Spoof newscaster John Oliver on his HBO show blasts sports team owners around the country for getting huge tax breaks for new stadiums, and takes aim at some in particular including Mike Ilitch.
"Two years ago, Detroit got approval to spend more than $280 million in taxpayer money on an arena project for the Red Wings, just six days after the city filed for bankruptcy, even though the Red Wings' owner is Mike Ilitch,the founder of the Little Caesars Pizza chain, who is worth an estimated $5.1 billion," Oliver says on "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver."
"That a little hard to swallow, " Oliver says. "I mean, sure it's not as hard to swallow as a Little Caesars crazy bread with an assortment of Caesars dips. But still, pretty hard."
It doesn't make sense to help stadium owners, Oliver says, considering "sports teams are successful businesses with wealthy owners, yet they still get our help."
"We just don't help teams build stadiums, we let them keep virtually all the revenue those stadiums then produce."