Professional Sports: Taxpayer Parasites

[marmar]

from OnTheCommons.org:



Professional Sports: Taxpayer Parasites
Sports leagues bilk the public for glitzy new stadiums – and the bills just keep on coming.
By David Bollier


In the early 1980s, Ralph Nader launched a new advocacy group called FANS, Fight to Advance the Nation’s Sports, which aspired to address many of the social ills associated with professional sports. While some of his ideas were arguably misguided, such as trying to ban junk food sales at the ballpark, others were incredibly prescient. One idea was to stop taxpayer subsidies to the mega-stadiums that were being built for big-league baseball and football teams.

Essentially, wealthy team owners, who over lunch at their elite clubs would rail against socialistic intrusions on corporate America, invariably demanded that city governments subsidize the construction of lavish new sports palaces for their teams. Why? Because of all the civic pride and economic gain that they would allegedly stimulate.

And if the city didn’t pony up? Well, team owners frequently threatened to move the teams elsewhere, leaving the citizenry without a football or baseball franchise. Owners fostered an ethic of “stadium envy” so that even cities with a flourishing, happy fan base felt compelling to build new stadiums, lest another city would arise and steal the team away.

Since most mayors and city council members are pretty cozy with business interests in the first place, the arguments for taxpayer-subsidized sports palaces fell on receptive ears. “It’s all in the public interest!” Remember, this was a time when pro sports was exploding, in the 1970s and 1980s, and arguments could be made that the economic ripple effects would be extensive and the stadium would at least break even. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.onthecommons.org/professional-sports-taxpayer-parasites

[47of74]

1. That's one thing that can be admired about the Green Bay Packers

They are a non profit, community owned venture - and they're only professional sports team in the United States to have that. They are the only team to release their balance sheet every year. There are limits in place to keep any one individual from gaining control of the club.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers#Public_Company

NFL hates that too because it violates their current ownership rules.

[Greybnk48]

3. We're very proud of the way the Packers are run

here in WI, in that regard at least. ; )

[47of74]

6. I'm no Packer fan

Giving local cheese heads a hard time is one of my favorite pass-times, but I do admire how the Packers are set up and wish more teams could be like that.

[slampoet]

7. +100

[TheMightyFavog]

11. The Packers are NOT a non-profit entity.

Ten Years ago, the Packers did Convince Brown County Voters to institute a half-percent sales tax to help pay for renovations to Lambeau Field. Some good did come of it, as the stadium issue wass the key thing that got rid of our local Repuke state senator. (Long story short: He sat on the fence, wary of the fallout from the Miller Park sales tax in Milwaukee, the Lambeau vote was during the Sep. primary, the referendum passed, and the Dem candidate rode Packer Pride all the way to victory.)

[Jokerman]

2. We pay an extra 2% sales tax to help keep Robert Irsay rich.

Now they are selling off our public water utility to bail out the Pacers while our infrastructure crumbles.

[Fumesucker]

4. Clearly you have no sense of priorities..

A city without a professional sports team and a gleaming facility for them to prance in is a worthless hellhole, even if you _can_ flush the toilets without it running all over the streets.

[KittyWampus]

5. The NYTimes had an article- taxpayers are STILL paying for the defunct stadiums even after they've

been abandoned and/or torn down. PLUS, they get to pay for the newest one as well.

In New Jersey every resident owes $3 on the old stadium.

[LuckyLib]

8. It's extortion, plain and simple. And we cowtow to wealthy team owners who could well afford

to pay for stadiums themselves.

"But they'll go somewhere else!" Don't let the door hit you in the ass.

[phantom power]

9. Like all the best rackets, you need to be already rich to play

[Redstone]

10. Indeed. Our Governor (before he went to jail) tried to get the Patriots to

move to Hartford, at an eye-bleeding cost to the State of Connecticut. Fortunately for us, the plan didn't work out.

Redstone

[Whisp]

12. one of the reasons I detest mega professional sports.

it's a fucking con game. but hey, as long as you can have beers and yell, cost is no object.

[musette_sf]

13. If they did to Fenway

what was done to Yankee Stadium, there'd be blood in the streets of Boston.

[Dappleganger]

14. Welcome to Jacksonville.

Every year there are rumors of the Jags leaving, and every year the mayor gives free money and parties out of our broken coffers to bribe them to stay.

Quite frankly I wish they'd just leave. Only a very few players do charitable work here and as the players don't spend much money here it's not worth it, IMO. I am sick to death of hearing about it so just let them go someplace else. We are broke enough as it is (and you can thank the republican mayor and city council for that).

[glinda]

15. I recommend this video and this book:

Dave Zirin on "Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC9wuKrSifg