Quote Originally Posted by p69rrh51 View Post
EastsideAl what are the numbers on the subsidies for Ford Field? I cannot remember.
According to a 2007 Marquette University report on NFL stadium financing:

Facility Cost [[millions): $430
Percentage of Stadium Publicly Financed: 36%
Facility Financing: Ford Field was financed through tourism excise taxes [[2% rental car tax and 1% hotel room tax) that were used to pay off Wayne County revenue bonds, which provided $219 M towards construction costs.

Of course, that doesn't include the variety of associated public infrastructure costs.

Apparently, the Lions paid about $70 million of their own money, and borrowed the rest from the NFL's credit wing, which sets up special low interest loans for its teams. The Lions are privately held, of course, and thus give no public information about their finances, but these loans seem to be the major source of the team's debt.

A Bill Shea Crain's story from 2011 about the Lions debt load:
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...-work-stoppage

The stadium is owned by the Detroit-Wayne County Stadium Authority. They lease it to Wayne County, who in turn leases it to the city's Downtown Development Authority. The Lions have a 35 year lease with the DDA, which obligates them to pay $250,000 per year in rent, and allows them to keep all revenue from tickets, suites, concessions, etc.