A different take on baseball stadium funding

The Nashville Sounds, the city's oldest professional sports team, will build a new minor league baseball stadium in downtown Nashville on 16 acres of city-owned property at the foot of Demonbreun Street.

While this is an example from the minor leagues (Nashville), I will say that I communicated about this particular project and the developer, Baltimore-based Streuver Bros., to Council Chairman Cropp and other city officials back in December.

In the article, "Sides close on Sounds ballpark plan", The Nashville City Paper reports that "City leaders and the Nashville Sounds development team are close to reaching an economic agreement that would fund a proposed $223 million downtown project with no taxpayer money. The $43 million minor league baseball stadium proposal is accompanied by a $180 million mix of residential, retail and office, and possibly a hotel. It is the first time since Christmas that the two sides appear to be close to agreement, with Metro Finance Director David Manning saying the newest proposal can work and Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse CEO Bill Struever, the developer, hinting that a deal is close."

This is a lot different from what DC is doing with Deutsche Bank. DB is providing DC with an upfront payment in return for future revenues. It's just a financing strategy (or strategem) that is fundamentally different from funding the project with "no taxpayer money."

Maybe Nashville isn't so minor league after all.