(Citizens for a New Louisiana) — Public officials are proposing a bold new vision for Baton Rouge: a $400 million LSU arena to replace the aging Pete Maravich Assembly Center and serve as the centerpiece of a vibrant entertainment district. The project, they say, will transform Baton Rouge into a destination city — drawing top-tier concerts, filling hotel rooms, and creating an economic boom that stretches from the Nicholson corridor to downtown.

But beneath the glossy renderings and ever-more promises of “economic development” and civic pride lie a story about how power really works in Louisiana. This arena isn’t just a construction project. It is the product of a special tax district carefully crafted by Cleo Fields, drawn in a way that excludes all voter participation, where the Metro Council levies taxes without public approval. And who actually benefits will shock you.

The Legislature Draws the Lines

The legal foundation for the project rests on Act 203 of 2023 Regular Session (Senate Bill 70) by former Senator Cleo Fields (D 1/10), which created the LSU Economic Development District (LSUEDD). The same guy who authored this EDD just slithered his way into the U.S. House through a snake-shaped district created just for him, thanks to some shady political deals. The statute’s boundaries sweep broadly around the LSU campus — from City Park and University Gardens on the north to Brightside Lane on the south, and from Stanford Avenue and Nicholson Drive on the east to the parish line on the west.

Crucially, the law stipulates that no residential tracts may be included within the LSUEDD, except for hotels, motels, and inns. This was not a drafting accident. By excluding residential parcels, this Legislative creature was intended to exclude voters. Having no citizens inside the district allows them to evade Louisiana Constitutional provisions that guarantee that voters must approve all new taxes. Without voters, Louisiana courts have ruled that the constitutional prohibition doesn’t apply; new taxes can be enacted by ordinance.

Legislatively Protected from Local Interference

Unlike some special districts in Louisiana, the LSUEDD’s boundaries are fixed by statute. They cannot be adjusted by the Metro Council or by the LSUEDD board. Only the Legislature itself, through a new act, can amend the district’s limits. What the board does have the power to do, however, is create sub-districts inside those boundaries. Sub-districts can levy their own taxes, but they must still comply with the overarching statute, including the ban on residential property.

One thing that is interesting about the LSU Economic Development District is that after being created in 2023, it went quiet. For nearly two years, the district existed only on paper, with no meetings, no debate, and no visible activity. Then, suddenly, in June 2025, the board convened its very first meeting. Within a matter of weeks, taxes were approved, subdistrict boundaries were redrawn, and the Metro Council was on board. In a flash, a $400 million LSU arena project is already barreling forward.

East Baton Rouge Metro Council Signs Off

In August 2025, the East Baton Rouge Metro Council put the district’s taxing power into motion. By unanimous vote, the Council authorized a one percent sales tax and a one percent hotel occupancy tax within the LSUEDD. Officials project these taxes will generate roughly $1.45 million annually. This revenue will help grease the financing of the new LSU arena, or more likely, the hands of those involved. Because the district has no voters, the taxes never appeared on a ballot. A matter that, under ordinary circumstances, would have required parish-wide debate and electoral consent was instead resolved by a single vote of the metro council.

This is not the organic unfolding of a civic plan, with public input and participation. It has all the markings of a pre-ordained arrangement, carefully choreographed well before the first gavel struck at that June meeting. The two-year dormancy was likely more about design than delay. By holding the legal framework in reserve, then activating it only once all the pieces were in place, the LSUEDD and its allies insulated the project from public scrutiny. The result is a district deliberately structured to exclude voters and a process timed to minimize oversight — secrecy by design.

The LSUEDD Board: Insiders in Charge

On paper, the LSUEDD is a political subdivision with an independent board. In reality, the board is dominated by LSU insiders and business elites:

• John Engquist, former Chairman of H&E Equipment Services, is a powerhouse in the construction equipment industry.
• Robert Stuart, President of the LSU Foundation and Chair of LSU’s Real Estate & Facilities Foundation.
• Rhoman Hardy, a former Shell executive and now a partner with Bernhard Capital Partners, a politically connected private equity firm.
• Matt Lee, Interim President of LSU.
• Clarke Cadzow, owner of Highland Coffees near LSU’s North Gates.

This board composition means the district is less a neutral governing body and more like an extension of Baton Rouge’s development class. Several members stand close to industries — construction, real estate, and private equity — that directly benefit from the LSU arena and its surrounding projects.

The LSU Arena Plan

The proposed LSU arena is expected to seat approximately 12,500 people and cost between $400 million and $410 million. Developer Oak View Group has been tapped to build and operate the venue, fronting construction costs with the expectation of recouping them through long-term event revenue, naming rights, and district tax collections. They also have an extensive DEI program.

Our Lady of the Lake Hospital is reportedly negotiating a $50 million, 10-year naming rights deal. LSU’s basketball and gymnastics programs would only use the building, expected to be constructed on their campus, roughly 85 to 90 nights each year, leaving the remainder available for concerts and other large events.

The site is expected near Nicholson Drive and Gourrier Avenue, overlapping LSU’s golf course property. As expected, direct beneficiaries tout the project as a cultural anchor and economic engine, positioning Baton Rouge to compete with larger southern cities for entertainment. However, no one wants to discuss the darker reality of such ventures.

The Land Question: LSU’s Golf Course

Another issue that few are discussing is the site itself. The proposed LSU arena footprint is expected to consume part or all of LSU’s golf course property. That land is owned by the University, meaning it belongs to the institution — and, by extension, the public.

To make the LSU arena possible, LSU would have to enter into a long-term ground lease with the developer. Such agreements typically run 50 to 100 years, effectively removing the property from LSU’s control for the better part of a century. Once leased, the university loses the ability to use, repurpose, or reclaim the land for academic, recreational, or research needs.

In other words, the LSU arena is not only a $400 million bet on private development but also a generational surrender of public land on Louisiana’s top university campus. The community isn’t just giving up tax revenue — it’s giving up land-use flexibility for a century, binding future LSU students, Baton Rouge residents, and area shoppers to decisions made in secrecy.

A Familiar Pattern in Louisiana

The LSUEDD fits into a broader pattern. In Lafayette, economic development districts have been used to subsidize private projects, such as a RaceTrac gas station. Do you remember all the jobs and economic stimulus this taxpayer-subsidized gas station brought to Lafayette? No! That is because it had no more benefit than a privately developed gas station, at least no more benefit to the public.

The Lafayette School Board created its own taxing district with the intention of funding the Southside Football stadium, with boundaries aligned to the board members’ constituencies. It has mainly been lying dormant, but don’t expect it to stay that way long. The incompetent leadership of the Lafayette Parish School System continues to focus on economic development rather than public education. Lafayette Parish officials also recently explored a new jail plan involving firms tied to Bernhard Capital. That’s the same private equity firm that is partnered with a uniquely seated member of the LSUEDD. The common thread is strategic boundary-drawing and insider governance — tools that shift financial power into the hands of a few politically connected while bypassing voters altogether.

EDDs are a Cancer in Baton Rouge, too.

At last count, Baton Rouge had no fewer than 22 of these taxing districts, many of which overlap with one another. Someone might say, It’s just 1%, what’s the big deal? However, when you have four or five of these districts stacked on top of each other, things really start adding up.

Districts range from corridors like Plank Road EDD, Florida Boulevard EDD, Government St Corridor EDD, and Cortana Corridor EDD, to university-based zones such as Louisiana State University EDD and Southern University EDD. Others include Melrose East EDD, Mid City EDD, Baton Rouge North EDD, S Sherwood Forest Blvd EDD, Harveston EDD, Bluebonnet EDD, River Park EDD, Lafayette-Main EDD, Third-Florida EDD, Plank Road Business EDD, Americana EDD, Airline-Bluebonnet EDD, and Baker Convention Center EDD.

You can view all the Baton Rouge Taxing Districts we’re aware of, along with their overlapping and intersecting boundaries, on a single map we created exclusively for this article. Stack a few of these districts on top of each other, and suddenly a 1% ‘small’ tax looks a lot bigger on your receipt.

The Non-Compete Clause

The cooperative agreement between the developer, Oak View Group, and the City-Parish adds a layer of controversy. For thirty years after the LSU arena opens, the City-Parish has agreed to limit events at the taxpayer-funded Raising Cane’s River Center so they do not compete with this new private venue. If you consider that each term of the Metro Council lasts only four years, this agreement would block seven future councils from making any changes. That’s particularly problematic if a future council figures out that the whole thing was a sham to enrich a few people at the expense of LSU.

This also effectively ties the hands of a public facility, ensuring the financial success of a private one. It’s a striking example of how your elected officials have prioritized the profitability of a private project over the public interest. But that isn’t the most alarming aspect.

Key Person Under Federal Indictment

The former CEO and Co-founder of Oak View Group, Tim Leiweke, was indicted in July 2025 on federal charges by a Texas grand jury. The charges stem from alleged bid-rigging and fraud connected to the University of Texas Moody Center project in Austin, a $375 million University arena Oak View Group helped finance and manage. Federal prosecutors allege Leiweke and other executives conspired to manipulate the competitive bidding process, steering contracts toward preferred partners and concealing conflicts of interest.

According to the allegations, Leiweke’s conduct wasn’t a one-off mistake but part of a coordinated scheme designed to ensure Oak View Group and its affiliates reaped the benefits of a supposedly competitive process that, in reality, had been fixed from the start. Federal prosecutors describe the scheme as involving both fraudulent representations and active suppression of genuine competition. If proven, the charges strike at the heart of the company’s credibility. The same firm entrusted with half-billion-dollar developments, allegedly cutting corners and breaking laws to secure contracts, now wants to do a nearly identical project at LSU.

The Oak View Group

Though Oak View Group has stressed that Leiweke stepped down from his leadership role and that the indictment has ‘nothing to do with Baton Rouge,’ the timing casts a long shadow. For Baton Rouge, the implications are sobering. LSU and the Metro Council are careening forward with a half-billion-dollar partnership with a firm whose former leader is now fighting felony charges over how he handled another major university arena deal. If the company’s leadership engaged in bid-rigging in Austin, why should Baton Rouge expect cleaner practices here? Additionally, given the project’s advanced stage with zero public knowledge or engagement, should we not suspect similar practices are occurring in a state widely known for its political corruption?

For critics, this is not a footnote but a flashing warning light: if Oak View Group’s leadership manipulated one college town’s arena project, why should Baton Rouge expect to be treated any differently?

Legal Cover, Voter Deficit

Beneficiaries argue the arrangement satisfies Louisiana’s Cabela’s Test, a judicially created rule that bypasses Louisiana’s Constitutional prohibitions on the gratuitous donation of public property to private individuals. All you have to do in most cases is check the boxes:

1. Does it serve a public purpose?
2. Does it intend to provide value in exchange?
3. Is it not wholly gratuitous?

On paper, the LSU arena meets that low standard, promising jobs, tourism, and civic prestige. There is no requirement that it ever actually has to deliver. It just has to ‘pinky promise’ based on the stated intentions.

Yet legality is not the same as legitimacy. The boundaries were drawn in the Legislature to exclude voters. The taxes were authorized without a referendum. The River Center, built with public money, could be restricted for a century. Each step of the process technically followed the law, but it also excluded citizens and voters from participating.

Progress or Power Play?

The LSU arena might deliver modern facilities and new opportunities for Baton Rouge. However, the way it has been structured — from legislative boundaries to Metro Council taxes to insider board control — reveals how authority can be manipulated to evade public oversight. The Legislature set the lines, deliberately excluding voters. The Metro Council approved the taxes without a vote of the people. The board is comprised of stakeholders who may have a vested interest. Sources report that one of the beneficiaries was even overheard bragging that they stand to gain $30 million on the deal while LSU gets stuck holding the bag.

When the LSU arena opens, it will surely shine. The question is whether it will shine as a beacon of civic pride — or as a reminder that in Louisiana, the map of power is often drawn to benefit the few while leaving the people out.