Sports fans like me love gleaming new stadiums. But few of us are aware that the deals made to secure their financing now come with discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) quotas attached. I was relieved last year when officials reached a deal to keep my beloved Bills in Buffalo, where I grew up. But I was unaware of the associated DEI requirements until I noticed recent news coverage on stadium concessions preferences for women, minorities, and other groups. Apparently, such quotas are now common not just in New York and California but also in “purple” states like Nevada, and even red ones like Florida and Tennessee.
Buffalo’s stadium deal—whereby taxpayers pick up more than half of the $1.4 billion tab for a new Highmark Stadium—came with a community benefits agreement (CBA) that outlines a program to “encourage participation” from “targeted groups,” which include “people of color, women, veterans, LGBTQ+, low-income, and other targeted members of the community.” The deal stipulates that “thirty percent of all monies paid to retailers, vendors, and service companies used in stadium maintenance and operations be paid to MWBE [minority- and women-owned business enterprises] firms.”
[These are bad deals for taxpayers regardless of these arrangements. But clearly, these make the deals even worse. Pro sports teams rake in megabucks and do not need nor should get taxpayer dollars to build playgrounds for millionaires and billionaires. — Ed]
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