Mayor Tony Williams is at it again, pledging to dip into the city’s coffers to build a Major League Baseball stadium. This time, unlike his previous generous offers, the mayor may have outwitted himself.
The city has been in a bidding war with itself ever since the mayor made his first pitch for a $436 million stadium to lure the Montreal Expos. That plan called for $125 million of the $436 million to be paid by the group eventually awarded the franchise. Thefavored home was a new stadium, and the favored site was one of the city’s gateways — New YorkAvenue. Word from the major stakeholders was: Thanks, but no thanks; either put up or shut up.
Well, nobody talks to our mayor like that and gets away with it. So, he made another offer that they can refuse. The mayor’s latest offer would allow the District to rob Peter (Angelos) and cast a financial pall over current and future taxpayers — all the while giving the wealthy owners of Major League Baseball precisely what they want: a new stadium fully financed by taxpayers.
Can’t you just see baseball’s fat cats yukking it up all the way to the bank, er, ballpark? “What a swell guy, that Tony,” one says. “Yeah, that was easy,” another says. “Who’s next in line?”
This is how the new proposal would work. The city would pay $340 million to build a new stadium near the old stadium (RFK). Baseball owners would pay … well … uh … that’s just it.
Proponents of the plan (including the boys who cover the boys of summer) call it the “cheapest and most expedient option” and “a vast change” from the plan the mayor presented in 2002. Oh well, boys will be boys. What do they care? It’s not their money. Besides, the boys who live in Maryland got ripped off when both Major League Baseball and the National Football League got new taxpayer-funded stadiums, while those who live in Virginia have no outlets for any of the majors.
But you know what? They are throwing you a curve ball with their characterizations of the plan, because it is neither “cheap” nor a “vast” departure from the 2002 plan. In fact, the financial structuring of the plans are the same: Taxpayers pay for the actual structure; taxpayers pay for the financing; and taxpayers pay for the necessary infrastructure.
And don’t be fooled by that $340 ballpark figure. It’s a moving target. The bull’s-eye won’t come into sight until after opening day — when one of the boys throws the first ball. By then it’s too late. The major-league losers are always the taxpayers.
Of course, the Williams boys are not the first to try to win a homer on a taxpayer-financed sports arena. They all throw the same sales pitch — job growth and huge boosts in revenues. They make these spurious assumptions despite research that generally draws the same conclusion — which is that the return on the investment does not meet expectations. Consider Oriole Park at Camden Yards. In the book “Sports, Jobs and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums,” the writers pose the critical question: “Is the ballpark good for Baltimore and Maryland, or just for the Orioles?” They write: “[W]e estimate that baseball at Camden Yards generates approximately $3 million in annual economic benefits to the Maryland economy, at an annual cost to the taxpayers of Maryland of approximately $14 million. The net annual cost is approximately $11 million, or about $14.70 a year per Baltimore metro household.” Now, compare that to the net gain for the Orioles franchise. “In the decade before the 1992 opening at Camden Yards, Orioles attendance averaged 26,823 per game … In the five years since the move, average attendance has been 45,034.”
That is money the Orioles’ owner, Peter Angelos, does not want to lose.
Indeed, right now, Mr. Angelos and the other owners are already losing money on Montreal’s Expos, and they tried to drum up interest in the team by threatening to move it and splitting home games between Canada and Puerto Rico. They can’t afford to do that forever. So, that is one reason Tony and his boys upped the ante.
The other is that none of the other possible contenders — including Monterrey, Mexico (can you believe it?) — has been willing to fork over big public bucks like Washington’s mayor.
The expectation is that the fat cats will accept, modify or refuse the Washington offer by All-Star time in July. I’ve already uncrossed my fingers.
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