John Oliver Talks Milwaukee Bucks and Owners Blackmailing Cities into Building Extravagant Stadiums

Mike Paczesny | The Rundown Live

On the recent “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” Oliver covers the issue of public funding of professional sports stadiums.

Oliver asks why local governments spend so much money subsidizing development initiatives for successful businesses owned by billionaires?

“The vast majority of stadiums are made using public money,” said Oliver, pointing to a 2012 report showing “$12 billion has been spent on the 51 new facilities opened between 2000 and 2010.”

“And most of them look like they were designed by a coked-up Willy Wonka,” said Oliver.

Oliver features the Milwaukee Bucks attempt to secure $250 million in public funding to build a new arena by 2017, and the threat of moving the franchise if not secured, a clip from our friend Ben Swann, and segment on the Miami Marlins which features an interview with Brian Gumbel asking, “who keeps all the revenue?”

The answer is simple, the owners.