Comments on: Marlins Financials http://www.sabernomics.com/sabernomics/index.php/2008/04/marlins-financials/ Economic Thinking about Baseball Sun, 09 Jan 2011 17:16:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Marc Schneider http://www.sabernomics.com/sabernomics/index.php/2008/04/marlins-financials/comment-page-1/#comment-102588 Marc Schneider Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:29:04 +0000 http://www.sabernomics.com/sabernomics/index.php/2008/04/marlins-financials/#comment-102588 As long as people fall for the canards that (1)baseball teams are not profitable, and (2) that publicly-financed stadiums help the community, baseball (and other sports) will be able to blackmail local officials into spending taxpayers money to build these things. When I complained on Braves Journal about DC spending taxpayer money on the new stadium, someone responded "And Marc, regarding your hue and cry over ‘the taxpayers’, anything stadium related usually equals out to about 1-5 cents extra in taxes, for the record. If you’re not willing to pay that, that’s your own deal." Well, if that's the case, it would be a lot more economically productive, it seems to me, to build a plant with public money to entice, say, an auto maker to bring jobs that would be a hell of a lot better for the community than selling hot dogs at a ballpark. The point is, people are continually up in arms over how Scott Boras, for example, has ruined baseball as if these teams are so poor now from paying players that they need charity in the form of a publicly-financed ballpark. Same thing with the Braves--we have continually been told over the years that Time Warner was losing millions with the Braves; this was used to justify cutting payroll. Now we find that Liberty is making a "small profit." And, of course, the Marlins have finally hoodwinked Miami into giving them a ball park. As long as people fall for the canards that (1)baseball teams are not profitable, and (2) that publicly-financed stadiums help the community, baseball (and other sports) will be able to blackmail local officials into spending taxpayers money to build these things.

When I complained on Braves Journal about DC spending taxpayer money on the new stadium, someone responded

“And Marc, regarding your hue and cry over ‘the taxpayers’, anything stadium related usually equals out to about 1-5 cents extra in taxes, for the record. If you’re not willing to pay that, that’s your own deal.”

Well, if that’s the case, it would be a lot more economically productive, it seems to me, to build a plant with public money to entice, say, an auto maker to bring jobs that would be a hell of a lot better for the community than selling hot dogs at a ballpark.

The point is, people are continually up in arms over how Scott Boras, for example, has ruined baseball as if these teams are so poor now from paying players that they need charity in the form of a publicly-financed ballpark. Same thing with the Braves–we have continually been told over the years that Time Warner was losing millions with the Braves; this was used to justify cutting payroll. Now we find that Liberty is making a “small profit.”

And, of course, the Marlins have finally hoodwinked Miami into giving them a ball park.

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