Wayne Fontana, the chairman of the Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority, tells Pittsburgh Public Source that he doesn’t know how much of a local, regional and state political appetite exists these days to divert large sums of taxpayer money to benefit privately owned sports teams.
But he notes how the Steelers and Pirates can point to other states and cities that have done just that.
Frankly, just because officials of other states and cities “have done just that” indicates they clearly aren’t the brightest bulbs in the light sockets.
This renewed conversation comes in advance of the 30-year stadium leases for the Pirates and Steelers expiring in 2030 and 2031, respectively.
Public Source and various other media have reported that talks – secret talks without the public, of course — have been underway to reach succeeding long-term agreements to pour possibly hundreds of millions of more dollars into the sports facilities that Western Pennsylvania voters rejected 30 years ago.
Do remember that pols of the day put their thumbs to their noses and waggled their fingers furiously at the public and raided other taxpayer sources to serve Pittsburgh’s barons of sport.
Citing other professional sports cities raiding public coffers to appease the sports barons, Fontana asked in the Public Source story:
“If they had the [political] appetite in Cleveland or Cincinnati or Las Vegas or wherever, then the question is why don’t we have the appetite, because of the economic impact that a team has?”
Because we don’t have mush for brains? (At least not yet). But talk about perpetuating a wholly false choice.
For this simple fact remains: Public subsidies for sports stadiums and arenas represent incredibly poor economics, for everybody but team owners, that is. Publicly funded stadiums have minimal or negligible impacts on local economies. The phrase “de minimis” frequently crops up in the literature.
Repeated scholarly studies have confirmed the paucity of the economic benefits of such taxpayer-subsidized professional playgrounds. A 2022 study – “The impact of professional sports franchises and venues on local economies: A comprehensive survey” (by researchers at Kennesaw State University, The University of Maryland and West Virginia University) – is most instructive.
It concludes, in part:
“After decades of study, clear and unambiguous evidence shows that sports stadiums and arenas do not generate strong economic development benefits on host communities,” it found.
But, “The contrast between the strong consensus null or negative findings of sports venues on local economies in peer reviewed academic research coupled with the continued and growing public subsidization of these facilities creates a seeming paradox:
“If sports stadiums are not potent drivers of local economic activity, then why do federal, state and local governments continue to subsidize sports venues in economic development projects?” they ask.
It’s a question that every single person involved in those secret talks to shake down taxpayers for hundreds of millions of dollars more (could it be $1 billion, as some colluding alluders have indicated) to support the cartel that is the Professional Sports/Political Operative Complex must answer.
Publicly. And with a straight face. If they can keep one.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
