Daily Cost of Lucas Oil Stadium

I don't mean to throw cold water over all of the euphoria of our new stadium, but I thought you might find it interesting to know just what our new pile of bricks and steel is going to cost the citizens of metropolitan Indy EVERY day for the next 30 years.

The Star reported today that the projected amount that will be borrowed upon completion of the stadium is $704 million and the interest rate on the bonds will be 4.23%. I wish I could get a rate like that on my house, but what the heck.

So, how much is it going to cost us? Well, when we pay all of the principle & interest and assuming we never re-finance it like the RCA Dome, the total payments will be $1,243,806,000 plus change. That will amount to $113,589.00 per day. But wait, don't forget the annual maintenance cost of $10 million...like Bart did when he sold the deal to the taxpayers. That will ad another $27,397.00 daily for a total of $140,986.00 per day! Thank goodness the city doesn't pay property taxes. If it did under Governor Daniels new property tax formula it would cost an additional $57,535 per day but in reality that cost will just be shifted to Marion County taxpayers.

What really irks me is that Jimmy Irsay will pay nothing unless he dines at St. Elmo's and yet he will receive 100% of the revenue from Colts games and 50% of the net revenue for all non-Colts events.

To pay for all of this, the city will primarily rely on the 2% restaurant tax. In other words, we can pay for it if every man, woman, and child in Central Indiana buys a value meal at McDonald's everyday for the next thirty years. The architects must have already been aware of this. All of the new seats in the stadium are designed to accommodate overweight people. Brilliant! Let's just make sure there are extra EMT's to handle the increased heart attack rate during games!