/go/7067

OPINION by Michael Schaus: Hollywood’s fuzzy math is pure fiction

“Hollywood studios vying for taxpayer money often run up against a fundamental problem when trying to convince the public to support their efforts: Their math simply doesn’t add up.”

thenevadaindependent.com/article/opin...

It was a weak showing for Carter as the "Mormon Democrats" of that era were evolving into "Reagan Democrats." NV was Reagan country. Four years earlier, NV Republicans supported Reagan over Ford at the convention. The politics of 76-81 profoundly affected NV's state government. #soontopublish

If the Summerlin Studio is supposed to create all these new jobs for Nevadans, why are there two hotels with 1,923 rooms? To lodge gig workers from LA? And 140k sqft of retail is a Target, not a gift shop. Economic diversification is supposed to move us away from hospitality. This subsidizes it.

Sarasota County faces deficit in baseball stadium fund by 2027 | Your Observer Projected to spend all of its fund balance on maintenance of its two spring training stadiums, Sarasota County is working on a plan to replenish its reserves.

Econ impact doesn’t pay your bills. Taxpayers do. No one should care about EI bc 1) it’s a nebulous concept and ripe for abuse, 2) almost everything creates some form of it, and 3) tells you nothing of costs or tradeoffs, which is key to efficient public policy. www.yourobserver.com/news/2025/ap...

OPINION: It's time Nevada brought actual transparency to its tax credit programs - The Nevada Independent Combing through the available information suggests that more than $600 million in tax credits have been authorized since 2017. Still, the public cannot be certain what funds are "spent" and what funds...

OPINION: It's time Nevada brought actual transparency to its tax credit programs thenevadaindependent.com/article/opin...

It does not take two years to raise this kind of capital.

It is pure fiscal folly and will lead to a budget crisis by the end of the decade. A state without an income tax cannot come close to recovering the budgetary cost. There is already a structural problem with the existing fiscal system.

The "buy now, pay later" strategy will create havoc in the development of the budgets later in the decade.

I estimate that the proposed film tax credit will deplete the General Fund by $1.5 billion over its 15-year authorization - a loss of 91%. If approved, NV can never again have a serious discussion about tax policy.

Simply unbelievable. This is the film tax credit model, which is an even worse boondoggle than sports stadiums. This is unconscionable.

And two years later, the Nevada Legislature is screaming about "accountability" for everyone else (mostly teachers), while they work to pass a film tax credit bill worth $1.65 billion.

"You read books, eh?" A 1949 red scare Herblock cartoon about pressures on teachers that hits hard once again.

I had the same reaction.

What happens if the A’s ballpark isn’t built? There’s a plan for that The Athletics and Clark County are set to enter an agreement in which the A’s would put up a $3.7 million to cover decommissioning if the new Las Vegas Strip ballpark is not finished.

LOL. We're approaching two years since the ballpark was approved, and this is where we are. ...Totally normal. www.reviewjournal.com/sports/athle...

This trend of describing TIF funding mechanisms for stadiums as "private financing" needs to stop. I get that this can be confusion; so, media members, please call a local public finance professor for guidance.

BREAKING: The constitutional crisis has arrived. We knew it was coming, just not when.

A's on track for June groundbreaking in Las Vegas The Athletics cleared a significant hurdle last week to keep the groundbreaking for their new park in Las Vegas on track for June.

Can someone point me to where the money is in arguing that stadiums are poor public investments? If I stopped this line of research, my compensation wouldn't change (I didn't use to do this). If I switched sides, I'd be much wealthier.

Paramount Rolls Back DEI Policies to Comply With Trump Order Companies across the entertainment industry have been rethinking diversity initiatives and programs amid a larger crackdown driven by the White House.

www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...