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| ROCHESTER'S FRONTIER FIELD, |
One of America’s founders, our second president John Adams,
used the Latin phrase Res Publica
(literally Public Thing) to describe the need for government to support the common
good in order to ensure Americans would live in strong communities.
Yet, it’s hard to imagine that even someone as visionary as
Adams could have anticipated the importance of professional sports to 21st
Century American society much less think of pro sports as Res Publica. But,
that’s where we are. Medium sized cities
like Charlotte and Jacksonville have elevated their status by attracting NFL
franchises. Those cities have committed
time, energy and capital to the effort to attract their teams and would work
just as hard to keep them if the billionaires who own those franchises threaten
to leave.
I recall attending a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Miami
where the management of the Florida Marlins made their case for public
financing of a new stadium. It was the midst
of the Great Recession and many in attendance were struggling to keep their
doors open. Concurrently, the federal
government was considering a bailout of the nation’s largest banks. During the Q&A, one business owner
expressed the view that a professional baseball team shouldn’t need a bailout
from Miami’s taxpayers. His comment
opened a floodgate. The Marlins
executives never knew what hit them.
Nevertheless, the city and state government supported the
team’s owners and they got their stadium supported in part by public financing. Now, they play their home games at a
beautiful stadium and have the third lowest attendance in Major League
Baseball.
Hardly seems worth it.
Lop a few zeroes off Miami’s scenario of a few years ago and
you can imagine the pressure felt by New York’s Monroe County Executive Cheryl
Dinolfo. The county’s largest city, Rochester,
has earned a reputation for embracing minor league sports. In addition to the baseball’s Red Wings, we
have hockey’s minor league Americans as well as professional soccer and
lacrosse teams. Collectively, their
presence creates a public good.
That public good is in jeopardy. Our soccer team is sitting this season out;
and, its owners are at war with the city that is its landlord. Ditto our baseball team whose franchisor this
week threatened the “nuclear option” of cancelling the franchise, effectively
putting the team out of business, if reasonable lease terms were not agreed to
by the county.
The question for our political leaders, and by extension
voters, is whether to finance the teams’ deficits and bear the brunt of public
ownership of their stadiums.
It’s tempting to blame the politicians. (No one likes politicians anyway.) However, I am more inclined to point my finger
at the teams’ owners. The teams are
capitalist enterprises whose profits, should they be earned, go into the
pockets of their investors. And, like
any capitalist enterprise, they should bear the risk of any losses.
Ms. Dinolfo ran for office on a promise not to raise taxes
and has a budget, 85% of which is the result of unfunded mandates from the
state. I admire her efforts to hold the
line on behalf of taxpayers.
I’m getting worn out paying New York’s taxes anyway.
WHO WILL LEAD?
Not only Sports Teams, but also Public Projects. An example is the High Speed Rail System being built in California. It is only 119 miles long, in an area that is not in dire need of this system and it has now gone more than $2 BILLION over budget to the tune of over $10 Billion.
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