One thing you brought up was, when they surround the stadium area with so many parking lots that anything locally-owned is out of walking distance, it can actually prevent the growth of the local restaurants and businesses in that surrounding area. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it will actually provide anything good for the community if everything is owned by the team. The Athletic : One thing I learned for the first time watching this documentary was the difference between “impact” and “benefit” when people talk about how a new stadium will affect the surrounding area. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity) We dug into that and much more in a phone conversation with Bertin earlier this week to talk about the making of - and the lessons behind - his film. But the most fascinating aspect of the film is when Bertin interviews economists and deftly digs into the economic twists and turns to explain, for example, the difference between economic “benefit” (what voters often think proponents of a publicly-funded stadium are talking about) and economic “impact” (what the proponents are actually talking about). The story of the local activists is interesting enough most are members of the local Tea Party who are opposed to the bond on the grounds of supporting small government, and their story culminates in a plot twist of betrayal near the end. Furthermore, there is a “Reversion of Title” clause on the lot, meaning that if Rangers ownership should decide to sell, the lot would revert back to them as an asset to help boost the sale price. This series of transactions not only saved the Rangers the up-front cost of paving the lot, but it will also allow them to avoid paying property taxes on the lot (a savings of roughly $130,000 per year). According to the film, the Rangers donated the lot to the City of Arlington, which then paid $1.149 million dollars to pave it and turn it into a parking lot, then turned around and lease it back to the Rangers at the cost of $10.00 - no, not $10,000, but ten dollars - per year. There are a lot of tendrils to a multi-faceted project like the Globe Life Field/Texas Live!/Loews hotel triumvirate, but Lot R is a prime example of how each one can advantage of tax loopholes and friendly allowances by the city to extract the greatest amount of profit for the team. Yes, it somehow transcends that and becomes a riveting watch anyway. Throughout the process, the film takes lengthy cutaways to explain how particular aspects of city tax law work and how pro sports teams go about circumventing those rules. The primary storyline is centered around a small group of local organizers trying in vain to influence their fellow Arlington citizens to vote against Arlington’s proposed $500 million bond to help the Rangers build Globe Life Field in 2016. The documentary is a damning look at the broader process of securing public funding for stadiums, but the cameras are pointed squarely at Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams, with Rangers co-owners and co-chairmen Bob Simpson and Ray Davis featured prominently, even if they are rarely on camera.
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