Socialized Sports
With the discussion of a new ice rink complex proposed in West Seneca, this post from Michelle Malkin is timely and relevant.
The government has no business picking winners and losers in the private sector. It has no business taking people's hard-earned money to prop up art which offends them, professional sports which bore them, or recreational activities which they consider a waste of time.
I prefer professional figure skating to pro-baseball. Why not subsidize deluxe ice rinks and enact price supports for Spandex costumes? That would create jobs and foster community. While we're at it, what about a slice of government pork for those of us who crochet? We contribute to the economy, too. Give us tax-exempt bond funding to build bigger yarn stores. Get us a federal write-off on craft supplies. It'll pay for itself!
Time and again, such economic arguments for sports welfare have proved bogus. Most recently, statistics show that Bank One Ballpark in Arizona � the $355 million, government-financed home of the Diamondbacks -- has had a negligible effect on the economy in Phoenix. "These things can only be viewed as a redistribution program," University of South Florida sports economist Phil Porter told a local Phoenix newspaper. "This takes the money from people who don't care about professional sports and gives it to the people who do..."
We continue to build more sports facilities in a city that has ever-fewer people to use them. Everyone knows they won't all likely show a profit, including the developers, but our governments (town, city, county, and state) seem always willing to fund them with our money.
The only way the West Seneca hockey rink cum exposition center can pay for itself is by getting people from outside the town to come in and spend their money there.
That could happen if the place is very well-publicized and very well-managed. It could possibly support its payroll (those new jobs!) and pay off the low-interest municipal bonds requested by the developer to build it.
But how much spin-off business is likely to occur? How many restaurants, bars, gas stations, and grocery stores are likely to see an increase in sales because of it? If the majority of the patrons live in the Buffalo area, very few of them will linger in West Seneca.
They'll come in, visit, and go home, picking up a jug of milk at their usual store. Just like a casino in downtown Buffalo, this project can only create growth if a significant portion of its patrons comes from outside the region -- that's a tall order. And any economic development beyond that will be nonexistent.
I realize that the developers and their supporters claim that no taxpayer money will be needed but they wouldn't ask for government help at all if they could finance it privately. This is a decision for West Seneca. After all, it's their taxes that will end up paying for it.
As for the eternal government support for sports projects? Other than economic ignorance I suspect that the politicians are on the lookout for any new buildings that can maintain some illusion of progress and growth.
posted by Craig @ 11:25 PM
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