If Local Taxpayers Pay for a Stadium...

Should they be able to share in the profit from selling the team a few years later? My guess is that, legally, they cannot. They are no more shareholders than those who buy Nike shoes are shareholders of Nike Inc. But cities footing the bill for major sports franchises is not the same as basic consumer-buys-tennis-shoes economics.

• Flaherty noted in the letter that Forbes magazine said the franchise was worth about $300 million in 1998, but was worth $928 million by last year.

  The stadium, which opened in 2001, and related lease provisions "contributed significantly to increases in the value of the Steelers franchise," Flaherty's letter said. "The public should share in the increased value that the stadium has contributed to the franchise."

Note to local taxpayers everywhere, giveaways to NFL/MLB/NBA owners are not in you municipal interest. Your emotional interest perhaps, but at least realize what you are paying for your emotions and costing your fellow citizens who could give a rat's ass about sports. Virtually every argument/model that says these deals pay for themselves falls apart under the slightest scrutiny.
- posted by john @ 9:34 PM