RGF’s Gessing talks to KOAT 7 about more state cash for United Stadium

The following story from KOAT 7 is excellent. RGF’s president plays a small role in it, but overall the story explores how more and more taxpayer dollars keep being allocated to build on ostensibly “private” stadium for the NM United soccer team. We flagged the additional $16 million being allocated to “improvements at Balloon Fiesta Park” recently from the Legislature’s capital outlay bill. That comes on top of another $13 million already dedicated to improvements at Balloon Fiesta Park.

The team plans to put up $30 million for the stadium, so it seems pretty far-fetched that taxpayers are putting up about half the cost of the stadium just for “improvements” while the team is paying full-freight on the stadium for just $30 million.

Obviously, there WILL be improvements to Balloon Fiesta Park related to the stadium. Why weren’t those made before? The answer to that seems self-evident. Are taxpayer dollars going to be used to build the stadium itself? It is hard to believe how they won’t be and who will be accounting for those dollars in the construction process.

Watch the full story below: