NC House speaker skeptical about public financing for MLB bid, setting up possible budget battle

RALEIGH — The top Republican in the North Carolina House of Representatives isn’t entirely sold on the idea of using taxpayer dollars to help fund a baseball stadium — an expenditure that could help a private bid for a Major League Baseball franchise. His stance could foreshadow another battle with the Senate over the state budget. 

North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall expressed skepticism about the possibility Friday, one day after state Senate leader Phil Berger said it’d be nearly impossible to land a franchise without public dollars. Hall said he’d consider it if the project promised clear economic benefits.

“Private companies should pay for their own facilities instead of relying on the General Assembly,” Hall said in a statement to WRAL. “However, if someone presents a proposal showing that North Carolina taxpayers would get a strong return on the investment, I am willing to consider it.”

Hall and Berger, both Republicans, are negotiating a comprehensive state spending plan after failing to reach an agreement by the start of the current fiscal year. 

As part of those deliberations, lawmakers are discussing a possible budget provision that would earmark hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development funds for stadium infrastructure in or near Wake County, people familiar with the deliberations told WRAL earlier this week.

A proposal to increase county occupancy taxes — money that could further support the project — is also being discussed, people familiar with the deliberations told WRAL. 

Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell told WRAL in an interview Friday that she supports raising Wake County’s current 6% occupancy tax on hotel and motel stays to help fund professional sports, such as the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes and the North Carolina Courage of the National Women’s Soccer League.

“I am a big fan of professional sports and the Canes and what that has meant to this community has blown me away,” she said, referring to the response to the Hurricanes’ victory. “And, of course, the Carolina Courage, we need to keep them here. Baseball — that would be amazing.”

Watch: Baseball in North Carolina? Lawmakers negotiate possible cash for a stadium | On the Record 

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said he wants the league to select cities for expansion by January 2029. It is not certain that the league would expand, but Raleigh and other cities around the nation have been putting plans together for potential bids. Cowell told WRAL that Raleigh would need a comprehensive proposal by next year.

Earlier in the week, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein said that “we’re eager for this opportunity to be considered, and we’ll do all we can to support it.”

Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon and private equity manager Marc Lasry, an investor in the Courage women’s soccer team, have separately said they want to bring MLB to the region.

“I don’t think you get a Major League Baseball team or a professional football team at this point without there being some cooperation on the part of local and/or state governments,” Berger said Thursday. “Look around the country, it’s very unusual. And my understanding is most of the professional leagues discourage interest in localities that basically say, ‘We’ll take it, but only if the stadium is paid for by the owners.’” 

The Courage is seeking public financing for a potential new stadium in the Downtown South area of Raleigh. The Courage say they have outgrown their current facilities at Cary’s WakeMed Soccer Park.

North Carolina is the ninth-most populous state in the nation — and projections have it surpassing Georgia and Ohio to become the seventh — and the largest without a Major League Baseball team.  The current top seven most populous states all have multiple MLB teams: California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio.

“I am hopeful that we’ll have an ability to put forward something sooner rather than later that will give us that opportunity,” Berger said when asked about attracting a baseball team to the state.

WRAL’s News Anchor Ashley Rowe contributed to this report.