Sunday, October 10, 2010

Lucas Oil Stadium Outrage: Roof Closed Again

Billionaire Colts owner Jimmy "The Pill Popper" Irsay just had to have a $750 million stadium equipped with a retractable roof that added an extra $70 million to the construction cots. Yet game after game the roof remains closed despite perfectly sunny weather. Today is no exception as the Colts prepare to kick off against the Chiefs on an unseasonably mild October day. Temperatures are climbing into the 80s, and there is no chance of rain in sight. It's more important that fans have the comfort of an air-conditioned stadium than to make an effort to hold down utility costs borne by the taxpayers.

UPDATE: The Star's Bob Kravitz can always be counted on to tell it like it is. He pounds the Colts for keeping the stadium roof closed during yesterday's game and asks the Colts to refund the taxpayers the money it cost to add the retractable roof feature if it is going to be used so seldom. Click here to see the video.

UPDATE II: To add further to your outrage, the CIB told the Municipal Corporations Committee in response to a question asked by Councilor Dane Mahern about why the roof remains closed during so many of the games when the weather is ideal that it's the NFL's call, not our's. Yes, the NFL dictates to us whether we can open up the freaking roof for a freaking game, but you the taxpayers pick up 100% of the cost to air condition the massive stadium. I believe they are lying. I don't believe the NFL told them they couldn't open up the stadium roof yesterday. Their rules provide the stadium has to either be open or closed the entire game. If there is any chance of rain, it has to be closed because the stadium has no drainage system. There was no chance of rain. I do not believe the NFL ordered that roof opened. Jim Irsay ordered that roof to remain closed.

19 comments:

Cato said...

Frail little team with frail little fans.

Colts scum can only function in absolutely perfect conditions with the world sanitized for their safety and kept at 72 degrees.

Paul K. Ogden said...

Today's weather is perfect. It's the type of weather people pay big bucks to experience on vacation. There is no excuse for that roof not being open.

Cato said...

The Colts like to keep to roof closed to amplify the crowd noise.

I wonder if they're still playing the tape of crowd noise, like they did at the old stadium.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEWYig52EIo

Gary R. Welsh said...

Exactly, Cato. So why the hell did we spend all the money to have a retractable roof feature that is never used? No money for schools. No money for parks. No money for libraries. No money for public transportation. But all the money a typical Hoosier hick desires to keep him happy while he watches a game on tickets he bought on a credit card, yelling "Go Colts" with a shitload of money in back child support owed and a shiny new pickup truck just one or two missed payments shy of being repossessed. This town is pathetic.

Concerned Taxpayer said...

"...Phyllis and Marla used the money to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Democratic candidates,..."

"...Phyllis Stevens' attorney earlier unsuccessfully argued to the court that his client was incompetent to stand trial because she was mentally ill with dissociative identity disorder as a result..."

Yep...I guess he's right!

Yea, I guess she is

M Theory said...

There's a show on WIBC with Tom Rose Sunday night. They covered this topic (probably after reading your blog). They were none too happy about the several million dollar retractable taxpayer funded roof being closed.

Said it might have been the coaches call so that our pampered multi-millionaire athletes can play in perfect 72 degree air furnished at the expense of the taxpayers.

artfuggins said...

When the roof is open, it creates a horrible glare for the television audience. I agree what a waste of money but after seeing a couple of games with the roof open and the glare, I hope the roof is never open.

Marycatherine Barton said...

Phyllis and Marla spent the vast majority of the millions they
expropriated, their ill gains, on their own pursuits of pleasure.

I am reading that more and more men, perhaps the majority in the USA, are addicted to sports, many to the point that if the government collapses, the constitution is shredded, they say they will be happy as long as they have a sports team to identify with, to root for. Wayne Madsen on his radio show Sat. said that his sources tell him that President Obama spends an inordinate amount of time watching ESPN.

I hate thinking about the waste of tax money county government is spending on the Lucas Oil Stadium, and professional sports, with no end in sight. It is like being in a nightmare from which you cannot wake up.

Concerned Taxpayer said...

I thought I had read (during construction) that the roof actually cost us $110 million.

Concerned Taxpayer said...

Remind me again....just WHO does this building belong to?

M Theory said...

It was Irsay who insisted that we, the taxpayers pay for that retractable roof.

I would like a refund.

Unknown said...

Former Indiana Resident of southern part of the state. Its a shame what the state has become after all these years of wasteful spending etc. Daniels has really wrecked the state overall and the job climate led me to move to Louisville which isn't all that great but seems that in Indiana few companies are actually hiring even if you have a background in business management, manufacturing, etc.

To spend 900 million if I am correct on a football only stadium for the most part is insanity. I know they can have concerts, etc at Lucas Oil but somehow they don't have money for the schools, for the roads, the job creation is nonsense. The state has been going backwards for several years at the very least. At least when I left you could halfway find a job of some substance in 2007-2008. I even wanted to move back but its going downhill. You can see it in the small towns in Indiana and even in Indianapolis. Its purely sad and that the state and its people are being held up by big business interests like the Colts, Pacers, etc just to make sure to pad their profits while the rest of us take losses. Its a corrupt system that makes me feel for the people there.

artfuggins said...

Mary Catherine...please stay on topic.....

Concerned Taxpayer said...

"Billy" I'm not sure where you get your "news," but Bart Peterson and Fred Glass made that deal, NOT Mitch Daniels.
And it was all done in secret.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Bart & Fred cut the original deal with Irsay. Daniels gave his stamp of approval to it when he agreed to the creation of a new state authority funded with higher food and beverage taxes in Marion Co. and the surrounding counties to finance its construction. Daniels appointed all insiders to the authority despite their obvious conflicts of interest.

Cato said...

No, no, no, CT.

The Colts stadium deal is Daniels, all the way.

They were unsure whether it would even happen until he came along.

Paul K. Ogden said...

Cato,

Governor Daniels did not cut the sweetheart deal for the Colts to get the revenue they have off the stadium. It was Bart Peterson and Fred Glass who did that.

Plus, BP and FG are to blame for not having the operating costs funded. The only thing they proposed to fund the increased operating costs was a downtown casino which they knew never had a chance of passing the General Assembly.

Cato said...

Paul, I don't know why so many Republicans keep Mitch safe from fire.

Every detail of the stadium deal was approved or drafted by Mitch. The deal was stalled, by Mitch's own doing, and he stepped in and made it happen his way.

Mitch is the one who replaced the casino funding with a regional tax, and Mitch is the one who endorsed the deal without making Irsay have to relinquish those greedy terms he received.

Mitch is the one who whipped all the Republican legislators to approve the regional tax, while doing nothing to make the deal less onerous to taxpayers. The vote was uncertain until Republicans from outside Indy who are very conservative started getting pressure from Mitch to approve the tax.

This deal was Mitch's baby. There was no way he was going to let the Colts move to L.A.

Marycatherine Barton said...

Bully artfuggins, hiding in anonymity like a coward,

You are not my boss.