The approval of the Jaguars stadium deal doesn’t conclude the situation. Until Club Oligarch gives the arrangement the OK, it’s not official.
So why would the other owners not approve? Apparently, they might not be thrilled with the precedent that the division of the renovation costs between Jacksonville and the Jaguars creates for their efforts to get free money for their own venues.
(The split, per the Jaguars, is actually 55.4 percent public and 44.6 percent private. The AP articles characterizes it as a 50-50 deal.)
Via Mark Long of the Associated Press, the Jaguars nevertheless “don’t anticipate much pushback from the league” despite using a division of public and private money that has a lower percentage of free money than usual.
“There’s a lot of questions, but we’re satisfied that we will be able to effectively answer those questions and look forward to getting this finalized in mid-October,” Jaguars president Mark Lamping said, per Long..
The mere possibility that other owners would do anything other than say, “Do whatever you want to do” underscores the collusion and (frankly) antitrust violations that have been baked into the Big Shield cake.
Really, what business is it of 31 other business owners to tell Jaguars owner Shad Khan how to run his business?
Besides, what do the other owners expect? As franchise values continue to mushroom, it will be harder to get taxpayer dollars. Voters will never approach such measures. Eventually, elected politician might realize it’s bad politics to do what their constituents wouldn’t.
From Jacksonville’s perspective, any effort by the league to send Khan back for more should be met with five words: “Take it or leave it.”
And if Jacksonville City Council is feeling particularly bold, they should tell the league the offer decreases by $1 million per day, every day until the offer is accepted.
