Two Pennsylvania state representatives this weekend proposed an audit of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh’s major-league sports teams’ rental payments for their stadiums.
Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and PNC Park in Pittsburgh were among several stadiums benefiting from the Capital Facilities Debt Enabling Act of 1999, whereby the commonwealth would pour $320 million into the construction of new sports buildings. The arrangement entailed each arena paying $25 million in rent to the state every decade minus some deductions based on tax revenues the stadiums brought into government coffers.
State Representatives Jim Gregory (R-Hollidaysburg) and Tim Bonner (R-Grove City) want closer scrutiny of the tax credits the Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Eagles, and Pittsburgh Steelers claimed in the second decade-long rental period from 2013 to 2022. Their legislation would initiate an examination by the Pennsylvania Office of the Auditor General of the calculations the teams made to secure their deductions. The bill would also direct the state’s Independent Fiscal Office to study the benefits the taxpayer-funded stadiums bestowed on their respective region’s economies.
“As we enter the 20th anniversary of this funding, we are mindful the original intent was the possible negative economic impact of a major-league team leaving the state,” Gregory said in a statement. “The teams have stayed and benefited from taxpayers’ investments. It is important we review the increased tax revenues, the production of jobs and collateral spending that has resulted from these two ballparks being in our state.”
Bonner added that he and Gregory hope their measure will determine whether the revenue the commonwealth has allotted to stadium construction has been well spent and ensure that the teams’ financial managers have been correct in the deduction amounts they’ve claimed for their organizations.
“We need to ensure that the deductions specified in the law against the rental obligations for the use of PNC Park and Citizens Bank Park are financially accurate, as well as determine the economic impact of the baseball clubs on each of their respective economic regions,” he said.
While there is scant time in the current legislative session for the two lawmakers to get their bill through both chambers of the general assembly, they suggested they will ask colleagues over the coming months to sponsor their proposal and push to get it to the next governor’s desk during the next session.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Jim Gregory” by PA State Rep. Jim Gregory. Photo “Tim Bonner” by PA State Rep. Tim Bonner. Background Photo “Citizens Bank Park” by Chris6d. CC BY-SA 4.0.
