Apparently the message sent by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis earlier this year wasn’t clear enough. After Disney waded into state politics earlier this year, opposing the Parental Rights in Education Bill that was under consideration. The legislation eventually passed overwhelmingly and was signed into law by DeSantis.
In return for Disney’s move into politics, the legislature and DeSantis took away the Mouse House’s special tax status that allowed it to exercise corporate governance over Disney World and much of the area around it. Disney had enjoyed that unique situation for 55 years before it was removed.
The message sent was pretty clear. Or should have been. Companies that wade into Florida partisan politics do so at their own peril if and when they come to the state for special favors.
That message, however, was apparently lost on Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays. Following the Uvalde Shooting, the team issued this statement . . .
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 26, 2022
The Rays not only expressed their horror at what happened in Buffalo and Uvalde — a perfectly reasonable reaction — but also announced significant financial support for Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety, an operation the team called “the largest gun violence prevention organization in America.”
We’d call Everytown a billionaire-backed slush fund that works to limit the Second Amendment rights of all Americans and promote civilian disarmament at every opportunity. But that’s just us.
Source: https://t.co/p3PtlH3QNS
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 27, 2022
Oh wait. No it isn’t. Governor DeSantis seems to share our view of Everytown and their anti-Second Amendment advocacy and activities. Outkick’s Bobby Burack reports that the Governor isn’t any happier about the Rays’ foray into politics than he was when Disney did it. As a result . . .
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis plans to veto a $35 million legislation for a Pasco County facility that’s earmarked for the Tampa Bay Rays’ spring training, OutKick has learned.
DeSantis’s decision is in response to the Rays politicizing recent shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde ahead of a matchup with the Yankees in May.
As Burack comments . . .
DeSantis is giving a voice to the people who do not want their sports and children’s companies on the front lines of the cultural divide.
The Governor is also putting a shot across the bow of yet another prominent Florida business that thought politicizing its brand was a good way to go.
Rays fans who value their gun rights should take note. We’d guess the message has finally gotten through to the team’s owner and management, who are probably busy right now working out how to privately finance the spring training facility they thought would be paid for with tax dollars.
Win-win. Punch in the mouth for virtue signalers and a stoppage of more corporate welfare.
Bonus third win: millionaire children who run around chasing balls for a living receive a heap of mocking scorn.
For those unaware of news of the baseball team, the Rays have been threatening to leave town for quite some time now, even entering into talks with Montreal to split the season with them.
The team’s financial situation is described as precarious.
The MLB organization nuked the split-season idea, however. It will be interesting to hear what the team will have to say now that the fancy new training center just got flushed down the crapper thanks to their Leftist Scum ™ virtue-signalling bullshit… 😉
The taxpayer should not support professional sports. If teams want facilities they can pay for them out of their revenues – like any other business.
Professional teams (and other businesses) seem to have an complete lack of self-awareness. They want taxpayer money to fund their operations and at the same time seem all too happy to piss off most of the people that contribute to that tax base.
Click the link in the article to see their corporate governance.
Looks like a pretty woke group.
Actual baseball people seem to be far down the chain of command there. “Chief People and Culture Officer” is in the first large group of executives.
“Chief People and Culture Officer” sounds like a politburo position.
Wow how stupid of them…fwiw Richard Irvin da mayor of Aurora,ILL is a member of EVERYTOWN. Running for governor as a fake republican in ILLannoy. He also loves BlackLootersMurder…
DeSantis knows how to play the game. Stop worrying about pissing off the big corporations and the people will support you. The reason more people haven’t been supporting Republicans in the past is because the pols worship corporate money above all else, even when it’s to the detriment of their voter base.
With that said, these corporate handouts need to end nationwide. Guess who pays for these big business tax breaks? Small businesses! Our system favors big business and monopolies. These handouts have to be illegal nationwide in order to give everyone a fair shot. Then states can compete for business by offering attractive tax policy (and infrastructure, etc.) to EVERYONE. It’s called equality.
“Then states can compete for business by offering attractive tax policy (and infrastructure, etc.) to EVERYONE. It’s called equality.”
Haven’t you heard the news? Equality is now racist.
Equity is the new word, and too many people don’t know it’s not the same as equality, even though it sounds similar.
We want equal opportunity, they want equal outcome.
Equal outcome (what they call ‘equity’) is Leftist Scum ™ communism.
PwrSrge had it right, you line communists up against the wall. Serge knew that, since he grew up in the old Communist USSR.
What we need to expend great effort on is to educate the masses that ‘equity’ is really anti-equality, and evil scum to the bone… 🙁
“Equity” when used in government parlance means using the force of government to plunder the wealth of your neighbors.
Reread your headline.
After THEY Declare Support …………….
Yep, the proof readers didn’t do so well with that one, did they?
They must read our comments — they’ve fixed it.
“After Tampa Bay Rays Declare Support for Everytown, …”
I still fail to understand why so many cities and states will kiss the professional sports butt for anything involving professional sports (stadiums, etc) oftentimes with tax free status and special perks. I say make them pay and pay dearly, they can clearly afford it. Examine every building permit with intense scrutiny. Make the process take 10 years and fine them heavily if they withdraw from a new stadium project. If professional sports can’t stand on it’s own 2 legs by this time then let it collapse and die off. Couldn’t happen to a nice bunch of people who beg for it.
Ben saying that for years, but the sports fanatics drown me out.
BEEN
I have always been against the government giving welfare money to anyone. Money to billionaires. Or money to unmarried single mothers. Government money interferes with the relationships that private individuals have with each other. But it’s not just the Republicans and the Democrats. It’s also the Libertarians.
Because when it comes to sexual liberation and drug legalization. The Libertarians are quite happy to have government money no matter what the amount is. Spent to support things that they should have to pay for themselves out of their own pockets.
1. “DeSantis Calls for End of Walt Disney World’s Self-Rule”
https://reason.com/2022/04/19/desantis-calls-for-end-of-walt-disney-worlds-self-rule/
2. “Why Conservatives Are Wrong To Punish Disney”
https://reason.com/podcast/2022/04/25/why-conservatives-are-wrong-to-punish-disney/
Professional sports’ lobbying efforts dwarf that of the entire gun rights industry combined – NSSF, NRA, GOA, FOPA, etc. That’s why. Strangely, no one seems too worked up about getting THAT money out of politics…
@Stan84 Amen to that!
Great news. Get woke, go broke.
Like yourself, I cannot fathom cities, counties, states giving away millions, sometimes billions of dollars to organizations that need no funding. Sports leagues sell a product. They need to make that product profitable, or go broke. If manufacturers have to buy their own buildings and equipment, then so should the sports industry. Make the fans who use the stadium pay for it, not taxpayers collectively.
Any taxpayer who feels strongly that taxpayers should fund major league sports is always free to send a check to his favorite team. He can pay whatever he thinks my ‘share’ should be while he’s at it.
Free entrance/food/booze/hookers with the pretty folks in the big suite. Std urban demtard corruption. Whats hard to understand?
It doesn’t just happen in sports. All big businesses get special treatment. They tell several jurisdictions they’re looking to locate there, and ask them what can you do for me? You can’t blame them for playing the game. The only way to change it is to alter the game rules.
Living in a state/city with multiple high profile professional and college sports teams – the tax abatements and breaks are to entice the teams to come and stay. The hope is that the tax payer funded support and the teams lack of paying taxes will be made up locally with support from fans spending money at local business like food, store/memorabilia purchases and lodging during the seasons.
I’m all for providing some incentive for enticing business / sports teams to come to your area, but giving them as much as they have is insane. It turns out to be a bidding war to try and keep teams where they are and not go running off to other states or cities.
There has to be a better way. States are spending way too much money for the sports teams and that money could be better spent on other things like infrastructure and the citizens.
“There has to be a better way.”
Yeah, they take out a loan like every Mom and Pop store does, and then, and this is novel I know… pays it back.
For sports teams the loan should be guaranteed by the head organization MLB, NFL, NBA, etc.
Special tickets and perks, not to mention donations, to the politicians gets you those favors. They sell it to the local fan/taxpayers as economic development but it’s just a mutual back scratching exercise.
Interesting, but I can’t find Gov. DeSantis’ remarks that he was punishing the Rays for their views on gun control.
The many articles written yesterday and today, make the connection based on an Outkick article. They fail to mention the total $3.1 billion in projects vetoed, including many pet projects of Republican legislators.
I expect the bill to be re-submitted minus the sports complex, and be signed by the Governor…
How about this:
DeSantis cuts GOP priorities as he approves $110B budget
“Gov. Ron DeSantis took a red pen to the state’s budget on Thursday, slashing some of the top priorities of Republican lawmakers on the way to approving a record $109.9 billion budget for the state’s upcoming fiscal year.
“With the state’s top Republican leaders standing behind him on a stage in The Villages, DeSantis derided some of their spending as “pork” while announcing more than $3 billion in vetoes.”
from the Tampa Bay Times
What a shame there are so few Governors with the testicles they were born with!! Doomberg and the rest need to start fearing US, not the other way around!!
Based.
Sportsball is white cancer. Go play sports. Stop watching others play sports.
Now, that’s not entirely fair. I think that it’s perfectly alright to sit down and watch a Little League or Peewee ball game. I actually enjoy it. Cheering for my grandchildren is fun. Cheering the neighbor kid is fun. Cheering on the community’s team is fun.
I won’t waste my time on professional sports.
That’s what I meant. Watching your kids play sports is cool.
But if you spend thousands of dollars to watch roid’ed up DESHAWN criminals not stand for the national anthem and lecture you on your gun rights (like Steve Kerr of the Warriors)- you are a cuck.
That’s what I meant. Watching your kids play sports is cool.
But if you spend thousands of dollars to watch roid’ed up DESHAWN criminals not stand for the national anthem and lecture you on your gun rights (like Steve Kerr of the Warriors)- you are a cuck!
I remember last year making the cuck connection with sports fanatics in a debate with my brother who said I was stupid, although he couldn’t articulate why. Being emotionally invested (and spending money) in watching a “superior man” play the game instead of getting out there and playing it yourself is beyond analogous to cuckolding. I referred to it as a stepping stone. Professional sports are an “opiate of the masses” as our commie friend Marx referred to organized religion
It really is no different than watching somebody nail your wife. Shit, you’re paying them money to do it and wearing clothing with their name on it. Then you call up your neighbor and argue about which one of your wives got nailed harder to the point of fisticuffs.
Perfect.
The entire major league baseball league is becoming hot garbage…. The Detroit tigers were offering to assist young transgender reassignment regimens… we must stop making these idiots rich…
Bread and circuses. F your corporate welfare. F your virtue signal.
I’ve heard reports say the special tax status removal for Disney at the state level is still subject to a local vote by the district members. They aren’t likely to let go of their benefits so the legislation may become mostly a symbolic gesture. The Ray’s situation sounds way different, and other companies should take note of their misguided actions before bowing to the Bloomberg Leftists.
Isn’t this the same governor who could not wait to Virtue signal when he backed and signed into law significant restrictions on guns in his state after they had a school shooting? Talk about a finger in the wind weasel politician. They only reason he’s grown a backbone now is because he plans on running for president soon. As soon as it is convenient he will flip a 180 and be back on the gun-control bandwagon.
Ossifer, if you’ll review all of the stories that have been written about the Governor’s decision, you’ll not that not a single one quotes DeSantis as stating this as being the reason he vetoed the project.
He’s running for re-election this fall as Florida governor. He’s already stated that the speculation that he’ll run for President in 2024 is overblown.
We need him in Florida and, since he’s been the best governor we’ve had in decades, we’re keeping him. The rest of you? It’s your loss.
“you’ll note that …”
Where’s that spell-checker dude when you need him?
“not” is a correctly spelled word
Ha! Maybe we need “context checker dude!”
Wasn’t that the former Governor Scott?
Believe so. Officer Bill needs to get his facts straight before making accusations.
reinsdorf got a new comiskey on the public dime.
screw that.
That’s a nice baseball team you’ve got there. Pity if something bad happened to it.
And take the Jacksonville Jaguars with you, while you’re at it.
Ralph, as precarious as that team’s finances are right now, this is gonna hurt them really bad.
And about damn time… 🙂
This shouldn’t be a publicly funded thing anyways.
Dan Zimmerman … most excellent article indeed. Love hearing positive news like this at times when we must laugh in the face of disaster. Please keep us informed further.
I count this as at least 6 wins:
1. CCP supporting MLB team loses $350 million freebie.
2. Everytown and Bloomberg get punched in the nose.
3. Tax payers don’t have to fund a playground for millionaires.
4. Reminds everyone in FL that Democrats support confiscation.
5. Helps political carrier of a possible Republican presidential candidate.
6. Reminds weak spineless GOP Republicans in the US Senate that gun control may cost them.
I’ve lived in the Tampa area for 30 years. Fuck the Rays. Go Bucs.
Fuck the Bucs, go Lightning!
(Who are in the process of folding like a cheap suit in the NHL playoffs…)
9 days off is a really long time and it showed.
Hell yes. Desantis is the man. Not afraid to stand up to the libs or the corporations. He is the republican we’re looking for.
If the Rays have the extra money to spend supporting gun control they don’t need the taxpayers to kick in to subsidize their practice facility.
I don’t know which is more ridiculous: giving $35 million of taxpayers money to a private company with the sense of commitment of a streetwalker, or making a $50,000 donation to an organization that is the creature of a billionaire.
The Governor is a dangerous Demagogue who like all dangerous Conservatives is ruthlessly attempting to destroy the 1st Amendment. He is a hypocrite when he supports part of the Constitution and not all of it.
The Governor is his own worst enemy because at election time its the corporations that have the big bucks to defeat him and they most certainly will come out for revenge.
Recent polls show an overwhelming 89% of all Americans support sane gun control i.e. Universal Background Checks and Safe Storage Laws so Governor is cutting his own political throat.
lol
wooohooo! Dacian’s back!! The unknown comic returns.
“Recent polls” means absolutely nothing.
It’s probably nothing more than a poll in your demented mind.
Polling data, Real Clear Politics
DeSantis +8.8
DeSantis +21
DeSantis +8
DeSantis +6
DeSantis +6
DeSantis +3
RCP Average: DeSantis +8.8
Good.
Why is it so complicated for the buisiness’ to figure this out. Stop just rolling left every time some leftist organisation pops off. The days of the ‘pubs just shugging and moving on like we did for the last 80 years are over!
We will punch back, and our punch will hurt.
A shot across the bow. Professional sports teams need to go back to their roots and be self sufficient. Not politics.
Why was Florida giving them money anyway?
https://www.conductdetrimental.com/news/desantis-vetoes-funds-for-rays-after-team%E2%80%99s-tweets-on-gun-violence,-per-report
” …reportedly due to the team tweeting awareness about gun violence … ”
” … sources told CNN … ”
” … reportedly changed his mind … ”
“DeSantis told reporters on Friday that it would be “inappropriate to subsidize political activism of a private corporation” … “Either way, it’s not appropriate, but we were not in a situation where use of tax dollars for a professional stadium would have been a prudent use,” DeSantis continued.”
There sure are a lot of “reportedlys” and “sources told” in those three articles. I was taught in journalism school only to use “reportedly” when you’re quoting another source, and there is doubt about the statement because it comes from another source. (“by report; supposedly”)
In fact, it appears there’s only one direct quote to the effect of “inappropriate to subsidize political activism,” but I certainly would like to read the entire quote to see the context from which it was plucked.
I’ve read where If all the pro sports teams left Chicago ,the net loss of revenue for the area would be less then 1% . They contribute little , those who spend their disposable income on local sports teams ,will just spend it on other local things if sports left .
Baseball was always filthy. I guess it’s still seeking new lows.
The Gov is right to veto this bill. Why should all of florida’s residents pay for a corporation’s bill? If you want to watch football, you should pay the bill along with the team owners. Not the State of Florida.
All these talks about banning assault weapons, eliminate high capacity magazines, more background checks and red flag laws. But no media is looking into or covering was is driving young kids and Society to do these terrible things. I believe we would never know.
All these talks about banning assault weapons, eliminate high capacity magazines, more background checks and red flag laws. But no media is looking into or covering was is driving young kids and Society to do these terrible things. I believe we would never know.
Speaking for taxpayers in literally every country on earth….
Taxpayers should not be buying stadiums and giving tax breaks to professional sports teams. Taxpayers also should not be paying for stadiums for the Olympics.
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