More stadium details

Now that the proposed non-binding term sheet has been out for a few weeks, it has become clear that the total stadium project cost is not known at this time. The term sheet describes a deal to build a stadium for $2.1 billion, and also stockpile “hundreds of millions” of tax dollars for future stadium improvements, build a “Stadium Village” with an unknown cost, and build “Campus Infrastructure” with an unknown cost. As the public and Council Members have learned about these other large unknown costs, the Mayor’s Office has been telling Council Members, “Yeah, but a lot of that will be state money…so it’s a good deal for Metro taxpayers.” Let’s explore that.

For background, here’s my post from last week about the proposed deal. And here’s a chart summarizing the term sheet. (If you have seen a prior version of the summary chart, I updated it to include information about which expenses the State of Tennessee is helping to pay.)

The argument coming from the Mayor’s Office is partially correct. It is true that it the State of Tennessee will be spending a lot of money on the East Bank. Most days, it’s easy to feel like the folks who run the State of Tennessee don’t like Nashville or people who live here. But they sure seem to have a soft spot for football. The State will be paying $500 million in state-issued general obligation bonds and additional amounts for stadium construction. The State’s sales tax money will also be contributing to the next several decades of stadium improvements, and maybe also contributing a portion of the cost to build the Stadium Village, parking garages around the East Bank, and Campus Infrastructure. I’m paraphrasing, but the argument coming from the Mayor’s Office is basically “let’s take the money and run — you should vote to approve the stadium project quickly before they change their minds.” Maybe we should do just that.

On the other hand, jumping to the conclusion that, therefore, the term sheet is a good deal for Metro taxpayers is faulty, or premature at least. There are massive costs that are still unknown at this time. One of them — stockpiling tax dollars for future stadium improvements — is so unknown that the closest the Mayor’s Office can get is to say that it will be “hundreds of millions” of dollars. Without knowing this and the other unknown numbers, even if some of that expense is being pushed onto the State of Tennessee, I can’t know what Metro’s share is either.

In the end, I understand the argument that a lot of this expense is being pushed onto the State. But I still need to know the total cost to Metro taxpayers before I decide whether it’s a good deal for Metro.

(By the way, since we all pay state taxes, the state share is not “free” to Nashvillians…we are paying that too!)