What happens if a government defaults on stadium payments to a team? - MLB

A lot of sports teams get payments from local governments to pay off stadium construction from diverted property taxes. The system is called tax increment financing – TIFs for short — and the decision of a government to offer that money to sports teams is based on the presumed rise in property tax revenues caused by the stadium being built. It’s a way for governments to claim that stadiums are paying for themselves, as the money wouldn’t have been coming in if the stadium hadn’t improved the overall area to begin with.

Except, often, that tax revenues don’t increase and the government just ends up paying for the stadium out of general tax dollars. By then, however, the stadium is built and people tend not to notice too much.

Neil deMause of Field of Schemes has a great post up today noting that, at least in Reno, Nevada, people are noticing. Indeed, there is at least some suggestion that the local government may just stop paying the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate for the new park out of general funds. deMause wonders what might happen if that actually were to occur.

It’s a great point about an often-overlooked side of public financing of sports facilities.

CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”