« Excellent | Main | It Came from the Blogosphere... »
December 12, 2008
Yankees Need More City Money
WNYC Radio
by Matthew Schuerman
Wonder how the Yankees can afford to make C.C. Sabathia the highest-paid pitcher of all time? Here's how.
It looks like the Yankees are going to get a little more help in building their stadium. WNYC's Matthew Schuerman reports that Mayor Bloomberg gave his blessing to issuing another $370 million in tax-exempt bonds for the team.
REPORTER: The Yankees need the money to add extra features to their new stadium. The team will pay the bonds back, but the city won't collect taxes from them. A Bloomberg administration spokesman says the Yankees have agreed to pitch in $11 million in return for getting these new bonds, resulting in a slight net gain for the city treasury of $2.3 million. That's hardly enough to make up for the tens of millions of dollars in extra costs the city has incurred since agreeing to the new ball park three years ago. But the spokesman says revenues from associated projects, such as parking garages near the stadium, may well make up that difference.
NoLandGrab: Yet more tax breaks for the wealthiest sports franchise in the entire U.S. are surely an important priority in times of financial crisis.
[Update: Sources are reporting that the Yankees have reached agreement with free-agent pitcher A.J. Burnett on a five-year, $82.5 million contract.]
Posted by eric at December 12, 2008 5:04 PM