Deliveries of Ford GTs Will Be Running Somewhat Late

20250903_172749.heic Greetings from a few days ago ... a few minutes after clearing the Verrazzano Br. and now out of the harbor 

Yup. Disgusting!!!  But...no different than anything else involving big money and profits and greed in North American politics and economics.  Yes. Even in Canada. Although the Molson Center, now Bell Center, where the Montreal Canadiens play hockey was entirely funded by private monies.  The Molson center now the Bell center, was funded ENTIRELY by the Molson family. The beer company who owns the Montreal Canadiens. Who have owned the Montreal Canadiens for a very long time on two occasions.   Including all the training faculties for the Montreal Canadiens.  The Montreal Expos, if they were to come back, WILL be funded by private monies. The purchase AND the construction of a baseball field.  Contrary to what news is out there saying otherwise. The city of Montreal and the Province of Quebec, all political leaders that have been elected to those positions have ALL stated that NO public monies will be given for a possible return of an MLB franchise in Montreal.  And ALL Montrealers all agree. And the possible ownership groups and owners involved for a possible return of an MLB team all agree to NOT accept public funds.  But...they do require the government to allow the return of an MLB team.  Example.  Allow government owned land to be bought or leased or even given for a stadium to be built. The city of Montreal to allow pubic transportation to be available and have access points at the stadium etc...  One reason why the Expos left Montreal in the first place was BECAUSE the government of Quebec REFUSED to bail out the Montreal Expos and allow public funds to be used for a new stadium downtown.   Good decision in my opinion.  But that does not mean that Montreal lost some tourist dollars because the Expos were not in town anymore. But that does not mean that billionaires should be asking for tax payer money to fund their projects either.  That just means at the very least, billionaire  sport team projects should be a PARTNERSHIP  between the city/state/province, the citizens of the area and the ownership groups.   But in MOST cases, I agree, it does not exist.  Greed...a terrible thing.  Awesome that your son went as far as he did!!!    The Olympics are the WORST for what we are talking about.  Pure greed.  And yes, its not JUST an American thing. Its a GLOBAL thing.  But pro sport teams are more prevalent in the US with billionaire values of pro sports teams in MLB, NHL, NBA, NFL, MLS, girls teams in hockey and basketball, university and college football, baseball, basketball and now even hockey.  In Europe, while soccer leagues and teams have just as much worth as American/Canadian ones, there is simply not as many pro sport leagues and teams in Europe. But it happens there too. 

The sales tax is applied to all businesses in Washington state excluding grocery stores. As such, no matter if you support or not the pro teams, but you go eat at McDonalds, sit down dinner at Anthony's seafood, etc. there is a 1/2% sales tax that you pay that is dedicated to go to the stadiums.  As such everyone pays it. I have gone down this rabbit hole when it first quietly hit our sales tax and plenty of others here have complained about that it originally was supposed to only hit select businesses that support the stadiums, but the politicians here made it a blanket tax that everyone pays.

It isn't nearly as cut and dry as you're making it out to be. Below is a much better breakdown of how it was actually funded (Lumen Field, at least). A breakdown of the funding package: $130 million private investment led by Paul G. Allen $127 million from new, sports related lottery games, similar to the Mariners’ baseball-themed scratch games $101 million in sales taxes collected in King County attributable to events in the stadium/event center $1 million per year of in-kind advertising for the new lottery games will be provided by Paul G. Allen $56 million from facility admission and parking taxes $15 million from extending King County’s share of the existing hotel-motel tax Paul G. Allen agreed to pay for any construction cost overruns All excess stadium revenues will fund youth athletic facilities throughout Washington State in addition to a $10 million contribution from Paul G. Allen $14 million of the public contribution will come from interest earned on the $50 million private contribution from Paul Allen As an added measure, the debt on the Kingdome was retired, freeing property taxes for other purposes The way that reads, to me, is the sales tax is only for those who are attending events at the stadium. If that is correct, it seems like a fair way to publicly fund the stadium, by its users. 

@oldshurst442 @ccap41 Good to know that some stadiums were paid for with private money. Old's I understand the Olympics and the money trap the countries / cities get caught up in, but I do appreciate the global competition in sports as my son was part of the U.S. Gymnastics boys team from the JO program all the way up to the full Olympic program in Colorado Springs before he retired as it did wear on his body. My disgust for Pro Sports comes from the NFL strike and the players complaining about how expensive it is to insure rare auto's and wanting more money, fancier places, etc. In Seattle, Nintendo, owners of the Mariners baseball team as well as the Seahawks got the taxpayers to not only pay for their stadiums, but for the maintenance and the proof is that pro sports DO NOT bring in greater money than the costs of these stadiums. While in some regards, I respected Paul Allen for his donations to various causes, as a billionaire I felt he should have paid for his own stadium. His sister who inherited his wealth and the ownership of the Seahawks had the nerve to tell Seattle they needed to continue to pay for maintenance of the stadium or she would look to move the team elsewhere. Greed like this is what has turned me off of pro sports, I enjoy College sports, but even there at the push to allow private money in with what I see as manipulation, this next season will be interesting to see how it goes as I might end up not bothering to watch or support College either. Interesting to see the latest info on this:   In the U.S., sports stadiums have been primarily financed through public funding, with many being built or renovated using taxpayer dollars. Notable examples include: Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, which received $380 million in public funding.  Milwaukee Brewers' ballpark, which is expected to receive over $400 million in public support.  Tennessee Titans' new stadium, which will have more than $1 billion in public bonds.  SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, are among the few NFL stadiums fully funded by private money.  The public funding of sports stadiums is terrible imho. Washington state funded the stadiums with a never ending 1/2% sales tax. So no matter how one feels, everyone that comes to this state funds the sports stadiums. Very cool Mark Carney Takes Subtle Jab at Trump Opening Toronto Film Fest: "Don't Push a Canadian Too Far"