We Wuz Robbed! the Subsidized Stadium Scam
1997; Hoover Institution; Issue: 82 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0146-5945
Autores Tópico(s)Sports Analytics and Performance
ResumoSpring is upon us, and the thoughts of all right-thinking Americans turn to baseball. The crack of the bat and the sight of neatly mowed grass on a sunny day stir us in much the same way as they did our parents and grandparents, and hopefully will do for our children. Yet a shadow -- the shadow of big government -- looms over the great pastime. While the actual sport of baseball is an excellent metaphor for the free market (illustrating how individuals and teams work together and compete against one another), at the professional level nearly all the teams play in government-owned or government-subsidized ballparks. Boston's Fenway Park and Chicago's Wrigley Field are not only rare gems from the perspective of baseball's traditions, but also from the perspective of sound economics -- both were privately built and are privately owned. In baseball, as is the case with all professional sports today, socialism and corporate welfare have run amok. Taxpayer subsidies for multimillionaire owners and players anger even the most ardent baseball fans, not to mention millions of other taxpayers who care little about the national pastime. The only individuals undeterred by this unsavory arrangement are politicians and team owners. Indeed, state and local officials across the nation are frantically spending billions of dollars on new facilities for baseball, football, basketball, and hockey teams. Team owners pit city against city, and state against state, in the scramble for new sports venues with revenue-generating seat licenses and luxury suites. Seattle Officials here simply ignored the voters' opposition to paying for a new stadium for the Mariners. In September 1995, King County taxpayers voted against a hike in the sales tax to pay for a new ballpark as well as repairs to the Seattle Kingdome, present home of the city's baseball and football franchises. But just weeks later, the Mariners entered the American League playoffs for the first time and triumphed over the New York Yankees. exciting per- formance stirred state and local officials to reject the vote of the people. In October of that year, the state legislature and the King County Council approved a $320-million plan for a new stadium. The Mariners offered to pitch in $45 million, while state taxpayers were on the hook for $105 million and county taxpayers for $170 million. Then-governor Mike Lowry, and then-county executive (and current governor) Gary Locke -- both Democrats -- led the charge. A year later, however, the estimated price tag jumped to $363.5 million, plus a parking garage costing $20.5 million. One member of the Public Facilities District board, which oversees the project, cavalierly noted that the project budget could be increased because the taxes designated to pay for the ballpark were generating more revenues than expected. Another board member claimed, This isn't an overrun. is just part of the design process. The team later grew irritated with project delays, and put the team up for sale. Proving that welfare for baseball was bipartisan, U.S. Senator Slade Gorton, a Republican, stepped in to help. The Mariners will stay in Seattle, having been promised a new ballpark by 1999 and more revenues than originally negotiated. Taxpayers got stuck with an additional bill of $50 million for the costs of extra borrowing, police details, clean-up, and litigation. The estimated price tag for the ballpark now totals $380 million, plus $26 million for the garage. Milwaukee In Wisconsin, not even a prominent conservative leader and leading welfare reformer could resist the siren song of corporate welfare for baseball. Republican governor Tommy Thompson lobbied hard for a boost in the sales tax to pay for a new stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers. Previously, in the spring of 1995, Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly rejected (by 64 percent to 36 per- cent) a sports lottery for a new ballpark. …
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