March 01, 2005

Stadiums, schmadiums

One of my most frequently asked questions (which will go in the Field of Schemes FAQ, if I ever get time to do one) is: Why do taxpayers support spending public money on sports facilities, if it's such a waste? To which I invariably answer: What planet have you been living on?

It's practically a truism of the stadium game that until a team owner launches a big-money ad campaign, the public will largely be opposed to sports subsidies. (I vividly remember, at the stadium finance seminar we recounted in the book, a team exec explaining that he didn't mind voter referendums because you could generally guarantee a win if you spent enough money.) The latest example is Florida, where not only do more than 80% of voters say they're opposed to spending public funds on new homes for the Florida Marlins and Orlando Magic, but 70% of self-proclaimed Marlins fans don't want their tax dollars handed over to the team. That Carlos Delgado signing really might not have been the smartest p.r. move during a stadium campaign.

Undeterred, Marlins poobah David Samson insisted that the $60 million in state funds he's asking for aren't really public money at all, but rather a "rebate" on taxes the team would be collecting from fans. As economist Rod Fort is fond of saying, if I tried that argument, men with shiny shoes would come knocking on my door...

There haven't been any recent polls in Washington state that I've seen, but the Seattle Sonics' demands for a publicly funded $205 million expansion of Key Arena aren't any too popular in the state capitol, where lawmakers yesterday wondered aloud where the Sonics get off asking for money when the state's in a cash crunch. "We've got more desperate needs than KeyArena," said state senator Ken Jacobsen, who recently introduced a bill dedicating the tax streams sought by the Sonics to rebuild a major Seattle viaduct instead. "When you're sitting down here looking at $50 billion in unmet transportation needs, we're going to have to forgo the luxuries for a bit."