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November 13, 2004

A Stand Against Baseball Extortion

Jacob Sullum pens a good summary of why the city of Washington D.C. should stand up to Bud Selig and tell him to build his own damn stadium. As regular readers know, I'm a huge baseball fan and I would very much love to see the Washington Greys take the field early next year. But not at any price.

Baseball teams generate massive amounts of money...for the team. Their ability to generate economic booms for localities is questionable at best. Furthermore, there is absolutely no reason for any city to pay to build a ballpark for a local team. The team is a business, not a public trust. Should D.C. also spring for a new Wal-Mart Supercenter? The idea is ludicrous, but sports teams have managed to convince all too many cities that somehow they're different. They're not, and there is no reason to treat them as if they were. Only when local government shows a willingness to stand up to professional sports and tell them to pay their own way can we hope to see this come to an end.

Yes, it might mean Washington doesn't get a major league team immediately. But if the economics of a Washington-based team make sense, someone will put a team there. And if the economics don't make sense, than the D.C. government will have saved itself a lot of money by not springing for a stadium that will be abandoned all too soon anyhow. It's time cities start acting as true stewards of the people's monies.