No. of Recommendations: 8
I want to respond to this in depth, but today is busy and I might not have time, so I will just throw a few random thoughts out and hopefully form a more cogent post if time allows later.
Yes, there are myriad studies showing that these stadium deals are great for the owners and not great for the taxpayers, yet people (or rather city councils or state legislatures) keep voting for them. There is economic activity generated, to be sure, but it’s never enough to justify the costs, so there must be something else involved.
And there is. It’s “pride”. Just as people like to chant “We’re #1, We’re #1” after the local team takes a championship, or after Bin Laden is killed, or after VE Day, there is a price of owning a national franchise which is talked about across the rest of the country every night on TV, on the sports channels, in the newspapers (at least as long as they are still around.)
Pittsburgh, where I once lived, has slid from the 8th largest MSA when I was there in the 70’s to the 33rd. They once had “Three Rivers Stadium” which seated over 55,000, I believe, and was a terrible stadium for baseball (because it was too big) and for football (because of the orientation.) It was taken down and each team got its own purpose built stadium and, at least by reports from friends, both are terrific. It also brings vast pride to the denizens to have “major league sports” in town, even as the economic base contracts and people move out. (I now live in a city without major league sports, and while there is nationally acclaimed college level competition, it’s not the same.)
As I note that Pittsburgh is now #33, Kansas City is #35, so not much different, eh?
Sports costs continue to climb, thanks largely to the astronomical salaries being offered - but the fly in the ointment is that some teams can afford that and some can’t. Kansas City and Pittsburgh are among those who can’t, even with fancy skyboxes and all the new, high-falutin’ stuff a new stadium brings. (See: “MoneyBall” for a decent flick which introduces a one-time, maybe two-time fix before even the big money teams catch on.)
Anyway, it’s “civic pride”, which trashes “economic sense” many times. In war, in sports, even, sometimes, in economics, where states or localities pay very good money to attract new (or old: see Amazon) companies outside of all economic logic.
Anyway, more later, maybe. (Mrs. Goofy is coming home from a week away and let’s just say my bachelor living is not up to the cleanliness/neatness standards of our marriage. I have work to do.)
