personNeil deMause

5 days ago | fieldofschemes.com | Neil deMause |personNeil deMause

So much going on of late with the Chicago Bears stadium plans! If, that is, by “so much” you mean team execs getting multiple doors slammed in their face by the state legislature, which adjourned over the weekend without taking action on any of three bills that the team wanted to help fund a new stadium, either in Arlington Heights or somewhere.

6 days ago | fieldofschemes.com | Neil deMause |personNeil deMause

Today we’re going to talk about framing, one of the key methods that journalism has for turning a set of facts into a coherent story. Framing shows up first and foremost in the headline, which attempts to boil down an often complex set of events into one short phrase; but it also continues into the story itself, where reporters and editors have to choose which elements to highlight and what they want readers to take away from the article.

1 week ago | fieldofschemes.com | Neil deMause |personNeil deMause

Happy zeroth anniversary of that time we decided to all die of bird flu! It’s a fitting way to go out, honestly.

1 week ago | fieldofschemes.com | Neil deMause |personNeil deMause

The Cincinnati Bengals lease and stadium negotiations are getting even weirder. When last we left off, you will recall, Hamilton County commissioners were proposing a $1.2 billion stadium renovati0n, with no clear idea where the money would come from, in exchange for team owners the Brown family not renewing their super-sweetheart lease this June and instead signing a new one that would presumably be less-sweetheart.

1 week ago | fieldofschemes.com | Neil deMause |personNeil deMause

One underreported element of the Show Me Sports Investment Act — Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s plan to siphon off state tax money to create a fund to pay for 50% of the cost of all future new stadiums and major stadium upgrades — is that it also requires additional spending by local governments in order for team owners to tap into the state funding.