NFL Stadiums, Orlando MLS Venue, Daytona Speedway Battling For Florida Tax Rebates

More than $900M in stadium construction and refurbishment is under way at four major league sports facilities in Florida, and in Tallahassee, the projects "have been vying for a piece of the state's newly enacted sports stadium incentive funding pie," according to Aaron Deslatte of the ORLANDO SENTINEL.

The four proposals pit EverBank Field, Sun Life Stadium, Orlando City SC's new MLS venue and Daytona Int'l Speedway "against each other." That has "injected more uncertainty into how the supposedly de-politicized stadium-incentive review is playing out."

Orlando City boosters filed a 1,144-page application, but the other projects "provided fewer details about what specifically they would do with the additional state money." DIS' application states that the $3M in annual tax breaks "would allow for 'additional capital for the project.'"

The $400M DIS project "faced a harder sell" at the state legislature "to compete with other sports projects with multiyear lobbying efforts and powerful politicians in their corner." Early next year, the projects, which have collectively requested $9M annually for 30 years in sales-tax rebates, will be ranked by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and "forwarded to a panel of lawmakers who will decide whether to fund them all." Because lawmakers only budgeted $7M this year for the incentives, one or all of the projects "may be approved for less."

Once approved, they would add to the $269M in tax breaks the legislature "has given out to eight professional sports teams" since the '90s. Out of those teams, the largest investment of $41M went "into Sun Life Stadium when the Marlins still played there." Orlando Sentinel