Privatization of US Stadiums

Can you imagine the outcry if Six Flags or Disney went to a city and said "Build us an amusement park, to our exacting specifications, but we'll keep all the money generated by it. Oh and in a few years, you'll need to pay for completely new rollercoasters and log flume rides."

Can I go to city hall and get the city to pay for the construction of my pub? I'll build it in an area that needs revitalization, so it'll help spur growth.

 

How about if a daily newspaper did the same thing? "Build us a new printing plant and newsroom building."

They'd get laughed out of town -- despite the fact a daily newspaper is far more important to a metropolitan area than a professional sports franchise.

 

I highly doubt the federal government could regulate how state and local governments spend their $$$ due to the supremacy clause (feds cannot regulate states unless provided for in the Const.)

As trifectarich said, its all about priorities and the US has gone totally out of whack. We need to educate the up and coming politicians and voters (our kids) that its unacceptable to subsidize sports teams and more importantly, not make sports such a huge emotional and monetary investment.

 

And then what?

People will start caring about more noble investments such as education? We'll devote more of our resources to medical research and eradicating poverty? We'll start bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots?

I don't think so.

 

Actually, I don't consider this to be a personal issue at all, re: my own profession that "survives" on professional sports.

I'm saying ... do you really think the public's interest (and investment) in sports has any direct correlation to the fact that teachers are making $40K?

And do you really think that if we "educate the up and coming politicians and voters (our kids) ... not [to] make sports such a huge emotional and monetary investment" that somehow we're going to start caring more about education and medical research and poverty?

Because I don't think a lesser interest in sports would make any difference in those causes.

 

Absolutely true.

 

So, snooty rich people get their cultural fix paid for by the taxpayer, but not Joe Six-Pack's stadium? Music and dance are just another form of kinetic self-expression, like athletics.

Pavarotti and Beverly Sills didn't exactly die broke.

 

Joe Six-Pack is nowhere near the stadium. That's already been taken care of by Billy Bob Billionaire Owner's $50 ticket prices, $25 parking, $10 beers, $8 hot dogs, etc etc.

 

I'm pretty sure every (unbiased) academic look at this has shown that over the longhaul, public funded stadiums screw over everyone in that city. I know Baseball Prospectus had a chapter on it in "Between the Numbers."

 

Yeah, but that doesn't stop teams and politicians from throwing out BS "economic impact" studies to support the funding. Hell, even minor league teams are doing this to smaller towns.

 

Absolutely. I hate it when those studies are taken for gospel. I don't have anything in front of me, but just anecdotally I'm sure people here can see that again and again when this happens, residents get screwed.

Here's a good book from Andrew Zimbalist (and others) on the topic: http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Jobs-Taxes-Economic-Stadiums/dp/0815761112