4 ms·
You would benefit if all members of the public bore the costs of your game tickets, but would you benefit if the same principle was applied to things that you d
by whatshisface 2y ago
You would benefit if all members of the public bore the costs of your game tickets, but would you benefit if the same principle was applied to things that you didn't want?
- lolinder 2y agoI do not participate in or watch any sports, but this logic would preclude public investment in anything whatsoever. I enjoy publicly funded museums. I hang out in publicly funded parks. I check books out of publicly funded libraries. None of these are used universally by all of the taxpayers whose money is used to fund them, but I don't feel guilty for that—I pay for things that they use that I don't use. That's part of the deal. Whether sports need public funding is a good question that's worth exploring, but the mere fact that not everyone would enjoy them is not sufficient reason to not fund them.
- ok_dad 2y agoThe difference is that sports stadiums profits go to a billionaire while a public museum’s entry fee, if any, goes back into the museum.
- lolinder 2y agoIs there a reason why that has to be the case or is this just an observation of the way things have gone so far? College sports stadiums are often (usually?) used to fund the rest of the school. I don't see any particular reason why that model couldn't be adapted by government bodies if there's demand for publicly funded sports.
- cool_dude85 2y agoWell, sure, one could imagine a structure where subsidizing sports stadiums makes sense. But when people talk about it being bad they usually mean in the world as it more or less exists.
- SoftTalker 2y agoThere's a lot of economic activity generated by big sports venues -- hotel stays, restaurant meals, transportation, merchandise (official and otherwise), broadcasting and reporting work, miscellaneous things just related to having a lot of people in the area or from out of town. Same reason cities fund convention centers, performance art venues, and similar things.
- op00to 2y agoNo, at least in my city people drive into the stadium and drive home to the suburbs after. They have easy access to the interstates. The economic impact seems pretty middling to me.
- lolinder 2y agoYou know this because you've done extensive research, surveying businesses around the stadium to find out what their books look like on days where there are sporting events and on days where there aren't? Or are you just basing it on the fact that traffic is thicker to and from the stadium on days where there are sporting events?
- op00to 2y agoThe only businesses around the stadiums are a casino and refrigerated warehouses. I’m basing this on going to games at these stadiums for 20 years, and never visiting the refrigerated warehouses afterwards. Everyone hops on the public transit if they live in the city or drives home to the suburbs afterwards.
- chung8123 2y agoThe city needs to own those venues then and get the appropriate fee out of using them. We should not be using public money for private teams though.
- HPsquared 2y agoI really dislike having a sports stadium near me. The amount of traffic is insane.
- paulcole 2y agoYes! That’s how government works. Not everyone agrees equally and not everyone benefits equally. Also the tickets cost extra.