The voters of NYC, Yankee fans or no, are now on the hook for $372 million in tax free bonds, helping one of the richest franchises in sports, with a payroll of over $200 million, build a stadium they most assuredly would have built there anyway. I mean, can you imagine the New Jersey Yankees drawing the same amount for box seats? There was never a credible threat to leave as so much of the Yankee's identity is tied to the city.
Based on entertainment projects that have occurred in cities lately, the likelihood that this project will return the revenue that the Yankees have promised is close to nil. Historically, cities have needed to chase projects like these because of the mobility of capital and competitive pressure placed on them by other cities. In this case, the Yankees need the city as much as the city needs the Yankees. I suspect that a good deal of the Yankee merchandise you see is worn because of its connection to the city as much as it is to the team. We've allowed sports franchises to be the specific purview of private interests as if they had no connection to cities for which they play. Are they just that, or can we return to looking at them as public goods the decisions about which the citizens of a city must have a say.
Factor in the pay-off seats allegedly supplied to members of the Bloomberg Administration for fast tracking the project, and what you see is another give away to big business at the expense of the common tax payer. New York is managed by a billionaire former CEO acting on behalf of the interests of his class (more luxury seating, fewer over all seats) and using the power of his office to ensure that there is little if any scrutiny over a $1.3 billion project. The citizens of New York, like so many other cities, have divested themselves of participatory government and corporate interests have taken control.
Meanwhile, the local kids living close to the stadium lose their own playing field and get a huge parking lot in return. I was reminded of a visual essay by Bill Moyers last fall that pretty much summed my thoughts on this. It seems even more absurd given the current climate.
Based on entertainment projects that have occurred in cities lately, the likelihood that this project will return the revenue that the Yankees have promised is close to nil. Historically, cities have needed to chase projects like these because of the mobility of capital and competitive pressure placed on them by other cities. In this case, the Yankees need the city as much as the city needs the Yankees. I suspect that a good deal of the Yankee merchandise you see is worn because of its connection to the city as much as it is to the team. We've allowed sports franchises to be the specific purview of private interests as if they had no connection to cities for which they play. Are they just that, or can we return to looking at them as public goods the decisions about which the citizens of a city must have a say.
Factor in the pay-off seats allegedly supplied to members of the Bloomberg Administration for fast tracking the project, and what you see is another give away to big business at the expense of the common tax payer. New York is managed by a billionaire former CEO acting on behalf of the interests of his class (more luxury seating, fewer over all seats) and using the power of his office to ensure that there is little if any scrutiny over a $1.3 billion project. The citizens of New York, like so many other cities, have divested themselves of participatory government and corporate interests have taken control.
Meanwhile, the local kids living close to the stadium lose their own playing field and get a huge parking lot in return. I was reminded of a visual essay by Bill Moyers last fall that pretty much summed my thoughts on this. It seems even more absurd given the current climate.
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