Taxpayers once again are being set up to be suckers. We refer to the latest developments in Pittsburgh’s attempt to land either the 2026 or ’27 National Football League Draft.
As the Post-Gazette reports it, all the usual suspects are lining up “to bring the three-day NFL draft to the North Shore.”
The breathtaking latest is that Pittsburgh Stadium Authority and city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority board members have given Executive Director Aaron Waller (yes, the same fella heads both organizations in a simply lovely conflict of interest) and other staff members the “authority … to enter into agreements with the NFL, the Steelers, VisitPittsburgh, Allegheny County and others needed to help secure the much-watched event for the Steel City,” the P-G reports.
This is where we say what we must: Hold onto your wallets. For the pickpockets are lurking.
Back to the P-G:
“The move comes as the football team prepares to submit its formal bid for the draft. The Steelers and the city have already notified the NFL of their desire to host the event, which could have a significant economic impact on the region,” the news report has it.
VisitPittsburgh, the region’s tourism bureau, claims the NFL draft could bring between $120 million and $160 million to the City of Pittsburgh in direct economic benefits.
Of course, nobody’s talking about – and it appears nobody but us right now is even asking – what the taxpayer cost of Pittsburgh’s bid to host this thing might be.
And nobody but us is raising this proper point of order: Why should taxpayers be forced to pay for a huge party and public relations stunt that, in reality, is part of a sports cartel’s player development process?
Because of chamber of commerce types’ inflated hype about what inflated economic benefits the city will accrue?
Come on, folks, the NFL operation is worth billions upon billions of dollars. It rakes in hundreds of billions of dollars from broadcasting and merchandising rights.
And it expects taxpayers to further subsidize (on top of stadiums, that is) its operations? And public officials rush to gush about submitting bids to further enrich these greedy barons of sport?
Talk about a public-purpose-be-damned cluster cluck.
Of course, the public – you know, taxpayers about to be molested yet again – never will be told what the bid is. You can be certain the pols and powers that be will want to keep that all hush-hush as “proprietary.”
And you can bet if Pittsburgh is outbid by some other NFL city, well, officials will do their dishonest best to keep their unsuccessful bid top secret, too.
No self-respecting “leader” should countenance this garbage. And the NFL should be ashamed of itself for this constant pimping for public money.
Sadly, “shame” is a precept neither the NFL nor our “leaders” can comprehend.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
