"People don't want art, they want
football" - Ulrich Ruckriem, German
sculptor
Continuing our discussion from last week
on the scam artists known as sports team
owners, we were talking about how the promise
of high level professional sports can
effectively cause a city or state to put
everything on hold to get that domed stadium
and Deion Sanders. I think it should come as
no surprise that many cities (in America
anyway) that have professional sports
franchises typically have horrible public
school systems and high crime rates.
Some examples:
- Atlanta, the most dangerous
city in America in 1996 and home of
the Olympic Park bombing
- Washington DC, bordering on
bankruptcy, unable to put roofs on
badly dilapidated schools and a
convicted drug user in the mayor's
office
- Detroit, MI, for years one of
the most dangerous cities in America
Add to that Miami, Los Angeles and New
York's struggle with drugs, gang violence and
organized crime on a daily basis. . . the
list could go on and on.
In many cases a new publicly funded
stadium can be built and maintained in cities
where many schools still have no text books,
no central heating and metal detectors at the
front doors. This is one of those dirty
little national secrets that seems to slip by
us every day. And professional sports leagues
continue to expand, dumping new teams in
cities growing at a much too rapid rate while
owners move their teams to cities willing to
shell out millions of dollars for the
privilege of going into debt.
The city where I live, Birmingham,
Alabama, is beginning to suffer from this
metropolitan envy syndrome. The city
conducted a study recently to determine where
the best location would be for a domed
stadium. Birmingham wants to go ahead and
build a domed stadium, then try and lure a
team to the city. "If you build it, they
will come."
What they found was that downtown
Birmingham would be the best place, even
though residents and businesses have been
flocking out of downtown by the dozens over
the past 15 years. They didn't look at any of
the outlying towns with acres of undeveloped
land and a wealthier tax base, but decided
they would hoist the tax burden on the
poorest citizens in the county and maybe the
state.
It should come as no surprise the mayor of
Birmingham, Richard Arrington, was a major
player in this study, probably because he
stands to make a killing if this thing goes
through. No wonder downtown Birmingham was
the best place for a domed stadium. It's also
puzzling why a city that has temperatures no
colder that 40 degrees Fahrenheit during most
of the winter period should want an indoor
stadium.
What is most interesting, however, is The
Birmingham News conducted a poll back in
November soon after this study was conducted.
They asked a random sample of Birminghamians
what types of projects they would be in favor
of funding in the area. There were 13 items
on the list, only four or five received a
majority approval. Some of these items were
more and better lighted parking downtown,
museums and more cultural events. A domed
stadium finished 12th.
I hope the civic leaders in Birmingham
were paying attention.
Next article > It's a Gamble. . .
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