Tax-Subsidized TV Blackouts Targeted

If you want state funds, don’t get blacked out.

That’s the message Jason Holsman, (pictured at right) Democrat state representative from Kansas City, wants to send to professional sports teams across Missouri with House Bill 1986.

Holsman’s bill, which he proposed last week, would prohibit teams such as the NFL’s Chiefs or Rams from receiving state funds in future deals with the state in the event their home games are blacked out by the league’s TV policy.

Holsman, who described himself Tuesday as a die-hard Chiefs fan in a phone interview with The Missouri Expatriate, explains in this three-minute clip about how this bill targets the National Football League's blackout policy:

Rep. Holsman discusses the negative impact of TV blackout policies on state tax revenues

In 2006, Jackson County voters approved a new three-eighth cent sales tax to fund renovations to Arrowhead Stadium and neighboring Kauffman Stadium, the home of baseball's Royals. Holsman says that even as the Chiefs have only mustered nine wins in the last three seasons, ticket price increases and the recessed economy have priced many of his constituents out.

During this interview, Holsman referenced the Royals' increased revenue as a result of an expanded TV broadcast schedule as another reason why the NFL's policy is out of date. The Royals, as well as St. Louis' Cardinals and hockey Blues, are allowed by their respective leagues to pursue individual broadcast contracts for TV. While Major League Baseball prohibit broadcasts of games that conflict with national broadcasts on with Fox and ESPN, the National Hockey League only restrict Canadian broadcasters from interfering with CBC's iconic "Hockey Night in Canada" broadcasts on Saturday Nights.

Holsman's bill would only impact future deals between professional sports teams with the State of Missouri. Current deals, such as $25 million in tax credits for the Chiefs' new training camp facility on the campus of Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, would not be affected. Holsman hopes that future deals, including sales tax initiatives, will address the issue of TV blackouts.

HB1986 has not yet been assigned to committee. Response to the bill has been generally positive by a nine-to-one margin, Holsman says, with those commenting in the negative suggesting that lawmakers focus more on pressing issues such as job creation.

The Missouri Expatriate did interview Holsman about another bill he's sponsoring, HB1848. That bill would establish a task force that would explore the viability of converting vacant buildings in Kansas City and St. Louis into vertical urban farms. That interview will appear here early next week.