LETTERS: Soccer stadium math shows council can’t add

To the editor:

Congratulations to Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and City Council members Ricki Barlow, Steve Ross and Bob Coffin for their public financing of a soccer stadium (“Council votes 4-3 for soccer stadium,” Dec. 18 Review-Journal). Also, special congratulations to Findlay Sports &Entertainment and The Cordish Cos.

The council has touted that $25 million in public financing will bring about a $200 million project. Huh? From published records, let’s add up the expenses to get to $25 million: land (contributed by the city) worth at least $38 million; infrastructure (to be paid for by the city) will cost $31.5 million; cash (from a new bond issue, but given to the project) will amount to $25 million; and interest on the stadium’s portion of the bond over 30 years (paid by the city) will equal about $20 million.

So the unsung, real out-of-pocket costs paid by the city are at least $120 million, while the Findlay/Cordish outlay is $100 million. Oh, and the city needs to build a 1,200-space parking garage ($24 million) and allow Findlay/Cordish to use the garage for 90 days of their choosing and pocket all the proceeds.

And did I mention the location? Symphony Park, with a beautiful performing arts center (The Smith Center), a regional furniture showcase (World Market Center), a nationally renowned medical facility (the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health) … and a stadium for professional soccer? Is there no other use for $120 million in taxpayer support, in a city with deplorable housing in low-income neighborhoods? A city that provides minimal financial assistance to commercial and residential re-development of the real Las Vegas downtown? A city that ignores neighborhoods adjacent to Las Vegas Boulevard between the SLS and the Stratosphere, as well as numerous other neighborhoods that need the city’s attention?

Many thanks, dear council.

MICHAEL DUGAN

LAS VEGAS

UNLV football

To the editor:

In response to Robert McKee’s letter (“UNLV football program not worth cost,” Dec. 19 Review-Journal), I, too, am a proud UNLV alumnus. Any conversation about eliminating UNLV football should be very short. If UNLV cancels every program that doesn’t make money or loses games, where will it stop? What programs will be left? What will happen to the women’s programs?

Sports are a part of the college experience and should be considered as such. UNLV needs more community and corporate support. The two combined salaries referenced in Mr. McKee’s letter don’t equal the salary of the worst baseball coach at a Southeastern Conference school.

In the early 1970s, the University of Miami and Florida State University were perennially losing football programs. They changed direction by doing two things: winning the local recruiting battles and building facilities to impress recruits and their parents. And look at them now. UNLV has a new football coach, Tony Sanchez, with a history at Bishop Gorman High School and a new staff that suggest these are battles he can win.

Let’s not be penny wise or pound foolish. We shouldn’t be so eager to race to the bottom like the University of Alabama, Birmingham and University of the Pacific. Instead, like Miami and Florida State, we should embrace the opportunity to race to the top. The view is far better. Go Rebels.

HENRY MELTON

HENDERSON

McCain cartoon

To the editor:

We all enjoy political cartoons be they funny, true or serious. Then we have a real insult with the Dec. 19 editorial cartoon of former Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain.

I don’t care about Mr. Cheney, but the cartoonist went too far with Sen. McCain saying, “I stayed at the Hanoi Hilton.” This is an insult to the senator. He does not need to be reminded of his POW years in Vietnam, and in regards to his comments on the CIA report, he speaks as a human being who endured more than five years of torture.

C. EMERSON COOPER

LAS VEGAS