(arenayes.com)Since the beginning of time, sports venues have been the main target of groups who love to complain about paying taxes. As each ballpark, arena, and stadium is built, these groups get louder and louder against constructing these projects.
They want you to believe that if only we would quit building these facilities, we would have a more fiscal government. All we have to do is quit building sports facilities to make taxes go down, school funding go up, police and fire coverage increased, and more beautiful, profitable roads could be built.
They never tell you that roads don't make money, public schools allow millionaires to attend school tuition free, or the fact that property taxes are rarely used to finance sports facilities. No, these facilities are nothing but money pits and they are dragging each and every one of us down.
Today, one of those articles made its way onto our local City-County Observer...
http://city-countyobserver.com/2011/07/12/cincinnati-taxpayers-left-holding-the-bag-for-stadiums-financial-failures/
Cincinnati.com reports that the Bengals are have requested a $43 Million infusion for repairs and improvements to Paul Brown Stadium that was only opened 10 years ago.
At the same time the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the sales tax revenues in Hamilton County, where one in seven people lives beneath the poverty line and budget cuts have left gaps in the schools and sheriffs department, has residents bracing for more belt-tightening. The county is being forced to consider a rollback of a property-tax break promised as part of a 1996 plan to entice voters to pay for two new stadiums.
So here we go again, those dreaded stadiums are on attack again. This time, they decided to make Cincinnati, Ohio their latest victim. Paul Brown Stadium and the Cincinnati Bengals are requesting $43 million for repairs and $8 million for a new scoreboard. Surely, it would be unwise to approve these funds right? After all, shouldn't we be placing these funds in the public schools so that Jerry Springer can send his kids to school taxpayer free?
Well, think again.
A few posts ago, I talked about the enormous economic impact a sports facility has on its city...
http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/07/cause-effect-chain-of-events.html
Cincinnati is no different than the three cities listed in the post above...
http://www.economicscenter.org/pressroom/articles/top-tourist-attractions-make-1b-local-impact
One big attraction for non-local visitors is the Cincinnati Reds where more than half of all fans attending the games reside outside of the metro area. The Cincinnati Bengals and the Freedom Center also draw heavily from outside of our area. Kings Island attracts more people than the Reds, but its impact, while significant, may not be quite as large as the Reds because fewer of their visitors are from outside the metro area.
We estimate that the seven most popular local attractions, each having an annual attendance of more than 1,000,000, produce an annual combined economic impact of $1.1 billion. These venues include Hamilton County Parks, Kings Island, Summer Festivals (including Taste of Cincinnati, Riverfest, Summerfair, Oktoberfest, and others), the Fine Arts Fund organizations, Cincinnati Reds, the Cincinnati Museum Center, and the Cincinnati Zoo. Adding in the Aronoff, Freedom Center, US Bank Arena and the Cincinnati Bengals raises that number to $1.35 billion.
We estimate that these eleven attractions directly generate 13,000 jobs. The employees who receive income from these jobs and businesses who receive revenue from sales to these attractions spend much of this money in our region which creates an additional 9,500 jobs. Directly or indirectly, approximately 22,500 jobs are associated with these attractions. This accounts for 2.25 percent of total employment in our metro area.
http://www.business.uc.edu/PDF/EconEd/2003-EI-1006%20Cincinnati%20Reds%20Impact.pdf
The Cincinnati Reds will directly and indirectly account for over $253 million of economic activity in the Greater Cincinnati region in 2003.
Although different organizations have estimated the economic impact of the Bengals and Reds differently, none of them have the figure less than $245 million a year. Therefore, the Bengals and the Reds generate almost five times the cost of the needed repairs in one single season.
It's no surprise that this type of article would come from Wall Street, an area that has been no stranger to bailouts that aren't paid off.
If we are going to truly to make the old Soldiers & Sailors Coliseum, Roberts Stadium, and the new arena a success, we MUST ignore these naysayers who refuse to tell the whole truth about sports venues.
It makes me sick to my stomach to watch these naysayers blast the new arena, blast Roberts Stadium, and even sometimes suggest that perhaps we might be better off without the Coliseum as well. On top of that, they refuse to draw up a plan to revitalize the Bosse Field district. Each time a sports venue is constructed, these critics are left looking like fools.
Government funding for sports venues has and always will make sense. If your town doesn't realize this, it will be left behind in the dust by other neighboring cities. For too many years, we have watched Evansville go down this path. While other cities like Indianapolis said yes to sports venues, we said no. Today, we are miles behind those cities that were once behind us.
We have a very special privilege of being THE residents who can change Evansville's path. We have the opportunity to make our brand new arena a success which will revitalize our downtown. We have the opportunity to save our legendary and historic Roberts Stadium which will allow us to bring in events that cannot afford the new arena. Also, we have the opportunity to give the Coliseum a boost so that it tells the history of Evansville for many more years going forward. Lastly, we have the opportunity to be the first generation of Evansville residents that begins the process of taking our Bosse Field district back from despair. All of this will generate direct and indirect revenue, jobs, and revitalization.
I don't know about you, but I refuse to believe the lies being spread by sports venue opponents. We must invest in our venues, and we must SAVE ROBERTS STADIUM!
(www.gasolinealleyantiques.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment