Diamondbacks Venom: Bad for Taxpayers
In 1998, Arizona rolled out the red carpet for the Diamondbacks. The team’s debut season came with a brand-new stadium, Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field), built with a whopping $238 million in public funds from Maricopa County taxpayers. There was no public vote. There was no true accountability. And there were plenty of big promises: jobs, economic growth, urban revitalization.
Now, nearly three decades later, we’re still waiting on those promises. Unbelievably, the Diamondbacks are back asking for even more. Along with American Economic Liberties Project, Sports Fans Coalition sent a letter to AZ lawmakers highlighting the faults with this deal and urging them to reject the proposal.
Stop DC’s Billionaire Boondoggle Budget
Washington, D.C. is on the verge of one of the worst sports stadium boondoggles in American history and Sports Fans Coalition, along with a coalition of local activists, are blowing the whistle.
The proposed deal to bring the Washington Commanders back to the RFK site is nothing short of a massive public handout to a private equity billionaire. It’s $2.2 billion in giveaways to a team owned by a man worth $9.8 billion. We’re talking rent-free land, a stadium exempt from property and sales taxes, and development rights that could enrich the owner to the tune of $27 billion over 90 years. All this while basic city services are being slashed in the D.C. budget.
This isn’t just a bad stadium deal. It’s a once-in-a-generation wealth transfer from working families to Wall Street; a billionaire’s playground funded by the very residents who are being pushed out of their neighborhoods.
Big Ticket and Fans Fight to a Draw
We recently fired up fans across New York with our rally cry: "Big Ticket Comes for the Big Apple." Our message was loud and clear: fans deserve a fair and transparent system, not one that forces them back to street corners to buy tickets. As the legislative session nears the end, it’s clear: progress won’t win today—not yet, anyway.
Big Ticket Comes for the Big Apple
New York has long been a standard-bearer in ticketing law — a beacon for fans who just want a fair shot at seeing their favorite teams, artists, and events without jumping through rigged hoops or getting price-gouged by Big Ticket. Now, the Legislature is considering A8651/S8221, a bill that could take things to the next level — if they fix some major flaws that hand even more power to monopolies like Live Nation/Ticketmaster and their proxies.
Don’t Fall for the Ticket Price Cap Trap
There’s been a nefarious movement by the Ticketmaster monopoly and its like-minded industry associates at the National Independent Venue Association, National Independent Talent Organization, and some sports teams to trap fans in a scheme and lead to increased ticket sales fraud by enacting price caps on ticket resale. This will drive ticket sellers off of transparent marketplace platforms where buyers and sellers are protected, and drive ticket resale back to street corners and online classified ads, where fans get ripped off. The U.S. should learn from the mistakes of other countries, like Ireland and Australia and not fall into the ticket price cap trap.
Teams are Punishing Loyal Fans
What’s happening to sports fans right now should outrage every ticket holder in America.
Across the country, die-hard supporters — some of whom have shelled out for season tickets for decades — are being punished for something as simple as trying to recoup costs by reselling a few seats. Whether it's the Denver Broncos “bucking” loyal fans, the Detroit Lions revoking lifetime memberships, or the Green Bay Packers blacklisting ticket holders who can’t make the game, we’re witnessing a disturbing trend: teams acting like monopolies and punishing fans for transferring their rightfully purchased tickets.
Throwing the Flag on the Cox/Charter Merger
Charter and Cox want to close a multibillion dollar mega-merger. Let’s be clear: this deal could sideline millions of fans. Both Cox and Charter have a well-documented track record of blackouts and high-stakes carriage disputes that have shut fans out of watching their favorite teams. Remember missing that key rivalry game because of a contract fight? They’re one of the culprits. Now they want to grow bigger, gain more leverage, and jack up the pressure on fans who’ve ditched cable in favor of streamingThat’s not a merger. That’s a recipe for more blackouts, more frustration, and less access for fans.
New York Sports Fans Demand Relief from Overpriced Video Packages.
NY Sports Fans, sick of paying inflated prices for a bunch of channels you don’t want, just so you can watch your Knicks, Jets, Giants, Rangers, Yankees, or Mets? You’re not alone. Millions of fans across the nation remain trapped in a game rigged by media giants who force TV providers to cram a bunch of channels no one wants into overpriced, overstuffed channel bundles, forcing you, the sports fan, to pay more than you should. And when distributors refuse to pay the ransom demanded by big media companies, the result can be a total black out, robbing sports fans –who just want to see the games– of both their money and their sports.