Talk About Wasted Taxpayer Dollars!
It has come to my attention that the taxpayers of the State of Texas are going to chuck out $2.7 million dollars to … hold your breath … bring WrestleMania to Arlington, Texas.
Gov. Greg Abbott has agreed to spend up to $2.7 million in taxpayer funds to bring the barrage of blood, sweat and spandex that is WrestleMania to Texas next year.
During his 2014 campaign for governor, Abbott expressed discomfort with such taxpayer-funded economic incentives, saying he wanted to get government “out of the business of picking winners and losers.”
But last week, his office signed off on the award from the state’s Events Trust Fund, state records show, one of 20 such awards approved since September.
WrestleMania organizers are whining that’s not enough money for them. I sympathize. I feel the same way about Arlington.
Somebody check my math on this but they say they are expecting a record 90,000 people to attend, so that’s $30 a person of taxpayer money we’re paying to watch a bunch of narcissistic guys grease themselves up and wrestle each other.
Hell, I can watch the Republican debate tomorrow night for free.
Thanks to Linda for the heads up.
Didn’t T,rump show up in one of these as part of the show? Would fit with his base of voters….no offence…
1You can see the GOP debate tomorrow for free but you will get more fact based reality(®Rove) watching WrestleMania.
2Will there be a Trump vs. Cruz match?
3What? Y’all don’t know about Trump & the WWE? Have fun!
http://www.wwe.com/superstars/donald-trump
http://www.wwe.com/videos/playlists/donald-trump-greatest-wwe-moments
4The fuzz can check each “athlete” for steroid use and arrest them all. Think of the fines they’ll collect.
5They don’t wrestle — they conduct scripted mock-battles with a cartoon “wrestling” theme.
The WWF is to actual wrestling as the Power Rangers are to the Marines.
6Greg Abbott, keeping it classy and bringing culture to Texas.
Here’s a challenge for you, Greg. Do some math. Total up all the major league sports teams, how much Texas pays to subsidize them and any actual revenue they might bring to the state. Hint Greg: Mark Cuban and Jerry Jones are punking you.
7Soooo WrestleMania is an apparat of the snacilbupeR party?! Who knew? If he attends, Must Gov AButt post a public meeting notification? Likely there will be many elected officials in attendance.
8What’s really sad to contemplate: Ex-Gov Good-hair was too classy for either mud-wrestling match. I personally do not want to try to imagine what either the next TX gubernatorial election or the next snacilbupeR primary season will bring up out of the swamps.
9I wonder if WWE has the same ROI for the state/city/community as other pro sports (see PKM @7), which according to John Oliver is…zip…
10AKLynne: I’m rolling on the floor, laughing.
11I wonder if Gov. Abbott just likes seeing those hefty hunks in their Speedos. I’m surprised the ex-Gov. Rick Perry wasn’t all over that venue!!
12That aint all that bad! He could do a lot worse…spend 10X that much to have some useless pile of crap like the POPE come visit!!!!
13IOKIYAR
14Marcia, yeah, I’m wondering why he’s paying so much (granted, not his money) to watch a bunch of big over-muscled, greased-up guys in skimpy tights wrestle each other. I wouldn’t know, but it sounds kind of non-hetero-male to me, and I wonder if he wants to be that blatant about it in his neighborhood.
If it were MY state tax money, it would be a great deal less funny. What’s with using tax money to bring in a show that sells tickets?
15Lorraine in Spring: That video of Trump fake-beating up another guy makes him look SO presidential. It should be played during the R-Klan convention.
16Well, of course he did. Tarrant County is one of state’s most conservative counties. On the other hand, the Formula One race that brings tens of thousands of (really, really rich) people from all over the world to the People’s Republic of Austin has seen the governor work to slash its subsidies.
17There already is a Trump versus Cruz match. All of the Repub candidates have been spitting and rolling around in the mud for months now.
18At least Mittens looking like the rear end of Rafalca “boxed” with Holyfield for charity. Although knowing the Mittens, we need Alfredo to audit how much money actually trickled down to charity.
19Although it comes to mind, the “homo” link for Abbott doesn’t quite work. They have the Ladies of the WWE now! Sweatin’ for the Oldies. Breasts and spandex!! Woohoo!! The fantasy of teenage boys and grown-up righties who never grew up.
20JAKvirginia, the WWE is competing with Fox not the News now?
21PKM: Well… it is the same demographic group, no?
Just a FYI giggle. Had FOX on cuz flipping through the channels. On screen was what could ONLY be called a bimbo.: bleach blonde, WAY too much make-up, dress too tight and too low cut. She was the “authoritative” guest. Brother walks into room, sees TV and says, “Is THAT a hooker?”. I howled with laughter.
22@capitol dave
Depressingly true. On 12/02/2015, El Supremo, “who has always been keen to grow the sport in the US, cast doubt on the race’s future last month, and offered a bleak prognosis if the requisite cash is not found. ‘If it’s changed, it’s going to be difficult to continue the race in Austin,’…
That track was designed with F1 in mind. Anything else done there is just the second fiddle.
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