“If you fund it, they will come,” is the first sentence in the article that popped up from a search engine yesterday entitled,
Naturally, the McHenry County College Board’s 4-vote majority’s insistence in subsidizing baseball promoter Pete Heitman’s minor league baseball scheme to make money for investors, which he refuses to identify, led me to read the story by John Estus.
The article in NewsOK, the internet version of the Oklahomian, has more links than I have ever seen in a newspaper web site story.
But the Oklahoma City Council is being straightforward.
It is asking for a 15-month sales tax hike to raise the $121 million for stadium improvements to lure the Seattle SuperSopnics southeast.
Nothing like the non-referendum bonds that the MCC board passed 7-0 without any voluntary public notice before three members–Scott Summers, Donna Kurtz and Frances Glosson–saw the light.
“That’s really a step the public and the people should be happy about. The power is in their hands. In a lot of places, they would be able to railroad it through without having some sort referendum where the public actually would get to vote,”
CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell told the Oklahomian.
In an indirect quote he also noted that voiding a public vote often happens in cities where opposition is expected.
The Oklahomian points out that supporters of the plan point to intangible benefits that a sports team brings an area.
Sounds like the pitch Economic Research Associates’ pitchman Richard Starr made to the MCC board after the Crystal Lake City Planning and Zoning Board and the City Council turned thumbs down.
Rovell points out the opponents’ rebuttal to such non-quantifiable benefits:
”…the only reason why the proponents put out these intangible statements like this is because they have to find some way to fill up the gap where the math doesn’t make sense.”
The article looks at how the Dallas Cowboys couldn’t get what they wanted in Dallas, but succeeded in gaining voter approval for $75 million less in suburban Arlington.
It also tells how Memphis built a basketball stadium with revenue bonds to be paid back by ticket holders.
A similar financing scheme is being touted by the MCC board majority.
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In front of the vending machine at McHenry County College is minor league baseball team promoter Pete Heitman. Economics Research Associates spokesman Richard Starr points to the MCC mission statement etched in glass in the MCC board room.