April 17, 2016 6:28 AM

Public support of professional sports: Sound investment...or fleecing taxpayers?

The Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee estimated Tuesday the Twin Cities metro area will reap $338 million in economic activity from the 2018 game — a figure that some economists immediately stamped as too high. Economists and civic boosters have long disputed the financial benefits to cities of hosting mega events such as the Super Bowl. Determining the net benefit relies on dozens of assumptions and calculations that can vary widely depending on who’s running the numbers. Host Committee spokeswoman Andrea Mokros acknowledged there is never a definitive number but said the study demonstrates that the event will have a “positive impact on our community and, to use the oft-used line, this is more than a game. … We want folks to know all of the benefits to hosting a game.”

In an era of seemingly ever-shrinking public resources, one of the questions we really should be asking of government at all levels concerns priorities. What’s the best use of our tax dollars? How do we get the biggest bang for our buck? How can ensure that government doesn’t believe its Prime Directive to be paving the way for business interests interested primarily- and in some cases, only- in their bottom line?

Minneapolis is putting the finishing touches on U.S. Bank Stadium, a gleaming $1.2 BILLION (when last I heard) Palais de sport destined to be the new home of the Minnesota Vikings. The probity of using public funds to benefit the bottom line of a private company is a fair question to ask. It’s also fair to wonder if the use of yet more public funds to support Minneapolis hosting the 2018 Super Bowl has any discernible benefit to taxpayers. Being 25 years removed from living in the Twin Cities, I’m in no position to address local politics. That said, it’s difficult not to look at U.S. Bank Stadium and the 2018 Super Bowl and wonder who’s really going to benefit from taxpayer largesse? Is it legitimately about economic opportunity- jobs- or is it about benefitting business owners and the already wealthy?

And why does it always seem to be the case that the promises made regarding net financial benefits to a community always seem to be overstated?

Ahead of the 2014 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Target Field, Meet Minneapolis, the city’s tourism arm, forecast a $75 million boost to the local economy. A few months after the game, the group revised the number to $50 million. The state Department of Revenue estimated the actual number between $21 million and $55 million.

Not only are those with a vested interest in securing public support for private events prone to overstating benefits to be realized, those benefits always seem to come in under the estimates/promises.

It’s almost as if the potential benefits of public invested is deliberately overstated in a cynical effort to benefit private interests. Go figure….

Most of the financial beneficiaries will be corporations, many of them based elsewhere, Matheson said. “It’s not like they’re doubling or tripling the wages of room cleaners,” he said, adding that some workers might get a few extra shifts or big tips at restaurants, but nothing major.

Economics professor Robert Baade of Lake Forest College, who also has published studies on the economic impact of Super Bowls, said the game isn’t worth it. “Cities are often seduced by the, ‘We’ll have our moment in the sun or our moment in the snow,’ ” he said, but added that if something goes wrong, “it cuts both ways.”

Matheson also doesn’t buy the long-term benefit of publicity for the city. “The main way your city becomes a tourist destination is people go on vacation and come back and tell their friends what a great time they had on vacation in Minneapolis,” he said. When they come back and say they had a great time at the Super Bowl, then their friends want to go to a Super Bowl. “They’re distinctly different,” he said.

Cities throw themselves and their resources at professional sports leagues and their events because they believe their moment in the sun will attract tourism and business. That this belief more often than not goes unrealized should be cause for concern for governments being asked to commit significant sums of tax dollars…but it never seems to be.

People love it when a Super Bowl or All-Star Game is held in their city, but they seldom seem to ask about how and why tax dollars are required in order to secure such an event. Not only do they not ask, they seldom demand an accounting from government bodies responsible for making those commitments. Nor do they ask why those commitments are made based on figures and promises which invariably seem to come in under projections?

I don’t necessarily have the answers to those questions, but I do find it distressing that the public by and large seems pretty OK with scarce tax dollars being spent in ways that ultimately seem to benefit business interests, many of whom aren’t even local. How can this not leave less for government to spend on things they’re actually supposed to be responsible for?

The answers might be surprising…if only people were willing to ask the questions.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on April 17, 2016 6:28 AM.

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