For want of courage
So it appears that the stadium deal was nearly undone. While this isn't surprising to those people who were intimately involved in the process, to most people it might be news. What I thought when I read that story, though, is that if a couple of senators had the courage of their convictions, it could have turned out much differently. Instead of a story about how the state almost didn't give millions of dollars to billionaires, the story could be about how a brave bunch of legislators finally stood up to the threats from major league sports and told them to pay their own way, just like the hard-working citizens of Minnesota have to do.
But all for naught.
posted by MN Politics Guru @ 09:13
1 Comments:
I don't think supporters of the stadium bill like the idea of public money for millionaires. They just realize that if MN doesn't put some financial support behind this project, some other state will because sports teams are positive for any state's sense of community and pride. An awful precedent was set in other markets, where billionaire owners got huge investment returns after the public almost completely paid for new facilities, but that doesn't mean that public funding for stadiums is automatically bad policy.
The government can financially support private entitites if it is in the public's benefit - whether it be for sports, the arts, or any other worthy and valuable program or business. The fact that the owners and players are rich doesn't negate the value of the Twins to the state, and it shouldn't preclude the government from being able to fund sports when necessary.
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