NASHVILLE – Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, on Wednesday pulled the plug on legislation to place new controls on local governments using tax dollars to help bankroll stadiums for professional sports teams.
McCormick said the measures drew “sudden interest” with several team owners who voiced “some legitimate concerns” on the legislation’s impact on “how they run their businesses” and the proprietary information that might have to be shared.
“We want to make sure we get the language right before we run the bill,” the lawmaker added. “If there were, for instance, a Major League Baseball team looking at Tennessee, we wouldn’t want them to look at this bill and have that be a deciding factor in going to another state.”
Earlier this year, McCormick introduced two bills dealing with cities’ efforts to lure or keep pro sports teams. Last week, McCormick shelved one concept that would have required non-binding public referendum votes approving such municipal agreements with the teams. And it barred taxpayer support for actual stadium construction.
He was looking at major surgery with new provisions that would have brought the state comptroller’s office into the process to ensure cities and taxpayers wouldn’t be harmed by agreements.