The New York Islanders owners’ plans for a new billion-dollar-plus arena complex alongside Belmont Park in Nassau County took a major lurch forward on Monday, as Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his intent to build the Long Island Rail Road station … Continue reading
Any self-respecting student of insane Machiavellian gambits should be familiar with the Madman Theory, Richard Nixon’s self-invented strategy for winning the war in Vietnam. The theory, as recounted by Nixon chief of staff H.R. Haldeman after he got out of … Continue reading
Sometime in the next few days, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb—aka the guy who took Mike Pence’s job when Pence ascended to the Old Executive Office Building—is expected to sign a bill extending the Indiana Pacers’ lease in Indianapolis through 2044. … Continue reading
For sports team owners seeking new stadiums or arenas—which is to say, for sports team owners—there are certain tools of the trade at their disposal for convincing fans and politicians to support (and pay for) a new building. They have … Continue reading
Even as the New York Islanders confuse their fans with plans to play some home playoff games in Nassau County and some in Brooklyn, the team’s ownership has been quietly moving ahead with plans to build a new arena halfway … Continue reading
Willets Point, the warren of auto-repair shops that for generations sat on a muddy peninsula between the Mets’ ballpark and Flushing Creek, has been targeted for an overhaul ever since “the Mets’ ballpark” still meant Shea Stadium. When the Bloomberg … Continue reading
Four billion dollars, I think we can all agree, is a lot of money. It’s more than the combined annual budgets of Barbados, Bermuda, and Belize. It’s enough to buy a few dozen private Caribbean islands. It’s two Giancarlo Stantons, … Continue reading
Now that the Knicks have finally gotten their latest season of misery underway — they had a bit of a speed bump in beating the Hawks on opening night, but the Nets, Celtics, and Bucks soon restored order to the … Continue reading
Whenever professional economists are asked about stadium and arena deals, they invariably explain, for the hundredth time, that these “almost never” work out to the benefit of the public. (Look, here are a bunch saying so just a few weeks … Continue reading
When the state of Rhode Island offered up $38 million in June to the owners of the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox toward a new stadium, it seemed likely to be the first step on the road to a replacement for … Continue reading