S2 E20: Stadiums, Iran & the Confederate Flag: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Season 2, Episode 20, July 12th, 2015. John Oliver discusses why cities spend public money on privately owned stadiums, the prospect of a nuclear deal in Iran, and continued controversy over the confederate flag in South Carolina.
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[@Skye_Writer]

That is the worst part, that even when you have politicians who are _willing_ to stand up to the owners and refuse to be extorted, you get the uberfans who are wealthy enough to hold season tickets and buy all the merch getting up in their faces and telling them to do otherwise. We NEED better roads, bridges, schools that are big enough to hold our kids in actual classrooms instead of trailers, etc. We don't NEED sports teams to have a new facility every other year. These team owners make BILLIONS of dollars off of those games; if they want fancier facilities that bring them more money, let THEM make the investment.

[@austinemms9772]

They could legitimately do this story today, word for word, and it wouldn’t be weird or strange. It’s still such a huge issue that’s gotten worse over the past decade.

[@AG-ld6rv]

How has it gotten worse?

[@austinemms9772]

@@AG-ld6rv Well, just look at the Buffalo Bills. Terry Pegula threatened to move the team to Austin, Texas, got the same “State of the Art” clause that the Bengals got in their stadium deal, and they only have to pay $550 Million of the $1.4 Billion bill to build their new stadium (Before cost overruns). The Tennessee Titans are an even worse example, as not only did they also get a “State of the Art” clause in the deal, but their new stadium will cost $2.1 Billion before cost overruns and the city is paying almost $1.3 Billion of the bill. And even if you want a case of a current stadium with a shallow lease agreement, look at the Indianapolis Colts. When they got a new stadium in the form of Lucas Oil Stadium, they got a condition put in their stadium lease that they can opt out of the lease if they’re aren’t a Top 5 franchise by the end of the decade. And not only aren’t in the Top 5 currently, they’re not even in the top half of the list.

[@gilmanmurray6550]

​@@AG-ld6rv7:58 😅5555😅5😅5n

[@Xfade81]

@@AG-ld6rv because they are getting more money.

[@AG-ld6rv]

@@Xfade81 Hmm, likely due to inflation. Are you sure the issue has gotten worse? If they were building tremendous stadiums with all the bells and whistles back then, it's hard to see a future where the issue has grown.

[@Kill3rwasp]

2015: support the Coyotes! 2024: ...Aaand they’re gone

[@akalawada]

Damn, Coach John actually got me fired up. Lowkey killed that speech.

[@elaineb7065]

This show: talks of "Grexit". Me, a Scot, yelling at the screen: "DON'T DO IT!!!" Brexit is killing the UK

[@KimiFan2002]

Honestly, Greece have a lot more of a legitimate reason to leave the EU, the UK was just based upon racism, Greece have genuinely been treated like crap during their time in it

[@jessaminemanchester]

Is this "replace your offensive mascot with a mascot from LWT" offer still open? I didn't see this when it was first on a decade ago but I would love to start a campaign for my local high school which has been needing to change their mascot for a long time. I'd prefer a space-sex-gecko but at this point I'd even take creepy-baby-with-hulk-hands

[@zoppletee5400]

What's the current mascot? I'm assuming Robert E Lee or something else that dumb

[@Onigirli]

Get the fuck back here and tell us what your mascot is!! That kind of tantalizing with-holding should be a bannable offense! 😡😡

[@pjschmid2251]

Oh, the foreshadowing "A cutesy name (Grexit) doesn’t make a crisis less awful." Fast forward about a year and now about 8 years after the Brexit vote. How true the cute name does not make a crisis any less awful.

[@aarontan5958]

Gonna put 1 view for John Oliver here.

[@rashadb954]

One thing I just don't fundamentally understand about sports in America is how we all rally behind our home teams, yet there is a very strong possibility that none of the players on our home team ever lived in the home state before being added to the team. We are just rooting for a bunch of mercenaries with our home city's name on them. And then we bend over and open up the public funds to keep these strangers from leaving.

[@TheApache101]

I’m glad that rap song worked and the Chargers stayed in San Diego!

[@barthollevoet4018]

4:35 not just the signature is perfect: "Sackalotos" is also the perfect name for a minister who will be forced to rigorously downsize Greece' public services.

[@wizzydoesdallas3408]

The dude in the cowboys jersey understood the assignment!!!! Lol

[@BittaSweetJP]

Regretting committing to commenting thank you to all of S2

[@aw3299]

5:17 Well that clip aged like unfine milk

[@violet7773]

Did they put it back up?

[@allisonbergh4429]

Makes it hilarious that Seattle has two massive arenas next door to each other

[@Daedalus117]

At least there's a rail line that goes right to them now so the traffic is somewhat reduced. They still suck to be around and feel like a giant waste of prime real estate, but I guess some people like em

[@allisonbergh4429]

@@Daedalus117 even driving past them (usually while stuck on I-5 going 5 mph with the express lanes going the other way) is embarrassing 😅

[@Daedalus117]

@@allisonbergh4429 haha..yeah...

[@emirbrooks5788]

Did not know they were keeping all the money, I thought at least they would share it

[@scottmrn235]

I'm surprised they didn't pull up David Sampson getting voted off first in Survivor Cagayan

[@brycemcneil4404]

I watched this the night it aired and the moment he popped up, that was what I was pulling for too 😂

[@Giondi]

"Cincinnati... you might have to keep the Bengals." Hey now, we also have the Reds. Oh, I just made myself sad.

[@zander6177]

Why do people care about sports teams so much??

[@LoneWolfZakuro14]

Listen I know the Smoothie King Center sounds weird But as a New Orleans native let me tell you Smoothie King IS THE BOMB

[@brycemcneil4404]

The chain or the arena? (I'm.....not a fan of the arena (granted it's been a decade...)).

[@antigonaromeu]

i know this wasn't the point but now i'm craving a cheeseburger

[@andrewotsuki4763]

MAKE THEM PAY!!!

[@chosyy]

Johnny trigger warning ❤

[@LunaryxDiarmait]

Glad I stopped watching sports long before this episode aired.

[@Skull_Harness_Horse_28]

*Babylon* “Ideology” People with shortcomings have places to go and people to see. They get things done. Why aren’t there more of them, you ask? There is a right way and a wrong way. Do the math. Hell is perversity. It is enjoyed by few.

[@thepatsnumber1fan]

The mayor got taser for nothing

[@DaDunge]

2:15 You're also talking about the heirs of Rome and Persia negotiating, at least this time no one had molten gold poured down their throat (the persians did that to the triumvir Krassos).

[@darkerufo]

28:22 i wonder if LWT has done a story on the cheerleaders. she's cute. but if she's real, she's seen some sh**

[@kristina_eb]

not a full story but they did a "and now this" segment i believe in their first episode talking about NFL cheerleading

[@mudcud]

We spent 500 million dollars on the stupid Brewers stadium whether we like it or not gotta Love socialism

[@tattooliverpool4373]

I guess the owners of the Red Sox are too dumb to scam Boston. They’re stuck at Fenway Park,the oldest and most outdated park around. Layers of lead paint everywhere, seats that are less than 16 inches, seats that face center field and section that has a railing through it. A sign of segregation that still remains in the park.

[@TurtlesOnIce]

Isn't that supposed to be part of the Fenway charm though? isn't it that and one other park that are the oldest around and smallest field/crowds cause of it so it is more expensive?

[@AA-bj1bu]

No wonder this was gatekept for 10 years I am FURIOUS that's where my tax dollars are going

[@BrianHurry]

Deer killed 440 of the 458 people killed in America by animals last year

[@JaneKaplun-js4lp]

The other 18 deaths were caused by cats killing their owners, I mean slaves, because the slaves served the wrong flavor of cat food.

[@sidewinder2057]

Tf with this spam

[@DragonbIaze052]

Either a lot of episodes go up at once, or it takes several months for all of the old episodes to go up. You're complaining about nothing.

[@YankeesFan0620]

16:55 Epilogue: The Rams and Chargers have moved their teams to LA Meanwhile the Raiders moved to Las Vegas. The City of St. Louis actually sued the NFL and Rams owner Stan Kroenke, accusing them of negotiating in bad faith, and WON

[@craigb8228]

If the Chargers move than the ripple effect will probably move half the Teams.

[@andrewherrin6722]

As someone who lives in Vestavia, Alabama, they have not changed the mascot for the high school.

[@KaladinVegapunk]

I mean to be fair, alabama and the south are classified as developing countries and ranked super low by most metrics haha, the fact most are flat earth levels of ignorant and stuck in the 1800s ethically..it isn't really surprising

[@libbyonthalabel]

Fellow resident here, came to say the same thing lol

[@Bellevillain88]

Came to the comment section for an update, much appreciated! Ya’ll really missed out on the Hulk Hands Baby Mascot. The psychological effect on your opponent’s would be worth it alone, but you could have made a ton of money in novelty sales like t-shirts and mugs. And to be fair, my High School mascot was the color Maroon… It was originally the Maroon Devils, but the catholic schools refused to play us so it was changed to just The Maroons. Which sounds dumb alone, but you look up the definition to find out it’s actually an escaped slave and you can guess all the shit that was said during sports events…

[@MrQdiddy85]

I seriously want to know if any school has taken John up on that offer

[@Weird_Stealth]

Salt Lake City has side walk issues where some parts of the side walk are injuring people, and has killed at least one person, and the reason why they haven't fixed the hundreds of side walk repair requests over the last several years is budget. But hey, they're trying to build a baseball stadium. I guess wasting money on a sports stadium that'll have never put money back into the city is more important than fixing their side walks.

[@samuelrosander1048]

"Bread and the circus" is still "wisdom" for every ruling class everywhere. So is the advice of Aristotle on how to keep slaves and commoners hating each other rather than standing together against the elite. As long as people are distracted the ruling class can largely do as it pleases. That dynamic is one of the reasons why republics are so diabolical; they give the commoners the illusion of control by allowing them to vote, but no real control because they don't have a say in what the people they vote for do once elected. Unless they're rich and well-connected, of course, because then it's just a phone call to get whatever you want.

[@leizylromero]

16:57 watching this in 2024 is crazy because Oakland raiders moved to Vegas and the Oakland A’s are moving there too.

[@alberteinstein5687]

That is just fucking insane to me. In Britain if you told us that our local football team would be moving to another city because the local authority gives them more money to be there, we'd have riots on the streets.

[@leizylromero]

@@alberteinstein5687 Oakland riots nearly every day

[@shelbynamels7948]

Vegas can afford a 3 billion stadium, Oakland cannot.

[@shelbynamels7948]

@@alberteinstein5687 Might happen eventually, since teams are bought and sold now like they are in the US.

[@FungiRy91]

Ram and Chargers are in LA and the Coyotes are leaving Arizona.

[@CorinneCrow]

Now in 2024 the 76ers are pushing to decimate the Chinatown neighborhood for a stadium in the middle of everything. Nevermind we literally have a COMPLEX for sports where THREE other stadiums are located.

[@jbshiva865]

As of 2024 there are two major NFL teams based in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Rams AND the Los Angeles Chargers. It's so dumb.

[@craigb8228]

LA, The most likely city to not pay.

[@AFN2750]

I love everything in this episode aside from one thing. DONT YOU DARE say something bad about little Caesar’s crazy bread. That stuff is amazing

[@FungiRy91]

This is even more depressing now that both the Chargers and Rams are in LA, the Raiders are in Las Vegas and the Coyotes are on their way out of Arizona.

[@slagathor330]

It's crazy how these shows age. The Rams left, and recently, we had to tell the Royal's/Chiefs no, we won't extend their tax cuts so they can get a stadium because they're well established viable businesses that could fund it themselves if they wanted to. It'd also be better to refurbish the stadiums they have or to have one of them move to the stadium downtown that doesn't have a team. Absolute madness, and of course they're both talking about possibly leaving the city now like children running to their room after getting told no.

[@Pomegranatek]

19:46 have you ever driven at dusk in the rural midwest? Fear the deer.

[@brycemcneil4404]

You drive off of a ferry in Newfoundland at 2 a.m., you will very much fear the deer.

[@FlexDynamo]

Note to self: don't move to a city with any kind of national sports franchise.

[@249aaa]

“make them pay” has never felt more relevant than now

[@kc10man]

Also one more comment: Not happy that DC is cutting 1 billion USD out of the public school and early childhood education budget, while gifting 600 million to a billionaire to remodel a perfectly good basketball/hockey arena.

[@elizabethward5159]

When my family moved to my current neighborhood in 1995, my brother's jr high's mascot was "The Rebels" featuring a soldier infront of a confederate flag. That year, 1995, they had a school contest to replace the mascot & became the "Wolverines"

[@kylapineda6499]

St Louis, Oakland, and San Diego in 2024: 👁️👄👁️ thanks for the reminder

[@mikerotch7606]

Lmaooo the coyotes left for Salt Lake City lmaooo

[@mannysoda4044]

Update from 2024: Rams and Chargers are now in Los Angeles. Raiders are now in Las Vegas.

[@jmik6229]

John Oliver is my life coach

[@yemarn9470]

So you guys don’t get anything back for spending millions of tax money? The team or its owner get to keep everything? It’s like giving them free use..

[@smitty5890]

6/10/24 St Pete Florida want to build a new dome for the Rays this year. The people of the city are not happy about the deal. But willing to bet we build it anyway. My question for my city is...are we getting lube in the deal for the fucking we are getting ?

[@TrapGod_JackofAllTrades]

There is a reason why bread and circus ruined Rome

[@DanieltheTruebadour]

Speaking of deer, did you hear the one about the farmer's wife who ran off with a tractor salesman and sent her husband a John Deere letter?

[@iamjoris]

Veelgemaakte fout: kwadratisch (x^2) of kubisch (x^3) is niet exponentieel (a^x) 😉 Gezien ongeveer alle media deze fout maken, een uniek kansje voor Tweakers om het goede voorbeeld te geven.

[@mariannefinkel]

Oakland losing three of its major league teams, will be interesting to see how they fare. I hope it will go 'good riddance', and Oakland will successfully re-vitalize. Oakland has the best climate in the bay area imo.

[@liliflower1376]

Is that the same nuclear deal that trump tossed out? Wow..

[@buddt222]

The bills are literally building a new stadium across the street from the old one. They raised season ticket prices but a substantial amount, and got tons of public funds.

[@kevin07817]

As a Bills fan who lives in Buffalo, I really wish I didn’t have to pay taxes to help build the new stadium. That being said, however, it’s still worth every penny.

[@EndPoliticalCorruption]

I guess the police will just have to harass and write poor people tickets even harder now.

[@xxfloppypillowxx]

So the whole "Taser, taser, taser" thing is part of the training it serves a couple of purposes 1) give the target a chance to comply before it's deployed 2) to give fellow officers a warning that you are about to deploy a taser 3) to give your brain enough time to triple-fucking-check that what you're about to pull the trigger on is indeed a taser, although this sometimes isn't even enough for undertrained cops and 4) which is the most under stated purple which is it creates a cadence for those in charge of following up. In this case it's the people holding him up so they know they're about to have to hold up his dead weight but in a real life scenario it tells fellow cops "hey back up I'm about to fire my taser and you don't wanna get in the way" as well as "hopefully this person is about to drop to the ground get ready to jump on them" because IF it actually makes contact and works as intended a cycle only lasts for 5 seconds and though some tasers allow you to cycle multiple times on a single deployment and some actually have a second set of probes it can fire if the target removes the probes or if the probes get caught in the clothing of the suspect then cycling again isn't going to do anything so you really want people to jump on them and detain them in that short stun period before they snap back to whatever they were trying to do before.

[@mariannefinkel]

IMO the Redskin's Flag is awesome, I would be proud if my ancestor looked that handsome!

[@turk58guy]

*They did not in fact, pay*

[@JohnTrulsson]

Well that's America. If it's not about guns or tax break's. It's not just important.

[@meganjohnson9540]

For real, I’m willing to make a mascot. I’ve got all the stuff. I’ll do it. You can have it.

[@sirius1696]

07:35 back when John was still pretending that _he_ isn't a wealthy furry lol

[@artoriapendragon3234]

John's point about spider-men is nothing compared to the number of Batmen.

[@blueshirt12]

I like how "begs the question" was misused *twice* in one episode.

[@pauldahill4386]

Glad to see my hometown of Cincinnati was mentioned!!! Thanks, Oliver!!!!

[@Jivolt]

WHO DEY!

[@shawnleeguku]

Someone who works on this show is a furry

[@jeffcarri70]

Sadly, I can relate to that 54 year old joke. 5:45

[@bowdenproductions]

lol RIP Arizona Coyotes.

[@ayelemensah8816]

Mikey Politano!!!!

[@MrQdiddy85]

I'd be down for Whoopi Goldberg being an ambassador but only if dresses up as Guinan

[@PetThePeeves]

Oh Vestavia can afford a new costume. I think they did, in fact, but they are still the Rebels. Which…well I’m from neighboring Mountain Brook (best known for still being white flight city, incredible levels of snobbery, Natalee Holloway, and Courtney Cox) and while we’re the Spartans you should check out those demographics.

[@kc10man]

You get a pass John on your comment regarding Chinese knowing about the Bucks, just because this is old. But the NBA is very popular in China and most definitely has Bucks fans. My father in-law (Chinese) is a huge Lakers fan.

[@neonradius]

Indianapolis is trying to have a stadium built, except turns out it’s on top of an old cemetery and they found hundreds of human remains 😁

[@gingervitis93]

My middle school, South Spencer County Indiana, is the "rebels" and our mascot was a confederate soldier waving a rebel flag 😢. Thank God I didn't go to high school there too.

[@birbluv9595]

Years later: Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Buffalo billion. Like NY could afford this.

[@philanthropenos1074]

I'm having hard time to imagine Liverpool or Real Madrid moving to another town.

[@HorzaPanda]

And yet this year my city is giving its sports team a ridiculous amount for their new stadium :P

[@ToddBlackToddTalk]

There's so much irony in this video that it's both hilarious and sad at the same time.

[@kipsned]

Love it!

[@alexandersmirnov7851]

2:31 - "Let's move on to Greece, the most recent Greek tragedy"

[@CrowMancer-b5t]

I refuse to believe that that was a picture of Tom Holland

[@GeorgeVaaeth-kc9wc]

Dave Ziron is brilliant.😉Hey Dave !!

[@christopherreza-nakonechny5828]

Solid performance at rhe end!

[@nikandthepartz]

RIP STL Rams

[@ryanhiggins1902]

🌟☝️😜

[@GuitarSlayer136]

gobble

[@shelbynamels7948]

Happy to say that LA never spent a dime, let alone 783 million, for a new stadium. Move to LA, don't move to LA, we don't care.

[@tee_es_bee]

17:00 Funny how that worked out. At the end it is all about profit. Team owners don't care about citizen loyalty. 23:40 Another one that in the end resulted in the team being moved. Because of terrible ownership. 🧡💛🧡

[@edtierney6076]

The Coyotes fan must want to tazer the mayor again now that they're in SLC now lol

[@piwikiki]

meow

[@Dayglodaydreams]

Don’t make fun of virgins. It is kind of punching down.

[@saferoundhouse5910]

bro that episode was almost 10 years ago

[@myleskinney7431]

Legitimately the rap song was great. Great flow and hard bars. Yeah the beat is a mistake and yeah he was offbeat for that one part but idk i think it just made the lyric stand out evenmore. Congrats on the second best rap performance in the video tho john

[@DaDunge]

3:30 Not with you there, totally on the side of Guy Verhofstadt.

[@nodriguez5126]

First

[@aunteggmaniac]

literally no one's going to remember you expect me and yourself after this comment is buried.

[@mybrassmonkey]

@@aunteggmaniac I will always remember your greatness. We are bonded for life.

[@NashiHeartSoulSpirit]

Nah, all the rebel stuff is fine. History & historical figures are more nuanced than portrayed today.

[@DragonbIaze052]

Sure, he beat a few slaves to death, but he ALWAYS made sure there was fresh cornbread ready after church on Sunday! I mean, his slaves are the ones that cooked the cornbread every week under threat of death, but that's not the point. The point is he really cared about the people in his community. As long as they were white. And the right type of Christian. Which was Southern Baptist, the version of Christianity explicitly created purely for the purpose of justifying slavery. Nuance.

[@jlev1028]

Someone hasn't watched Doobus Goobus. Evil is evil. Nazis are evil, Confederates are evil, and anyone who defends either are evil.

[@RHCole]

Robert E Lee was against portraying the Confederacy as anything but a failed insurrection. Nuance my foot

[@ZedaZ80]

Yeah people often say stuff like "put it in a book, teach about them in school, you don't need a statue," but they forget that a lot of people are uneducated and/or can't read. (sarcasm)

[@klas666]

How is "rebel plantation owner" a historical figure?