These people must be nuts.
The Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority (SEA) has, according to WTAE-TV, “approved a resolution that would look to determine if the city should invest in an NBA or WNBA team.”
“The resolution grants up to $90,000 to pay a consulting agency, CAA ICON, to conduct related market studies on the Pittsburgh region,” the station says.
“Should CAA ICON find that the city ought to move forward with acquiring a team, the question will return to the SEA board to make next moves,” Channel 4 notes.
Which should be to immediately make an appointment with a psychiatrist.
Taxpayers should have absolutely no business in this venture. None. Zip. Nada.
If the NBA and/or the WNBA want to expand their leagues, they, or a private investor or investors, should pay for a feasibility study in whatever respective city they might be thinking of establishing a new franchise.
And it should be these leagues’ and any investors’ responsibility to pay all of their own freight.
This notion that some consultant, paid with public dollars, will advise whether “the city ought to move forward with acquiring a team” is simply daft.
Government not only has no business using public dollars for any such study, but it certainly has no business owning a sports franchise.
OK, OK, perhaps, just perhaps, the news report’s wording is inartful and the phrase “acquiring a team” simply means to secure an NBA and/or WNBA franchise for the city.
But, that said, and on top of paying up to $90,000 for a “study,” how much more public money is the SEA or any other government entity thinking about throwing at a prospective franchise?
The correct answer, class, should be NONE.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
