James E Jacobsen wrote:
> Is there an anti-professional sports mentality out there?
> I rarely attend games, though I don't mind that the professional
> sports brings nine figure money into the city every year,
> providing huge tax revenues and providing employment to thousands
> in hotels and restaurants etc.
>
I don't think the attitude, at least mine, is anti professional sports.
I enjoy professional and "amateur" sports. (For example, I am looking
forward to watching the Rams obliterate the Patriots on Sunday.)
The problem is taxpayers having to pony up general fund money (state or
city) to build palaces to celebrate the egos of team owners and players.
Personally, I'll never pay to attend another baseball game again, unless
owners and players rejoin the real financial in which the rest of us
live. Attending games has become a corporate enterprise, rather than a
family one, which is a pity.
I do not object to the use of real user fees to pay for a stadium. My
personal sniff test for this is whether the cost of the stadium is borne
only by people who want to pay it; and easily avoided by those who
don't. Ticket taxes are OK. Parking in the immediate area of the stadium
on game day is OK. Profit from gambling, where the money is clearly
earmarked for the stadium fund, is OK. Bar/restaurant taxes are not.
Rental car and hotel taxes are not. I heard that one raised today. This
forces out-of-town visitors to pay for our entertainment. I know other
cities are doing this, but this strikes me as dishonest ("We don't want
to pay for it ourselves, so we'll make you out-of-towners do it.").
Also, the city should not be responsible for any overruns or shortfalls.
That should fall to the team.
On another point, there is no way that pro sports bring "nine-figure
money" into the city, unless you count the digits after the decimal. In
fact, the studies on the *net* financial impact of sports don't clearly
support financial gain for the city. Money is certainly moved within a
city: note the rejuvenation of 7th Street in St. Paul. But have Wild
fans spent more entertainment money in their families' budgets since the
Wild came to town, or have they stopped attending other sports, arts
events, movies, restaurants to compensate for what they spend on hockey.
It seems to me that those entertainment dollars are spent one way or
another, and the net effect of a team's presence or absence is small.
Clearly some businesses in Minneapolis would be hurt by the departure or
relocation of the Twins, but others would gain.
The thing that keeps rolling around in my mind is that if the economic
benefits for a community were so clear, business leaders would be
tripping all over themselves to put money into the effort. We don't seem
to see that, do we?
Final thought: Great cities are not defined by their sports teams.
Walt Cygan
Keewaydin
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