I was listening to MLBN this morning on the way to work and a caller made an inquiry about the Giants signing Josh Hamiliton. His rationale was based on the fact that the Giants will have paid off AT&T Park in two more years. I seem to remember that the Giants were paying roughly $20 million a year to finance their stadium and read somewhere that the Giants would potentially start paying more in luxury tax after the stadium was paid off but can anyone fill me in on the details of the stadium?
Is ownership close to paying off the stadium? Is there any expectation that paying off the stadium would materially impact the team's payroll range? Clearly, spending money on the stadium is different than payroll but are there specific tax "advantages" they lose by having the stadium paid off?
I applaud the Giants for not only financing their own stadium but also being aggressive on the development opportunities around the stadium. I'm skeptical that the Giants will significantly increase payroll but it's hard to complain too much about where they are and have been recently (it'll be nice to finally get rid of Zito's money next decade). Any comments, thoughts or articles would be much appreciated.