That Aud Smell

I'm in-house tonight sitting near Chet and Muffy. Well, sitting near Chet's and Muffy's seats. I don't know that they've really returned to the arena for Sabres games yet. I saw them around for the James Taylor and Jackson Browne, though. Let's go, Buffalo! What an absolute torrent of misinformation that was.

Mike Florio has a source saying the stadium deal is imminent - calling it one of the most team-friendly deals in (recent?) NFL history. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/03/04/bills-close-in-on-deal-for-new-stadium/

This is it for me, give or take. I’ll blame my bloviating on any absence of the bolded above. It’s like — man, we are doing a dumb ***** thing— because we *love* the Bills — and how the Bills make us feel about ourselves — moreover, how they help us feel so connected to friends, family, strangers, and the goddamn *soil*, air, water of WNY. Actually. ***** it. Great investment. We used to build massive cathedrals in order to feel some type of way. BILLS BY A BILLION. Same.

So we gonna slide into the "there is no truth to be found or had" space? C'mon. The big think tanks with the big headed brains - Brookings, for one - have done voluminous, multiply-footnoted studies on stadium subsidy spending and have concluded that they are bad economic policy. In the absence of some data or analysis to the contrary, I don't view the matter as open to a genuine debate. And this is social science, sure, but the only notable scientific proposition that I can think of as being more settled than the science on stadium subsidies is the (hard) science in favour of mass vaccination programs.

The ones written by or for developers and their allies, yes. The think tank and academic analyses? They’re presumably after measurable, verifiable truth. The good ones, anyway.

Which isn’t quite the same as being available for others to verify your recollection.

Was Pegula's giving more resources (money) to Darcy contrary to the plan that Darcy had developed? ... I mean, I guess that's possible? 🤔

Ahh, the twilight of Gen X's heyday ... when sexual tension between real life artists and animated non-human (!) characters was a thing. Also, I want to add: I recalled the lyrics as "two steps forward, one step back." So I don't view Dahlin's progress as PaulaAbdulian.

Sadly, the links to those archived videos are dead on The Buffalo News website.

His development trajectory has not been linear -- bit of a Paula Abdul progression, if you will. But I'm convinced: He's good (i.e., good top-4). Probably going to be really good (i.e., good top pairing guy). And that goes for a playoff calibre team as well.

One other thing that occurred to me as I was watching the Sabres curb stomp the Leafs: Salaries have gone up. But so too has the cost of building a new stadium. Commensurately, I should think.

Analyses as recent as 2021 are in line with the old studies (and not so old studies). If you have links, hit me up. Agreed that what we’re paying for is abstract — stuff people want.

I’ve been seeing things to this effect of late - most notably in a piece Tim O’Shei had in the Buffalo News. I don’t know where this is coming from. My best guess: Sophisticated press agents of the billionaire owner class. The academic and think tank types have been and remain in universal agreement: Stadiums are a sh1t deal for taxpayers. Full stop. They get financed for political reasons and for regional quality of life reasons. But there’s no economic justification for them. If there’s credible research to the contrary, I’d like to see it. I’ve seen talk lately about the payroll taxes that the teams generate. Colour me skeptical. That report from or for the ESDC refers to marginal tax rates. That’s misleading. Without knowing the effective tax rates, the cash flow from payroll taxes is unknowable. And a lot less than is being trumpeted. There’s also love for the sales tax receipts. But those just represent the moving around of existing discretionary spending. There’s no new money.

Oooh - I wanna get this joke. But don't.

Was he wearing one of those god awful hats that he designed?

Hire someone to spellcheck and otherwise vet written words.

Ha - always. “I don’t mean to interrupt…” Yes you do. “Not to be rude …” Yes you are.

Is true? Link? I remember him saying that they shouldn’t be mean to the Sabre players — and referenced his daughter’s tennis career.

Let's effing go, boys.

ahh, okay. thanks. initially, the timing confused me. middle of the summer? but the draft was held later because of the pandemic, IIRC. I do not mean to be pedantic, but that sort of thing would improve their cash position - not their cash flow.

Did that happen?

That's the number I recall. Cash and assumed debt.

"Old Sugar Packets" has often been a punching bag around here. But damn it all - the team was consistently good - sometimes really, really good - when he was the owner. Then again, there's his crusade to force municipal government to deal with his Canada Geese problem in Canandaigua. YMMV, as @Taro T might say.

The tool who had this custom jersey definitely had the price pegged as $189M.

Grand. That’s rich. My main criticisms of Jemal have little to do with what be actually *does* with his projects, once they’re greenlit. That said, I think you fail to apprehend or appreciate why his street-side design at Seneca One is more than an aesthetic issue - like one of mere preference. It’s god awful urban planning - right smack dab in our historically rich and beautiful Joseph Ellicott area. These sorts of things make downtown worse. The fact that this piece of his plan was passed is indicative of the “main criticisms” and concerns I have with him. The approach of “whatever this guy wants to do is better than en empty or disused building” is exactly what allows bad, ugly, short-sighted planning decisions to hurt Buffalo. It’s a shame.