If you read anything today, make sure it’s Neil deMause’s explanation of what just happened to the Miami Marlins. Even if you’re not a sports fan, sports business likely affects your life, mainly because local governments are so damn eager to throw away money on stadiums. Yes: throw away. The Marlins’ new stadium cost taxpayers somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million, and even if they’d been a good team, most of that money wasn’t getting recouped.
UPDATE: Jonah Keri also weighs in, on Grantland.
Of course, baseball’s not the only sport with this problem. The Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn was built upon shady deals all the way around, and the Oklahoma City Thunder exist only because Seattle wouldn’t pay to replace a perfectly fine arena. (Oh, wait…)
And lest you think it’s only cities that have this problem: the Carolina Panthers are slowly getting around to asking for state money to renovate their 15-year-old stadium. Good times!
(Image cc-licensed: "Marlins Park" by verndogs)
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