Note: As this is a crowdsourcing effort, please share/promote this post through the usual social media outlets. I’m also happy to share credit for those who help me through a shout out on Twitter or elsewhere. Thanks!

So this…is going to be a long one. What I’ll be looking to do over the next few months is do a deep dive into stadiums that were publicly funded, and how (if at all) municipalities go about protecting against relocation. This has obviously been inspired primarily by the goings on with the #SaveTheCrew movement. So I’ve put together a little chart, and that’s where you come in.

I’m looking to obtain information regarding the leases between the state or local municipalities and the MLS teams that play there. I am mostly interested in the leases where those governments have provided the team with funding to construct, refurbish or renovate the stadiums or have otherwise provided substantial funding. I’m not particularly interested in instances where the government provided sewage/electrical infrastructure or the like, unless it can be show that agreements to make those payments are relevant to the lease agreement. Also, while I wouldn’t mind looking at them, teams that funded stadiums on their own can obviously do what they want in those circumstances, so they aren’t especially relevant to what I’m writing about, though I’m willing to be persuaded otherwise. So if you have a lead on any of these leases, please let me know. I’ve constructed a chart of what I’ve got so far. This is likely to be a long-term project, so it may be some time before I publish a story on it. I also haven’t decided how I’m going to do it; I may just break it up and analyze each lease agreement between the city/state and the team, or do a compare/contrast. Depends on how much information is out there. So if you know where to find this information, send me an email or follow me on Twitter and DM me. You know where to find me!