Friday, January 20, 2006
Hand Wringing Over the Penguins
True to form, as soon as the announcement came that Mario Lemieux was putting the Penguins on the market, pundits and fans began repeating the claims that Pittsburgh will be devastated by the loss of the Penguins to another city. The only hope for keeping them in the ‘Burgh is for the Isle of Capri gaming resort to be awarded the Pittsburgh slots license. And that has to be viewed as less than 50/50 bet.
But the reality is that losing a hockey team is not devastating for a number of reasons. A look at what happened in other cities that have lost hockey teams will illustrate this point. Consider three U.S. cities whose hockey teams moved away; namely, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Hartford Connecticut.
The Minnesota North Stars left in 1993 and the city got a new team in 2000. In the seven years between the North Stars’ departure and the Wild’s arrival, private employment in Minneapolis expanded by 21 percent. Since 2000, employment has been flat. In Hartford, the Whalers left in 1997. During the seven-year period from 1990 to 1997 prior to the departure of the team, Hartford private employment fell by 7.5 percent. Since the team’s departure, Hartford’s employment has held steady.
In 1980, the Atlanta Flames left for Calgary. A new team, the Thrashers arrived in 1999. What happened in the intervening years? The Atlanta area grew rapidly through the 1980s and added nearly 600,000 more jobs-- a 41 percent increase-- between 1990 and 1999. Since the Thrashers arrival job growth in Atlanta has been near zero.
Obviously, none of these numbers necessarily reflect causality. Many factors that affect employment are at work in all the cities. But that’s the point. The presence of a hockey team has almost no effect on a regional economy. Thus, the hand wringing about the negative economic consequences of the Penguins leaving is seriously misplaced.
Understandably, many fans and civic boosters are unhappy at the prospect of losing the Penguins. But that is not sufficient reason for the taxpayers to come riding to the rescue with a big wad of money to build a new arena.
True to form, as soon as the announcement came that Mario Lemieux was putting the Penguins on the market, pundits and fans began repeating the claims that Pittsburgh will be devastated by the loss of the Penguins to another city. The only hope for keeping them in the ‘Burgh is for the Isle of Capri gaming resort to be awarded the Pittsburgh slots license. And that has to be viewed as less than 50/50 bet.
But the reality is that losing a hockey team is not devastating for a number of reasons. A look at what happened in other cities that have lost hockey teams will illustrate this point. Consider three U.S. cities whose hockey teams moved away; namely, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Hartford Connecticut.
The Minnesota North Stars left in 1993 and the city got a new team in 2000. In the seven years between the North Stars’ departure and the Wild’s arrival, private employment in Minneapolis expanded by 21 percent. Since 2000, employment has been flat. In Hartford, the Whalers left in 1997. During the seven-year period from 1990 to 1997 prior to the departure of the team, Hartford private employment fell by 7.5 percent. Since the team’s departure, Hartford’s employment has held steady.
In 1980, the Atlanta Flames left for Calgary. A new team, the Thrashers arrived in 1999. What happened in the intervening years? The Atlanta area grew rapidly through the 1980s and added nearly 600,000 more jobs-- a 41 percent increase-- between 1990 and 1999. Since the Thrashers arrival job growth in Atlanta has been near zero.
Obviously, none of these numbers necessarily reflect causality. Many factors that affect employment are at work in all the cities. But that’s the point. The presence of a hockey team has almost no effect on a regional economy. Thus, the hand wringing about the negative economic consequences of the Penguins leaving is seriously misplaced.
Understandably, many fans and civic boosters are unhappy at the prospect of losing the Penguins. But that is not sufficient reason for the taxpayers to come riding to the rescue with a big wad of money to build a new arena.
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Amen!
Surely all those generated bucks would have been spent elsewhere. After all, those bucks are descretionary income and that is spent on what is available. There fore the bucks stop here!
Surely all those generated bucks would have been spent elsewhere. After all, those bucks are descretionary income and that is spent on what is available. There fore the bucks stop here!
As usual, big money men want us poor folk to keep them rich.
Surely the descretionary money spent on teams would be spent elswhere and still flow into the economy. The bucks stop here!
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Surely the descretionary money spent on teams would be spent elswhere and still flow into the economy. The bucks stop here!
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