[PEN-L:8708] Re: Re: the NFL and urban development

[frank@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Ellen Frank)]

Here in Boston we've been assailed with not one, but two, stadium
deals - one for the football team, the other for baseball.  One interesting
thing that came out in the Patriot owner's shameless grab for state
money (and the state's shameless capitulation) is that football is
a pretty bad deal, especially compared with baseball.  Apparently,
the season is short, the at-home games few, and the schedule not
conducive to business shmoozing.  As a result, expensive box seats
don't sell as well and spillover revenues to the local businesses
are minimal.

				Ellen Frank


pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>Jim Devine wrote:
>
>>I contribute too many missives to pen-l and I'm no expert on urban
>>development. What do others on pen-l think? Should LA subsidize an NFL
>team
>>to locate here? Is it a good idea for other cities to do so? Does it
>>promote the _type_ of development we want? Should the poor hook their
>>fortunes to Al Davis and the NFL? (The possibility of "full socializaton"
>>seems off the agenda.)
>
>Dean Chadwin, who's got a new Verso book on the New York Yankees (he
>hates them), recited me some of the dollar amounts attached to pro
>sports. I was surprised how small it all is, economically speaking -
>just a few billion all together. It's glamorous, it attracts
>attention, but economically it's pretty close to zero. And everyone
>who's run the numbers on stadium subsidies says they're a terrible
>deal. So the hell with the NFL, I say.
>
>Doug
>