California Voters Say No to Stadium Socialism

The San Jose Mercury reports:

California is a tough place to build a stadium.

The state's three National Football League teams play in three of the league's older stadiums. And the country's second-largest television market, Los Angeles, hasn't had a pro football team for more than a decade, in part because of taxpayers' opposition to subsidizing a new stadium. One team executive said those problems threaten the NFL's future in California.

With the 49ers due to present their stadium proposal to Santa Clara within a month, the job of building a stadium in California is only getting tougher. Construction costs have skyrocketed. The state's taxpayer initiatives make it highly unlikely that the standard stadium finance tool used elsewhere in the country - a dedicated tax - would work here. And if two recent votes are any guide, California voters' antipathy toward taxpayer-subsidized stadiums is increasing.

For pro teams that want a new venue, this past Election Day may have been a Waterloo. In Sacramento, voters by an 4-1 ratio trounced a sales taxes increase for a new arena for the NBA's Kings, while Pasadena voters similarly crushed a proposal to renovate the Rose Bowl to attract an NFL team.

Saying no to welfare for the well to do.