Hey, folks! Guess what our billionaire mayor is doing now? Apparently, handing over our parkland to American billionaire developers isn't enough, so now he's giving it away to foreign billionaire developers. Check this out from the NY Times:Now a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi is poised to become the latest foreign owner of a New York-area professional sports franchise.
Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, whose private investment group owns Manchester City in England’s Premier League, has entered final negotiations to purchase a franchise of Major League Soccer to be situated in Queens, according to two people with knowledge of the negotiations.
After months of public hearings, applications and discussions, a deal for a privately financed $340 million stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, which would hold 25,000 spectators and could be expanded to 35,000, could be completed in several weeks, according to several people with knowledge of the deal.
Neither Don Garber, the commissioner of M.L.S., nor Sheik Mansour could be reached for comment Sunday. Last week, Garber told reporters he hoped to make an announcement about the expansion team in New York in four to six weeks. In addition, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told reporters last week, “Hopefully, we’re getting close to announcing a new soccer stadium here in Flushing Meadow [sic] Park.”
Buying a soccer club allows the establishment of business and political connections and provides good public relations in enhancing Abu Dhabi’s global business empire, said Stefan Szymanski, a professor of sports management at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the book “Soccernomics.”
Several experts said they would not expect much political blowback from an Abu Dhabi ownership in New York.
“These people have a huge interest in political stability,” Szymanski said. “Jihad would be the furthest thing from these people’s minds.”
Well thank goodness for small favors! Since the guy is so rich that the league has to cap his team spending, why doesn't he buy up private land somewhere to build a stadium for his team? Why is priceless public parkland even being considered? Why will every Queens elected official, save for one, welcome this as a good investment instead of denounce it as unnecessary corporate welfare?
30 comments:
But the area could become a target for Jihadists.
As if traffic jams aren't enough.
It wasn't bad enough that sleazy Taiwanese developers and politicians (like the Huang-Liu family) stepped allover Flushing.
Now we've got to deal with Muslim billionaires.
What is it with Bloomberg that he's now favoring middle eastern nations?
Maybe the Asian investors have already had their fill here.
Why doesn't this guy do some good with his money like feeding the poor or rescuing animals?
Yet another billionaire megalomaniac!
In May,
CB#7 will be holding its public hearing on Wiillets Point.
Will cowardly Chuck Apelian be absent for this one?
Will that shady board sell out the area like it's done numerous times in the past?
Will CB#7 give their support to a Muslim sheik regarding an MLS stadium?
"Is 2 buck" Chuck Apelian in turbulent financial straits these days?
"Follow the buck" Chuck has an adding machine for a soul.
One thing for sure...be it power or money, this slick rug trader will seek it.
Good morning Chuck.
Had your coffee yet...or are you busy still checking the Queens Crap news?
So we can't give a nonprofit that provides millions in tax revenues for the city a break on 1/3 of an acre - USTA (And that provides very low cost tennis camps for our kids) but we a willing to do a give-a-way to a Billionaire from the Middle East? This guy had better pay up big time!
Middle Eastern Money? Tweeders?
It sounds like a deal in heaven.
We ARE giving the USTA a break. Are you kidding?
Maybe the CB#7 men are getting their 40 virgins in heaven (according to the Koran) for the sell out that's about to occur.
LOL!
And Gene, for his shady part in the deal,
will be known as "Kelty of Arabia".
OUCH!
It's more like the USTA is giving us a break in the cocyx bone (vestigial ass tail).
Does it really matter how much the city stands to profit by selling off the peoples' land? None of us commoners will see a dime of that money but we WILL have to suffer the consequences such as traffic, pollution, etc.
Anon said:
"Maybe the CB#7 men are getting their 40 virgins in heaven (according to the Koran) for the sell out that's about to occur."
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It's 72 virgins (called Huris), not 40. Not in the Koran, but in the Hadith, which is the collection of sayings ascribed to Mohammed.
I don't care where they're from! It's our park and they can't have it!
This will get the feds into the act.
Suspect this guy has tremendous influence with them and they in turn will bring pressure on the city to give him what he wants.
Follow the bog money.
Anonymous said...
This will get the feds into the act.
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Agreed! BRING IN THE FEDS ALREADY!!!
did i not alert Q.C. months ago that hedge fund billionaire ,left-winger George Soros also owns a % of Manchester Soccer club?
Obama 's GM also owns the Manchester logo...Mucho U.S. Tax $$$$$$ wasted on U.K.
hello U.K., goodbye tax $$$$
Perhaps the citizens of the city should vote out every politician who votes for the soccer stadium. Let them know they answer to the public.
And if the freakin' sheik wants to build a stadium in Queens let him buy private land. Don't give this billionaire public land.
Wanna bet the stadium will need more space than 13 acres? Then they will come back for more land and more space and more parking.....
Not the way you'd like the feds to be involved.
I expect that the administration will do whatever they can so this guy can build his stadium.
Why can't the land they want for a soccer stadium be purchased from private owners at market price?
Anonymous said...
Why can't the land they want for a soccer stadium be purchased from private owners at market price?
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Because elected officials can't dip their hands in private funds as well. Now don't you feel silly?
Bad politics.
Can you imagine pictures of private homes being demolished so that some elitist soccer players can perform for the foreign owners.
Not a pretty picture.
One thing that most may forget or been too young to know the Worlds Fair grounds was a place of hope for the future. It was supposed to happen every 25 years. Nuff said.
get your pop corn ready.. he'll simply buy up the chop chops across Roosevelt and turn that into a park. whilst building a beautiful soccer stadium on the polluted fake lake in FMCP.
. i hear these Sheiks build beautiful structures. very excited to see the final plans
Anon No. 16:
Two different teams, Gramps. Soros is buying int ManU. This article is about the owners of their archrival, Manchester City.
In any event. Soros is a capitalist, looking for places to invest his money, the same thing that the owners of the Boston Red Sox did when they bought the Liverpool team. The only people who resent what Soros did with Manchester United are fans of other BPL teams and Communists. Which best describes you?
Could Occupy Wall Street please give a little help with this?
Maybe 40 virgins are all that the CB#7 men deserve.
And what's the difference...Koran or Hadith, Mohammed?
It amounts to superstitious, clap-trap.
Just to show you that I'm bi-partisan in my disapproval...the same goes for some of the Bible's tall tales.
"Did I hear somebody mention virgins?
Have I got some jobs for you!"
It looks like the feathers of a certain Mohammedan have been ruffled here.
What ever happened to, "NEVER FORGET 9-11"?
Hey Mayor Bloomfart, let's build a mosque in FMCP.
I think that the Occupy Wall Street folks ran out of gas.
I don't know if it's true, but a friend told me that when this happened before, (within 4 years), this is the only way eminent domain, (legal land grabbing - sort of right up there with reverse mortgage was been all the rage--another way to take grandma's house
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