Comments on Advance Indiana™: Drug-Free Tully Still Backing Turkish Immigrant's $83 Million Soccer Stadium Plan

You can see where the elitist machine is starting ...

2015-02-10T00:17:56.337-05:00

You can see where the elitist machine is starting to shift its arguments to defeat or cloud those pesky and valid concerns surrounding this project. Most notable among those concerns is the skewed attendance numbers and anticipated tax revenue that it is expected to generate. The numbers reported by the team and regurgitated by the media are completely unrealistic. Now they're noting additional revenue sources that are a lot more difficult to estimate - food and drink sales, income taxes, etc. Drown out the argument with more unverifiable info.

There's an attempt to shift the conversation towards economic development downtown. You know the drill - "grow the tax base", "create jobs"...

The argument that this won't take away scarce tax money from police, schools and libraries is nonsense. Where do you think the rest of the money not generated by ticket taxes will come from?

Then Tully writes about nobody buying the bonds if the numbers really don't add up - essentially he's saying "TRUST US". This is garbage. Bond marketability is a function of the borrower's ability to pay. At the end of the day any GO or revenue bonds will be backed by Indiana tax dollars and traders know the state isn't going to walk away from any one obligation and pay higher rates elsewhere as a consequence. Taxes in Indiana are relatively low and so is debt service - so we have ample ability to pay more in taxes when ticket tax revenue numbers don't pan out - that's why the bonds will sell.

And Carroll Stadium won't be able to accommodate the team's future growth? Give me a break, there were gobs of empty seats for their games. Never mind the fact that established major league soccer teams in much larger cities don't have attendance numbers that could fill Carroll Stadium.

Hey Matt Tully, care to explain why Louisville's new soccer team is okay with sharing a minor league baseball stadium for a city contribution of only 500k? How about explaining why Lucas Oil Stadium isn't good enough for the Eleven or its future growth plans?

Tully tries to write from the viewpoint of a neutr...

2015-02-09T23:51:19.791-05:00

Tully tries to write from the viewpoint of a neutral, objective, greater good kind of position, and I'll admit he's good at it. This better positions him in the eyes of his followers to swat down arguments of the mal-contents.
I think you're right, Flogger, Tully is doing what he's told. I also think he's got skin in the game beyond gainful employment... Read Gary's prior posts on Tully's conflicts of interest. A truly objective mind starts to wonder why this columnist's views are always in support of the administration's efforts, especially where there's a lot of taxpayer money on the line.

Tully, yet one more reason not to subscribe. It a...

2015-02-09T20:51:22.919-05:00

Tully, yet one more reason not to subscribe. It amazes me of the lemmings who follow blindly.

Tully stopped checking facts years ago. Details an...

2015-02-09T15:13:49.232-05:00

Tully stopped checking facts years ago. Details and facts are meaningless to him. He only cares how something on the surface looks good or if it sounds good. He completely lacks substance.

Are you sure that Tully is drug-free?

2015-02-09T14:38:18.927-05:00

Are you sure that Tully is drug-free?

First, I am against giving tax money to a foreign ...

2015-02-09T14:09:04.322-05:00

First, I am against giving tax money to a foreign rich guy. Let him use his own money to build a stadium if he wants one.

How much revenue do we take in from the Cricket field that cost taxpayers???

There is no reason to think that there would be sufficient revenue from his soccer team to pay the bills.

Stop the liberal TAX AND SPEND mentality and become fiscally responsible government officials.

So is this going to be a mosque for Erdogan or Gul...

2015-02-09T12:22:17.707-05:00

So is this going to be a mosque for Erdogan or Gulen?

Matt Tully is typical of liberals who actually bel...

2015-02-09T08:31:32.399-05:00

Matt Tully is typical of liberals who actually believe themselves to be intellectually, culturally, and morally superior to the unwashed masses who actually labor to produce wealth. And now we learn a component of the Tully problem... self-medication.

If Tully's column- like Swarens' printed proclamations- carry a scintilla of weight with a thinking public, I'd be surprised.

But then again, critical thinking passed from fashion long ago...

Tully's column is so full of misstatements and...

2015-02-09T08:20:25.166-05:00

Tully's column is so full of misstatements and false analogies that I don't know where to begin in criticizing it. The man has no credibility, but it was shot long before this latest load of crap he shoveled our way.

The CIB hasn't agreed to do anything yet so I ...

2015-02-09T08:17:22.407-05:00

The CIB hasn't agreed to do anything yet so I can't really say other than they would be the entity that issues the bonds--presumably pledging their very healthy revenue stream from a variety of tax sources.

Like all employees you are expected to produce wha...

2015-02-09T08:14:54.889-05:00

Like all employees you are expected to produce what the Boss wants. The Goals of the Company reverberates on down. Your immediate Boss will provide you with the job expectations and goals. The Star obviously wants another Stadium built (the expectation). Tully's job is to fulfill that Job Expectation. Tully's job as a columnist is quite clearly not to question very hard or at all the bogus claims by the Soccer Team or it's supporters.

The bottom line is The Star has been a front line cheerleader for Corporate Welfare and Crony-Capitalism for several decades. The Star will not allow cold hard logic or economic science to interfere with their version of the Sun revolves around the Earth.

Gary, is the CIB planning to float GO or revenue b...

2015-02-09T08:13:30.733-05:00

Gary, is the CIB planning to float GO or revenue bonds for this? Not that I think it's a good idea either way, just curious.