SFBrianCL writes in the Blog Roundup:

I’m really quite sick of cities giving sports teams money.  They should go where it is profitable for them and cities should provide only the support they would offer to any other business.  I hope both SF and Santa Clara hear that.

I hope Sacramento – the city and the state government – hears it too.  The Sacramento Bee (registration required) reports:

NBA Commissioner David Stern swept into Sacramento on Monday and declared that he would take responsibility for crafting a workable plan to build a new arena for the Kings and selling it to the public…He said he came with no preconceived notions of what would work, but in meetings Monday he repeatedly brought up the idea of a statewide authority to help finance California sports venues.

My added emphasis, More over the flip…

This pisses me off on two levels.  First, voters in Sacramento already voted on public financing of the arena.  The answer is no.  We don’t want it.  Calling in a new negotiator to try to “sell it to the public” is not necessary.  The matter is settled.  If the Maloofs want to build a new arena in Sacramento, they need to come up with the half-a-billion-or-more dollars on their own.  Second, a statewide authority to finance sports venues?  Are you freaking kidding me?!  It’s bad enough that they’re trying to get local taxpayers to foot the bill – at least there’s some vague connection in that case between the people being taxed and the sports venue in question.  But can anyone tell me just why the hell taxpayers in Riverside should have to pay to build an arena in Sacramento?  It’s madness.  All these team owners need to get off the corporate welfare and realize that they need to run their business as a business, and not as some weird entertainment division of the government.  It’s not like they don’t have the money to build these things on their own.  Why should they be the only businesspeople in the country who get to run their businesses risk-free?

I hope the voters in Sacramento have the good sense to vote out the Mayor and City Council members who are complicit in these continued shady dealings.  I for one would vote for a yellow dog if it ran on a platform of opposing taxpayer financing for the arena.