Several current and future NFL stadiums, including Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium, and Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, where the Raiders will call their home field starting next season, are or have been built in what are known as “opportunity zones.” These locations are classified as such based on the government’s requirement that banks allot a portion of their money to programs or investments that benefit people in poor neighborhoods.
If those banks wish to add branches or buy rival banks, they must serve lower-income neighborhoods to a certain degree, based on the Community Reinvestment Act, which was established in 1977.
But if regulators put in place by President Trump have their way, the “benefits” to lower-income neighborhoods could be expanded in some really interesting ways — including finding for the upkeep and expansion of current NFL stadiums, and the construction of future stadiums.
Per Bloomberg’s Noah Buhayar and Jesse Hamilton, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have released a draft list of potential qualifying activities for investments in opportunity zones. Along with things like the support of art centers in vacant buildings, the rehabilitation of medical centers, and the installation of new factories is the potential financing of improvements to stadiums.
Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, introduced legislation in November that would provide more disclosure as to which zones would be receiving funds, and what they would be for.
“There are no safeguards to ensure taxpayers are not simply subsidizing handouts for billionaires with no benefit to the low-income communities this program was supposed to help,” Wyden said in a statement.
The Federal Reserve has refused to embrace the OCC and FDIC’s proposal, per the Bloomberg report. But imagine a scenario in which billionaire NFL owners build their stadiums in callously designated opportunity zones, receiving not only increased federal funding for such things, but tax breaks along the way.
Bryan Hubbard of the OCC told Bloomberg that “We encourage comment on any and all aspects of the proposed rule. The proposed list of activities related to opportunity zones are intended to encourage economic growth and jobs in low- and moderate-income areas.”
If this particular loophole comes closer to fruition, we imagine all the organizations responsible will get all kinds of feedback — and very little of it will be positive.