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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The cost of construction of new state of the art
3professional sport stadiums has increased over time; the cost
4of recently built state of the art professional football
5stadiums has often exceeded $1 billion and obliterated
6original financial estimates; these stadiums are funded
7through a variety of methods, including private investors as
8well as taxpayer funding from state and local governments; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Public funding has been used as a tactic for
10professional sports teams to leverage state and local
11governments against each other in order to get a better deal on
12stadium financing; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Low income and minority communities in Illinois
14have been historically underfunded and have lacked sufficient
15investment; and
 
16    WHEREAS, The COVID-19 pandemic has reaffirmed the need to
17use taxpayer dollars to reinvest in communities, health care,
18schools, and infrastructure; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Public funding has been used in the construction
20or maintenance of most stadiums in the National Football
21League; only SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and

 

 

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1Chargers, and MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Giants and
2Jets, were completed with 100% private funding; recently, over
3$750 million in public funds was used to finance Allegiant
4Stadium in Las Vegas, and $498 million in public funds was used
5to finance US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Public funding has also been used for
7professional baseball, basketball, and soccer stadiums; for
8example, Cincinnati taxpayers funded over 86% of the Red's
9Great American Ball Park; and
 
10    WHEREAS, There is no assurance that residents of a
11taxpayer-funded stadium will remain at their new home; history
12has shown that professional sports clubs move across country
13lines as in MLB's Montreal Expos moving and becoming the
14Washington Nationals, state lines as in the NFL's Oakland/Los
15Angeles Raiders moving from California to Nevada and the NFL's
16St. Louis Rams moving from Missouri to California, and
17intrastate relocations as well as in MLS's Chicago Fire
18leaving their soccer-specific stadium in Bridgeview to return
19to Chicago's Soldier Field; and
 
20    WHEREAS, As Illinois edges closer and closer to financial
21solvency, we cannot afford to spend taxpayer funds on stadiums
22when funding for critical social services remains uncertain;
23therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
2HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
3the General Assembly is urged to take all necessary steps to
4ensure that no state or local taxpayer money is used in the
5construction of new professional sport stadiums.