One of the things that has really interested me when it comes to sports is the publicly financed ballpark issue. Many of the professional stadiums are either built with public funds or heavily renovated with public financing.
This comes on the heels of the news that the Florida Marlins stadium proposal failed.
The factoid that intrigues me the most is many owners say that they need a new ballpark to remain competitive. They need a new ballpark to keep payroll the same or increase it. But no city ever gets that promise in writing and I wonder if the promise could even be enforceable in court. It's even more appropriate when we look at this debacle in South Florida.
The Florida Marlins state they desperately need a new stadium. They cite their poor attendance figures, while ignoring the fact that the team is run by the ultimate miser, Mr. Jeffrey Loria. They also ignore the fact that South Florida doesn't really care all that much about baseball. They have finished in the bottom three for attendance almost every season save for 1997 when Wayne Huizenga spent boatloads to buy a title and then promptly disbanded the team.
They finished 15 out of 16 teams in the NL for attendance the year they won the World Series. South Florida is hot, muggy and rains frequently. Plus it's Miami and people have better things to do than attend baseball games. Even if you got the Miami residents a roof to protect them from the elements, I don't know if they'd come. And the best part is the Marlins play at least 9-10 games a season against the Mets and you would think with the huge NY ex-pats population down there, they'd increase the attendance figures drastically. The one game against the Mets that broke 30k was the home opener.
The Marlins fanbase is small but loyal. But I don't think a significantly larger sum of persons will attend games if they build a new stadium. Even if the cash-strapped area/county/city doles out a dime, it will be a dime too much. The Marlins owner can afford to build his own stadium, he just doesn't want to.
You could see the conversation going something like this:
Owner: We promise to spend money and field a competent team.
City: We build you a stadium you can afford yourself.
Owner: yes, but I'll spend money, ignore the fact that I never have before.
City: Can we get that promise in writing?
Owner: No.
City: So why else should we build you a stadium that is even partially financed by the city?
Owner: OMG BASEBALL
City: Every dollar we give you for the stadium you'll just pocket for yourselves. You won't improve the team much, and even if the team just needs to spend 30 million to field a very good team, you wouldn't do it. No deal.
Owner: But baseball?
City: Dude, this is Miami. We'll go to the club. Move your team to Portland.
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1 comment:
There could be a post about what a piece of scum Loria is everyday of the year!
Besides for the obvious reasons, I still think Carl Pohlad should have built the entire Twins stadium on his own and named it after himself to screw with the fans.
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