Phoenix built a huge sports stadium, then gave the naming rights to University of Phoenix in return for a donation, which rankled a lot of taxpayers who had foo

Phoenix built a huge sports stadium, then gave the naming rights to University of Phoenix in return for a donation, which rankled a lot of taxpayers who had footed most of the bill. They levy a tax of several bucks on every car rental called the "stadium tax", ostensibly to help fund the stadium, although critics say it punishes tourists and locals who need a rental car, and anyway the money is apparently routed to other uses. I see nothing wrong with building a world class sports facility. Build it, and they will come. It brings in millions of dollars in tourism and related business. The problem is when cities that build these things don't know how to budget properly, don't monetize the stadium properly, and piss away a lot of the money in corruption, fraud, nepotism, are taken advantage of by unscrupulous contractors and unions, and so forth. Probably a public-private consortium would do a better job in the long run. Public to get the initial rights-of-way and easements, private to run the thing efficiently and profitably and defend against the con artists who plague all such major projects.