How Professional Sports is Tapping Into Your Water
Professional sports is going to save America’s water supply. You might be asking, how? Well, water providers need to rip a page (or two) from one of the best play books on the planet…professional sports.
Sell the naming rights. That’s right. Water suppliers can raise the money to fix your eroding infrastructure by selling the naming rights. Ridiculous? Well then, let’s take a look at some other winning plays.
The top three most valuable professional sports teams
New York Yankees: $2.5 billion
Dallas Cowboys: $2.3 billion
L.A. Dodgers: $2 billion
Recently, the EPA reported to Congress that we need an estimated $384 billionover the next 20 years in order to maintain and improve America’s drinking water system. However due to water rates and revenue shortfalls, water suppliers across the U.S. are at a serious loss. We must be able to finance America’s colossal cost for infrastructure upkeep, adopt current technology (before it’s outdated and obsolete) and move. Faster.
Most Americans pay less than $3.75 for a 1,000 gallons of refreshing drinking water delivered directly to their home. Whereas, the average price for a ticket to attend a major league sporting event — not including food, beverage, parking and compulsory souvenir items — looks like this:
MLB: $30 for one ticket
NBA: $54 for one ticket
NHL: $62 for one ticket
NFL: $84 for one ticket
H2O: $3.75 for 1,000 gallons
Yet, it’s your tax dollars that pay for new, often opulent, sports facilities. And, on top of that the teams keep all the revenue from the publicly-funded stadiums. When it comes to making money, you don’t need a degree from Harvard Business School to know when something works. Check out these hefty annual revenue streams:
NFL:$286 million
MLB. $237 million
NBA: $152 million
NHL: $88 million
Pro sports teams have plenty of money. However, the majority of stadiums in America are built using your taxes. Professional sports franchises are expert at raising money. Over the past 10 years, Americans have publicly funded over $12 billion for professional sports facilities. Meanwhile, the American water infrastructure is literally sinking into an abyss.
Detroit: designated $283 million for a new stadium — 6 days after the City declared bankruptcy
Cincinnati: spent $50 million on stadium debt services alone in one year — meanwhile the city sold a public hospital, laid off 1,700 workers and delayed payment for schools “due to budget gaps”
Glendale: spends $8 million per year on the NHL Coyotes ice arena (funding frozen water in AZ… Ironic, right?)
Professional sports teams don’t even have to open their books. Whereas, public utilities are routinely scrutinized by consumer groups and are required to publicly post annual financial data and water quality reports. Water providers are scraping together money to pay for repairs and maintenance from a product that most people consider an inalienable right and should be free (just ask actor Tom Selleck). Water utilities scramble to balance the imbalance of their P&L sheets because the only way they can pay for infrastructure operations and maintenance is with revenue from ratepayers.
Contrarily, the price of water is so vastly under-priced that there’s no way they can make enough money to keep the system optimally functioning without raising rates. Across the U.S., utilities are routinely spending vast amounts of resources and legal fees on “rate cases” in order to level out the price of water.
The average cost for a family of four to attend one professional sports game is $211.48. The average cost for a family of four using 4,000–8,000 gallons of water each month is $40-$60.
Your water supplier is offering an amazing service that currently costs you less than a penny per gallon.
Yes, there are efforts to better organize public funds to finance water infrastructure improvements. For instance, in 2014, as part of the Water Resources and Reform Development Act and with the help of the American Water Works Association, Congress established a federal Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Authority (WIFIA). WIFIA provides low-interest federal loans for up to 49% of large drinking water, wastewater and water reuse projects. It’s projected that WIFIA could establish $50 million pilot program allowing the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers to both offer low-interest loans for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. However, as written, the law prohibits tax-exempt bonds from funding the remaining 51%, eliminating the most cost-effective tool for communities that seek WIFIA loans.
Meanwhile, professional sports teams underwrite the expense of new stadiums with tax free municipal bonds — where cities take out loans to repay (with interest) using new or existing taxes. Through “Public Private Partnerships” professional sports stadiums have been upgraded at a rate of 90% over the past 20 years. Public land is provided rent and property tax free resulting in $100 millions in lost revenues to cities. Your hard earned tax money — earmarked for roads, schools, water treatment, etc. — is being diverted to keep your favorite sports team from moving (most likely) to Los Angeles.
Over the past two decades economic studies have shown that these stadiums rarely deliver the revitalization that is typically promised during the lobbying efforts.
Water is the life force of a community.
Since every team and their brother seems to be threatening to leave for L.A., perhaps your water supplier needs to use a similar fear tactic and threaten to leave for Honduras where clean, safe drinking water is a luxury.
Professional sports is going to save America’s water supply. You might be asking, how? Well, water providers need to rip a page (or two) from one of the best play books on the planet…professional sports.
Sell the naming rights. That’s right. Water suppliers can raise the money to fix your eroding infrastructure by selling the naming rights. Ridiculous? Well then, let’s take a look at some other winning plays.
The top three most valuable professional sports teams
New York Yankees: $2.5 billion
Dallas Cowboys: $2.3 billion
L.A. Dodgers: $2 billion
Recently, the EPA reported to Congress that we need an estimated $384 billionover the next 20 years in order to maintain and improve America’s drinking water system. However due to water rates and revenue shortfalls, water suppliers across the U.S. are at a serious loss. We must be able to finance America’s colossal cost for infrastructure upkeep, adopt current technology (before it’s outdated and obsolete) and move. Faster.
Most Americans pay less than $3.75 for a 1,000 gallons of refreshing drinking water delivered directly to their home. Whereas, the average price for a ticket to attend a major league sporting event — not including food, beverage, parking and compulsory souvenir items — looks like this:
MLB: $30 for one ticket
NBA: $54 for one ticket
NHL: $62 for one ticket
NFL: $84 for one ticket
H2O: $3.75 for 1,000 gallons
Yet, it’s your tax dollars that pay for new, often opulent, sports facilities. And, on top of that the teams keep all the revenue from the publicly-funded stadiums. When it comes to making money, you don’t need a degree from Harvard Business School to know when something works. Check out these hefty annual revenue streams:
NFL:$286 million
MLB. $237 million
NBA: $152 million
NHL: $88 million
Pro sports teams have plenty of money. However, the majority of stadiums in America are built using your taxes. Professional sports franchises are expert at raising money. Over the past 10 years, Americans have publicly funded over $12 billion for professional sports facilities. Meanwhile, the American water infrastructure is literally sinking into an abyss.
Detroit: designated $283 million for a new stadium — 6 days after the City declared bankruptcy
Cincinnati: spent $50 million on stadium debt services alone in one year — meanwhile the city sold a public hospital, laid off 1,700 workers and delayed payment for schools “due to budget gaps”
Glendale: spends $8 million per year on the NHL Coyotes ice arena (funding frozen water in AZ… Ironic, right?)
Professional sports teams don’t even have to open their books. Whereas, public utilities are routinely scrutinized by consumer groups and are required to publicly post annual financial data and water quality reports. Water providers are scraping together money to pay for repairs and maintenance from a product that most people consider an inalienable right and should be free (just ask actor Tom Selleck). Water utilities scramble to balance the imbalance of their P&L sheets because the only way they can pay for infrastructure operations and maintenance is with revenue from ratepayers.
Contrarily, the price of water is so vastly under-priced that there’s no way they can make enough money to keep the system optimally functioning without raising rates. Across the U.S., utilities are routinely spending vast amounts of resources and legal fees on “rate cases” in order to level out the price of water.
The average cost for a family of four to attend one professional sports game is $211.48. The average cost for a family of four using 4,000–8,000 gallons of water each month is $40-$60.
Your water supplier is offering an amazing service that currently costs you less than a penny per gallon.
Yes, there are efforts to better organize public funds to finance water infrastructure improvements. For instance, in 2014, as part of the Water Resources and Reform Development Act and with the help of the American Water Works Association, Congress established a federal Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Authority (WIFIA). WIFIA provides low-interest federal loans for up to 49% of large drinking water, wastewater and water reuse projects. It’s projected that WIFIA could establish $50 million pilot program allowing the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers to both offer low-interest loans for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. However, as written, the law prohibits tax-exempt bonds from funding the remaining 51%, eliminating the most cost-effective tool for communities that seek WIFIA loans.
Meanwhile, professional sports teams underwrite the expense of new stadiums with tax free municipal bonds — where cities take out loans to repay (with interest) using new or existing taxes. Through “Public Private Partnerships” professional sports stadiums have been upgraded at a rate of 90% over the past 20 years. Public land is provided rent and property tax free resulting in $100 millions in lost revenues to cities. Your hard earned tax money — earmarked for roads, schools, water treatment, etc. — is being diverted to keep your favorite sports team from moving (most likely) to Los Angeles.
Over the past two decades economic studies have shown that these stadiums rarely deliver the revitalization that is typically promised during the lobbying efforts.
Water is the life force of a community.
Since every team and their brother seems to be threatening to leave for L.A., perhaps your water supplier needs to use a similar fear tactic and threaten to leave for Honduras where clean, safe drinking water is a luxury.
