Although everyone's aware former Tennessee quarterback Heath Shuler won his bid for Congress, to the disconcercion of Redskins fans everywhere, the other big sports referendum story went unnoticed. As King Kaufman notes, voters shot down a taxpayer-funded stadium plan in Sacramento, and effectively killed one in Seattle. Public opinion is finally coming around to the idea that wildly successful businesses should pay for their own capital improvements.
Obligitory mention every time an ACC fan mentions taxpayer-funded stadiums: The RBC Center was built for $158 million dollars, for which NCSU and the Carolina Hurricanes chipped in $28 million apiece. The bulk of the remaining funds came from a Wake County hotel and restaurant tax. The Smith Center was funded entirely from private donations, but the state legislature funds all operations shortfalls, at a cost that has reached up to $1.2 million dollars. This is proof positive that the state legislature is fully under the thumb of UNC alumni, who use that power to thwart N.C. State at every and all opportunity, including legislating more money for planning commissions for the future RBC Center than was spent on Smith Center operations the first ten years of its existence.
And everyone agrees Ram Road was a complete boondoggle with a $1 million dollar price tag.