For a team with no other tangible offers in place from other local governments, and a site that was a potential gold mine for DC but will now be in Commanders owner Josh Harris's control on a 90-year sweetheart lease, $6.6B is a pretty incredible get. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/04/230…

Spurs owner Peter Holt is also looking for ~$500m in city money, and hasn't ruled out additional subsidy asks for the arena or his larger Project Marvel development project, none of which are expected to require public votes. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/06/230…

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones asked for a "strategic pause on this entire effort" in order to conduct a "full independent review" of a Spurs arena's costs and benefits. Seven of 10 city councilmembers said screw that, let's vote on August 21. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/07/230…

The WNBA demanding expansion cities get dibs on the Connecticut Sun is ... nuts? I'm going with nuts. When the Liberty moved from NYC to White Plains to Brooklyn, nobody at the league suggested the team be put up for bid to move to Austin or Nashville. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/07/230…

Spurs lawyer Bobby Perez said the team won't consider sharing any arena revenue to help pay the public's costs because Spurs owner Peter Holt will be using it to pay off his own costs, taxpayers will just have to make it up in volume or something. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/08/230…

In seeking a freeze on property taxes for "megaprojects," Bears president Kevin Warren said team owners are "not trying to avoid paying taxes," which is impressive for a bill that would only do one thing: lower the team's taxes. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/11/230…

Bears execs clearly don't want to build a new stadium unless it comes with sacks of public cash; whether they couldn't make it work without taxpayer help and would have to stay put at Soldier Field, only they and their investment bankers know for sure. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/12/230…

Spending around $1B to build MLB's smallest stadium in its smallest market and hoping the A's would earn it back seemed dubious from the start, and it's only more so now that it'll be more like $1.5B and Vegas tourism is down. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/13/230…

Detroit City FC CEO/professional lobbyist Sean Mann says his stadium will pay full property taxes but the surrounding development will not, plus will seek "city and state support for infrastructure and programmatic build out," maybe hold the yays for now? fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/15/230…

San Antonio officials defended the arrangement as "there is kind of an ethical wall between the work that CSL does" and the Spurs — "we hired a company owned by the people asking us for $650m" sounds even worse, so sure, let's go with "ethical wall." fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/18/230…

The city-Sharks memo is largely a PR document, but "$357m in city money plus we reduce your rent plus the year after next we start planning for a whole new arena" is already heading in a pretty spendy direction. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/18/230…

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam can still file an appeal or move the stadium away from the airport, but delays could force the Browns to negotiate a lease extension — assuming he can get past other suits on using unclaimed private funds and violating its lease. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/19/230…

For anyone familiar with Chapter 4 (The Art of the Steal) from Field of Schemes, the Spurs arena debate will be painfully familiar: promising illusory economic benefits and warning of phantom move threats are two staples of sports owners' subsidy playbook. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/20/230…

In the first round of the Spurs' Project Marvel arena battle, the San Antonio council has spoken, and its verdict is "Nothing says 'I love you' like half a billion dollars in public money so you can boost your sports team's profits." fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/22/230…

We're used to hearing hosting a Super Bowl is a boon to a city economy, though it very much is not. But the idea that putting the Titans on "the Mount Rushmore of NFL franchises" makes them "a completely different organization" breaks new ground in stupid. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/26/230…

Now that everyone in Sacramento hates him and nobody believes he's really moving to Vegas with construction costs soaring, John Fisher has moved up the timeline for playing games in Vegas(ish), but only for two series in June, when it will be sweltering. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/27/230…

The San Jose council didn't determine where to find $325m for the Sharks beyond "bonds and higher hotel taxes," and 1) these would need to go before voters and 2) "bonds" isn't a way to pay for anything, you then have to figure how to pay off the bonds. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/28/230…

Browns execs and the Ohio Department of Transportation are "in discussions" on reducing the height of the team's proposed stadium next to an airport, but it's "unclear" whether those talks will lead anywhere. The Browns may yet file an appeal in court. fieldofschemes.com/2025/08/29/230…