The Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County voted in the wee hours on Wednesday morning to spend $1.26 billion in taxpayer money on a new government-owned stadium. That figure not only puts locals on the hook for more than half of the stadium's estimated $2.1 billion cost, but it also sets a new record for the largest stadium subsidy in U.S. history.
Supporters of the new domed stadium say tourists will pay that money back, not locals. The Tennessean reports that Council Member Zulfat Suara "voted in favor because she prefers tourists to bear the tax burden of stadium construction and upkeep (through sales, ticket and hotel taxes) instead of Davidson County taxpayers." On top of a 1 percent hotel tax increase, sales taxes paid in and around the stadium (as well as ticket taxes and fees) will be used to repay $500 million in bonds from the state government and $760 million in bonds from Nashville's Sports Authority.
