The  Sports  Page

Every year, millions of taxpayer dollars are poured into stadiums, hockey rinks, baseball parks, and other arenas in order to attract and retain professional sports teams in big cities.  Often the money is spent by the cities after a team "threatens" to leave the city.

When that happens, of course, the local news media act as the willing accomplices of the billionaires who own the teams.  As a practical matter, the news media have no choice.  If the news coverage on Channel 37, for example, exposes the local team's economic uselessness to the community, the chances are near zero that the sports anchor from Channel 37 will ever get access to the locker room after a big game.

When city and state governments build facilities for sports organizations which are owned by billionaires, and raise taxes as a result, it is clearly an abuse of power.

In addition to stadiums and arenas, the government also spends your money on smaller projects that add to your tax burden.  For example, CAGW's List of Omnibus Earmarks includes
  • $750,000 for the Baseball Hall of Fame
  • $202,500 to the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame, Sports Research Center in Patchogue, New York for facilities renovations
  • $405,000 to the Staten Island Soccer League of New York for facilities construction
  • $800,000 to the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority for facilities construction for the Mount VanHoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex
  • $90,000 for the City of Waterbury, Connecticut for an economic feasibility study focused on construction of a multi-purpose sports facility
  • $50,000 for "Pro Sports Outreach," whatever that is.
Obviously, there's no advertising on this page, so you might wonder about my motives.  I'm just not a sports fan.  In June, 2011, a quarter of a million people cheered in the streets as the Dallas Mavericks celebrated their championship with a parade (paid for by Mark Cuban [1] [2] [3] [4]) and a full day of televised self-aggrandizement.  But none of the fans seems to understand that the basketball team's success does not benefit the fans in any way.  The fans went home sunburned and dehydrated and no better off than they were a month ago, yet they seem to think they've accomplished something.  I just don't get it.

This page has been put here to serve as an alarm to the overburdened taxpayer.  When a city government spends $10 million or $100 million on a stadium, where do you think the money came from?  Is the presence of a football team really so important?  Wouldn't you prefer to keep your money in your pocket, and let the billionaires pay their own bills?

Note:  Regular visitors, if any, may notice that the Sports Page now includes material about sports-related topics other than taxpayer-funded stadiums.  That material is at the bottom of the page.


Stadiums and arenas in general:

Here is a list of "stimulus bill" projects that include the word "Stadium."

An Examination of Sporting Event Economic Impact Studies.  Economists widely believe that studies sponsored by leagues and events exaggerate the economic impact that professional franchises and large sporting events make on local communities.  Such overstatement results from several factors.  First, the studies often ignore the substitution effect.  To the extent that attendees at a sporting event spend their money on that event instead of on other activities in the local economy, the sporting event simply results in reallocation of expenditures in the economy, rather than in real net increases in economic activity.

Metropolitan Prosperity From Major League Sports in the CBD.  Whether it is publicly or privately financed, a metropolitan area receives the same benefits from an arena or a stadium.  Nevertheless, usually at least a portion of the $100 to $500 million cost of a new arena or stadium is funded with public dollars.  The reason is that owners of professional sports teams have been effective at threatening city officials with alternative locations.  One important issue, then, is whether the employment and income benefits from the new sports facility are greater than the public cost.

The Growth Effects of Sport Franchises, Stadia and Arenas.  This paper investigates the relationship between professional sports franchises and venues and real per capita personal income in 37 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the United States over the period 1969-1994.  Our empirical framework accounts for the entry and departure of professional football, basketball and baseball franchises; the construction of arenas and stadia; and other sports-related factors over this time period.  In contrast to other existing studies, we find evidence that some professional sports franchises reduce the level of per capita personal income in metropolitan areas and have no effect on the growth in per capita income, casting doubt on the ability of a new sports franchise or facility to spur economic growth.

Eleven Sources of Misapplication.  Many sports events, facilities, and franchises are subsidized either directly or indirectly by investments from public sector funds.  The scarcity of tax dollars has led to growing public scrutiny of their allocations.

Public Funding of Sports Stadiums.  Since 2000, 28 new major league stadiums have been built costing over nine billion dollars.  More than half, over $5 billion, of the costs of the new stadiums were funded using public dollars. ... Across the nation, franchises have argued that building a new stadium will lead to economic development in the form of increased incomes, jobs and tax revenues.  However, the preponderance of academic research has disputed these claims.

The Stadium Gambit and Local Economic Development.  The evidence suggests that attracting a professional sports franchise to a city and building that franchise a new stadium or arena will have no effect on the growth rate of real per capita income and may reduce the level of real per capita income in that city.  Yet government decisionmakers and politicians continue to try to attract professional sports franchises to cities, or use public funds to construct elaborate new facilities in order to keep existing franchises from moving. ... However, regardless of the size of the nonpecuniary benefits, one thing is clear from the evidence on professional sports franchises:  owners are reaping substantial benefits in the value of their teams because they are so skilled at the stadium gambit.

C.L.A.S.S. Action U.S.A. — Cincinnati Chapter.  The Citizens' League Against Subsidized Sports is an initiative designed to restore fiscal sanity to the relationship between professional teams and the communities that host them.  Professional sports franchises are a multi-billion dollar business nationwide.  Yet in cities across the country, those cash-rich organizations say they "need" taxpayers to cover their business expenses — specifically, the maintenance and operation of stadiums which were built originally with taxpayer dollars.

Group Begins Effort to Put Ticket Tax on the Ballot.  A local group is beginning an effort to put a ticket tax on the ballot in November to help eliminate the deficit in the stadium fund.  Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune held a news conference Saturday [5/21/2011] to announce the plan.  Paperwork he provided shows the group's name would be CLASS Action.  It stands for the Citizens League Against Subsidized Sports.

Group Wants to Shift Stadium Costs to Primary Users.  In 1996, Hamilton County voters approved a sales tax to pay for the construction of Paul Brown Stadium and the Great American Ball Park.  The sales tax hasn't kept up with projections, meaning County leaders have had to pay the bills with money from other sources.  Also, the lease requires the County to pay for much of the maintainence and upkeep at the stadiums, and those costs are rising as the two faciliities age.  Todd Portune says those who use the stadium the most should be the ones paying for them, not the average taxpayer.

The Municipal Debt Bubble:  When state and local governments want to spend more than they collect in revenues, they issue bonds.  Such bonds are a longstanding feature of the American landscape, going back at least as far as 1812, but during the last decade they have spun out of control, as states and cities have increased their borrowing to indulge in more and more spending on new stadiums, schools, bridges, and museums.  They have even started borrowing to cover their basic operational expenses.  Since 2000 the total outstanding state and municipal bond debt, adjusted for inflation, has soared from $1.5 trillion to $2.8 trillion.  The recession didn't slow the spending.

Electorate Energized in the Sunshine State.  Politicians in both parties should cast their eyes towards Miami if they believe they can continue to ignore the will of the electorate.  Republican Mayor Carlos Alvarez who was first elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2008, was given the boot in a recall election that was stunning in terms of percentages.  With one hundred percent of the vote counted, 88% of Miami-Dade voters decided enough was enough.  What did Alvarez in?  Tax hikes, raises for members of his inner circle, and an ill-fated decision to have taxpayers underwrite a portion of the building costs for a new Florida Marlins baseball stadium.

Want Economic Stimulus?  Don't Build a Sports Stadium!  For the last few decades sports teams across the country have nosed up to the public trough and demanded that states and cities chip in millions for the construction of new sports stadiums.  To justify the public expense the claim has been made that these monstrous construction projects bring a wealth of jobs and spending on entertainment and are a boon to any city that will fund them.  But are they?  Do these multi-million dollar projects bring such lucrative benefits to the cities and states that pay through the nose for them?

Sports Stadiums as Wise Investments.  In some respects, not much has changed since the early days of professional sports.  Today, one of the most popular ways for a city to demonstrate its interest in a professional sports franchise is to possess a facility in which the team can play.  In other respects, however, a great deal has changed since [William] Cammeyer opened the first stadium.  Today, the facility used to attract a franchise is not likely to be owned by a private entrepreneur manager-owner, but rather by a government agency.

America's Municipal Debt Racket.  New Jersey officials recently celebrated the selection of the new stadium in the Meadowlands sports complex as the site of the 2014 Super Bowl.  Absent from the festivities was any sense of the burden the complex has become for taxpayers.  Nearly 40 years ago the Garden State borrowed $302 million to begin constructing the Meadowlands.  The goal was to pay off the bonds in 25 years. ... Today, the authority that runs the Meadowlands is in hock for $830 million, which it can't pay back.

Politicians Smother Cities.  [Scroll down]  Politicians claim that stadiums increase the number of jobs.  Not so, says J.C. Bradbury, author of The Baseball Economist:  The Real Game Exposed.  "There's a huge consensus among economists that there is no economic development benefit to having these stadiums," he says.  The stadiums do create jobs for construction workers and some vendors.  But "it's a case of the seen and the unseen," Bradbury says, alluding to the 19th-century French economist Frederic Bastiat.  "It's very easy to see a new stadium going up. ... But what you don't see is that something else didn't get built across town. ... It's just transferring from one place to the other.

Build It, Or Else.  The Seattle Supersonics have determined that their home, Key Arena — last refurbished 10 years ago to the tune of $95 million — is deficient.  Only 45 percent of Key Arena's suites are rented, whereas in other cities the suites run at 90 percent to 100 percent capacity. … So the team's principal owner, Howard Schultz, chairman of Starbucks Coffee Company, has begun reading from a well-thumbed script.

Opening day subsidies:  Publicly funded sports stadiums are like crack cocaine to local politicians and business bigwigs.  These folks are just like addicts:  They deceive everyone around them for the sake of a fix and rarely take no for an answer when voters decline to subsidize their schemes.  Instead, they resort to theft — in the form of dubious hotel, sales, and other taxes — to pay for their fix, forcing citizens who couldn't care less about sports to subsidize teams.

Public welfare for billionaires — Pro-Sports Stadiums.  Owners of pro-sports franchises are pressuring many cities to provide luxurious stadiums at taxpayer expense. But some communities are throwing up a tough defense.

Eight reasons to reject publicly financed stadiums for professional sports teams:  Providing public subsidies for private stadiums in corporate welfare plain and simple.  Public subsidies for stadiums go directly into the pockets of team owners and players by increasing profits, player salaries and raising the re-sale value of the team. … The billionaire team owners and the players profit, but the taxpayer doesn't see a dime.

This material came from akdart.com, Copyright 2011.Does Public Investment in Municipal Sports Stadiums Pay Off?  Critics of public investment in new stadiums also note that the multiplier effects of new stadiums is likely to be small since most new stadiums contain larger parking, restaurant, souvenir, and other concession facilities.  This reduces the amount of spillover benefits in the neighboring community.  Most economic studies have found that the local economy receives at best only limited economic benefits from the construction of such stadiums.

Public Subsidies For Sports Stadiums Don't Spur Economic Growth.  America is in the midst of a sports stadium building binge fueled by a considerable dose of public funding.  Nationally, public subsidies for stadiums exceed $500 million a year.  Oklahoma City joined the building binge by funding a new 18,000-seat arena as part of the MAPS program.  Subsidies have not been limited to major league sports; many communities have built facilities for minor-league sports teams as well.

Financing Professional Sports Facilities:  Public financing of large public facilities is always a challenge.  Will it be worth the cost?  How will the construction costs be funded?  Is it an appropriate use of public funds?  Advocates for new sports facilities often stress the economic benefits that a new facility can bring to the community.  Opponents frequently point out that many economic impact studies on the topic have found that the benefits may not be substantial.

Stadium Finance:  Government's Role in the 1990s.  Public financing of sports facilities for professional sports teams has been the subject of growing controversy in recent years.  For decades, full public financing of sports stadiums and arenas was the norm.  In the last decade, however, demands for more elaborate and costly facilities on the part of owners and the increasingly limited resources of state and local governments have challenged the wisdom of this policy.

My stadium's better than your stadium....  "I'm not sure it's stadium envy as much as it is the machinery of state and local politics and getting politically potent people the things they want," said Rodney Fort, an economics professor at Washington State University who has co-written a book on stadium construction and politics of sports titled, "Hard Ball, The Abuse of Power in Pro Team Sports."

Rich People Versus Politicians:  Legalized corruption is widespread and that's the job of 35,000 Washington, D.C., lobbyists earning millions upon millions of dollars. ... For the right price, a tax loophole, saving a company tens of millions of dollars, can be inserted into tax law, a la the Charlie Rangel scandal.  At state levels, governors can award public works contracts to a generous constituent.  At the local levels mayors can confer favors such as providing subsidies for sports stadia and convention centers.  When politicians can give favors, they will find buyers.

Long Island-Area Voters Nix Stadium Subsidy Proposal.  The owner of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League threatened to move his team unless he receives hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer backing for a new stadium.  Taxpayers in Long Island and surrounding Nassau County responded with a message that could be interpreted as, "Don't let the door hit you on the behind on your way out."  Voters in August overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to borrow $400 million for the Islanders and their billionaire owner, Charles Wang.  A minor league baseball stadium also would have been built.  The vote was 57% to 43% against.

Somewhat related:
 Surprise! Arts Center Predictions Flawed.  The Washington Post reports that the financial projections for a government-funded arts center, Artisphere, in Arlington, Virginia, don't seem to have panned out.  Do they ever? ... And yet millionaire owners and mayors with Edifice Complexes keep commissioning these studies, and council members and editorial boards keep falling for them.

"The evidence suggests that attracting a professional sports franchise to a city and building that franchise a new stadium or arena will have no effect on the growth rate of real per capita income and may reduce the level of real per capita income in that city."

A few words about the 2011 Super Bowl:

On November 2, 2004, the citizens of Arlington, Texas, voted to increase the city sales tax in order to contribute $350,000,000 to the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium.  Many of the same voters also fell for the same sales pitch ten years ago when the baseball stadium was built for the Texas Rangers.  By now, Arlington was supposed to have turned into a thriving boom town — a mecca of tourism year round — according to the promises made ten years ago.  And of course it isn't, but the voters just can't say no, because Football is involved, and Football (with a capital F) is somehow more important than almost anything else.

I'm glad I don't live in Arlington.

Why Was Cowboys Stadium Exempt From Blackouts?  As brief power outages rolled across the state on Wednesday [2/2/2011], certain places were intended to be exempt from a temporary loss of electricity.  That included hospitals, nursing homes, fire stations, police stations, other emergency response facilities... and Cowboys Stadium?

Does this sound like a business that needs tax breaks?
 Super Bowl 45 Will Break Records.  A new attendance record will be set:  well over 103,000 fans at the palatial Cowboys Dome in Arlington, Texas.  A new record for the cost of advertising on the game has been reached.  Advertising on Fox for the Super Bowl is at a cool $100,000... per second.  Yes, 100K per tick, $3 million for thirty whole seconds.  Better be a good ad!

Cowboys Stadium Super Bowl parking reaches up to $1100.  The face value of Super Bowl tickets — up to $1,200 — elicits awe from football fans every year.  Perhaps the biggest sticker shock this time around, though, was parking.  While many will pay less than $100 for parking Sunday, the highest priced spot near Cowboys Stadium recently sold for $1,099.  That outlandish price — with two more spots still available — caught the attention of media around the country.

Routine items not allowed at Cowboys Stadium on Sunday.  As part of the increased security surrounding the Super Bowl, NFL and federal authorities are limiting what fans can bring to Cowboys Stadium.  Everyone entering the stadium must pass through a magnatometer [sic], such as those used at airports, and get a patdown as part of the screening process.

Super seat screw-up jilts 400 ticketholders.  For a game that was planned for years, Sunday's Super Bowl XLV was a pre-game nightmare for those outside and inside Cowboys Stadium.  Fans could not get into the stadium for hours because of gate closings and, once inside, some unlucky fans found that their seats were covered by big black tarps and unusable.

But what about the halftime show?
 The Lingering Stench of the Black Eyed Peas.  So the Super Bowl came and went like a fat, sweaty, overbearing relative — and it left a stench in the bathroom that can only be described as the Black Eyed Peas.  Yes — once again we are suffocated by the American assumption that what is lapped up by teenage girls is also lapped up by everyone else over fourteen.

Oh, but at least the National Anthem was inspiring, wasn't it?
 The national anthem isn't a pop song.  I've heard quite a bit of criticism of Christina Aguilera's embarrassing rendition of our national anthem prior to kick-off Sunday night.  Most of the comments have been focused on her botching the lyrics.  Fair enough.  But why should we be so critical of a pop star who probably has no idea of the origins of "The Star Spangled Banner" or any sense that the song's designation as our national anthem makes it about all of us, not about her moment on the stage?

As you may recall, the roof was closed that day.
 Navy spent $450,000 of taxpayer money on Super Bowl flyover.  The U.S. Navy has been criticised for spending almost half a million dollars of taxpayers' money on a flyover at the Super Bowl — while the stadium roof was closed.  The estimated $450,000 expense was for four fighter jets that flew from Virginia to Texas and over the retractable roof of Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.  As it was broadcast on screens at the Super Bowl XLV on Sunday, spectators inside the stadium got the same view as people watching the five-second shot at home.

The Super Bowl flyover may have cost $450,000.  The fans inside Cowboys Stadium for Super Bowl XLV had as good a view of the flyover by four F-18 fighter jets as those watching at home.  With the roof closed on Jerry Jones' $1.2 billion stadium, people in attendance were forced to watch the flyover on the massive high-def screens inside.

The Editor says...
 Really, whose idea was it to fly four jets from Virginia for this five-second appearance over the Super Bowl?  There are plenty of loud jets in Texas.  I think they still have B-1 bombers in Abilene -- less than 200 miles away -- and they're plenty loud.

No Super Bowl surge here:
 Sales tax revenues rebound across Texas.  Arlington will receive $5.8 million from the comptroller's office for April, up 4.52 percent over a year ago. ... March state sales tax revenue and April payments made to local governments represent sales that occurred in February.

The Editor says...
 The statewide average was +5.16 percent.*



Specific taxpayer funded stadiums and sporting events:

Santorum backed Pittsburgh stadium tax hike.  Santorum friends and former Republican associates there say that as a U.S. senator, he astonished them by lobbying for a boost in the sales tax in 11 southwestern Pennsylvania counties to pay for building a new stadium for the Pittsburgh Steelers and another new stadium for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The teams owners were threatening to move their teams elsewhere if the government didn't give them what they demanded.  "It was a sweetheart deal for the two teams, a total taxpayer giveaway," Larry Dunn, who was a Republican and the commission chairman of Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh.

Steelers-49ers 'MNF' game experiences second power outage.  "I just feel like San Francisco took a big step to show the NFL and to show the state of California that they need a new stadium," Steelers FS Ryan Clark said following the game.  "I think it was a very strategic move, and Candlestick may be no more."

The Editor says...
 If the stadium needs new power transformers, it isn't necessary to replace the entire stadium.

Only slightly off-topic:
 Gov. Cuomo's big development plan for Aqueduct holds promise.  Of the many ambitious plans Gov. Cuomo laid out in his second State of the State speech, none had more wow than putting the world's biggest convention center at Aqueduct Racetrack.  The proposed 3.8 million-square-foot facility — to be built on state land with $4 billion in private money — would create thousands of jobs, boost New York City's status as a tourist magnet and make far better use of a grossly underused property a stone's throw from Kennedy Airport.

Dayton wants deeper review of Vikings' stadium proposal.  Gov. Mark Dayton is asking the Metropolitan Council and his stadium czar to quickly analyze and determine the remaining issues on the Minnesota Vikings stadium proposal for the Arden Hills. ... The county and the team announced an agreement in May to build a $1 billion stadium in Arden Hills.  The was virtually ignored by the Legislature as state leaders tried to reach agreement on the two-year budget.

Hawaii governor says $4 million 'bribe' for Pro Bowl is wasteful.  Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Thursday [6/9/2011] it's "so stupid" that the cash-strapped state pays millions to play host to the Pro Bowl when the money could be used for education.

Don't count on Vikings stadium in special session.  Though many expect a new Minnesota Vikings stadium to be considered at a special legislative session, there are those who think the increasing war of words between Gov. Mark Dayton and the Republicans who control the House and Senate may prevent that.  One is Sen. Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, who was first elected to the Legislature in 1976 and is one of the longest-serving lawmakers at the State Capitol.  Another may be Sen. Dave Thompson, R-Lakeville, one of a group of influential freshman Republican legislators.

Arden Hills stadium a done stadium deal? Hardly.  The push to build a new Minnesota Vikings stadium took more frantic twists and turns Thursday as the team suggested critics might be trying to scuttle its plan to build in Ramsey County and influential business leaders worked to swing the project back to Minneapolis. ... There were also indications the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners has enough votes to back the $1 billion project in suburban Arden Hills.

An Arizona city's sports mania encounters a hard check.  Taxes provided $346 million of the $455 million cost of the huge retractable-roof NFL stadium where the Arizona Cardinals will play 10 times this season, if there is a season.  But Glendale (population 253,000) has a more immediate problem with its hockey team, the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes.  After the team entered bankruptcy in 2009, the NHL bought it for $140 million and has lost at least $30 million operating it.

Sisyphus in Boulder City.  How did this little city rack up so much debt?  Much, if not most of it, comes from the city council's decision — without bothering to waste their time asking for public approval — to build the Boulder Creek Golf Club, which opened in 2003.  One can easily understand the life-or-death need for a place to go golfing, of course.  Yet, this was the city's second public course.  The first, built in 1971, was approved by voters.  Mysteriously, once the second course was operational, the first (as well as the second) began to lose money, with revenues falling from over $600,000 annually to only $40,000.

Texas agrees deal to host F1.  Formula One will return to the United States in 2012 with a 10-year deal for a race in the Texas state capital Austin, commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has announced.  "For the first time in the history of Formula One in the United States, a world-class facility will be purpose-built to host the event," the Briton told the F1 website.  Austin, the 15th largest city in the United States, will host the race until 2021.

If stadium gets built, Mesa will keep Cubs.  To the sound of cheers and whistles of triumph, the owners of the Chicago Cubs officially announced Wednesday [1/27/2010] that they intend to keep their spring-training home in Mesa but only if the state and the city can muster the $84 million to build a new stadium and practice complex.

Chargers say they need public money for stadium.  For seven years, the San Diego Chargers have said they would build a new stadium without using taxpayer money.  Thursday [12/10/2009], a team spokesman said otherwise.  "It's almost certainly going to involve some sort of taxpayer money," said Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani, who has led the team's stadium search since 2002.

Court Rules Private Land Can Be Seized for NBA Arena.  New York's highest court ruled Tuesday [11/24/2009] that it's lawful for a state economic development agency to seize private land to build an arena for a professional basketball team.  The 6-1 ruling by the New York State Court of Appeals allows the contentious $4.9 billion, 22-acre Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, N.Y., to proceed.  The proposed development includes office towers, apartments and a new arena for the NBA's New Jersey Nets.

Anatomy of an Earmark.  The old Tiger Stadium was built in 1912 and was the home of Detroit's big-league team until 1999.  After the Tigers moved to a new stadium a mile away, it became the subject of intense controversy about what should be done with it.  The city wanted to tear it down.  Local preservationists wanted to turn it into a sports complex and museum.  What happened was literally akin to splitting the baby.

Pricey seats at new Yankee Stadium a Bronx bomb.  The most expensive spots in America's costliest ballpark have become an embarrassment packing a financial sting to the proud New York Yankees, as the Legends Suite section in the infield has been filled only once in the six games since the $1.5 billion stadium opened last week.  On most days, the seats that cost $500-$2,500 as part of season tickets and go up to $2,625 for individual games haven't been close to full.

University's Stadium Plea Renews Funding Debate.  The University of Washington's quest to receive public funding for renovation of its Husky Stadium has rekindled the debate over taxpayer financing of sports facilities. ... The university stresses it's asking for less money than the Seahawks (football) and Mariners (baseball) did, and that its 50-50 split is a smaller share of public dollars than for those stadiums.  Public money made up about 70 percent of Qwest and Safeco Field costs.

Fresno's new baseball stadium better not be paid for with municipal bonds!  Dale Rubin, of Salem, Oregon is an attorney who specializes in public subsidy issues.  He recently finished a brief for a public policy group in which his concluions of law were that municipal subsidies for sports stadiums are unconstitutional.  He said 'Almost all state laws say that no public entity should be aiding private enterprise.  In spite of that, billions of dollars of bonds are flowing to build these sports facilities.'

Citi, AIG Won't Drop Big Sports Sponsorships.  AIG, Citibank and a number of other federally bailed-out financial institutions have no plans to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in sports team sponsorships, even as they take billions in taxpayer support, ABC News has found.  In boom times, the sponsorships were seen as a way to advertise the firms' "brands" and appeal to potential customers. ... But critics, including a member of Congress, say the decision to continue them now is hard to defend.

Special Interests Push for Sports Stadium Subsidies.  With Washington state facing a projected $3.2 billion budget deficit — the difference between growing revenues and even-faster spending growth — one might expect lawmakers to focus on how best to use the existing rise in tax revenues to provide the core functions of government.  If special interests get their way, however, taxpayer financing of Seattle-area stadium renovations will be among the "priorities" competing for tax dollars.

New Indianapolis Stadium May Already Need Bailout.  Taxpayers in Indiana may already be on the hook for a financial bailout of Lucas Oil Stadium, the new home of the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League and reputedly the most heavily subsidized professional sports stadium in the nation.  The Capital Improvement Board (CIB), which manages Lucas Oil Stadium, announced about two years ago the stadium's annual operating costs would be $10 million while yearly revenues would be only $7.7 million.

The False Promise of Subsidized Tourist and Entertainment Complexes.  In city after troubled city, convention centers, stadiums, arenas, opera houses, aquariums, museums, casinos, racetracks, and other places of entertainment are presented as powerful engines of economic development that will pay for themselves in new jobs, paychecks, and taxes.  The mounting evidence suggests, however, that while such projects offer significant benefits to a very narrow slice of the regional (including suburban) business community, they offer very little to the urban community in general.

Stadium Subsidies Hitting Taxpayers Harder:  Study.  [Andrew] Moylan's research shows as the taxpayers' tab increases, so does the total stadium construction cost.  Stadiums that were built with 50 percent or more in taxpayer subsidies were $65 million more expensive on average than those built with less than 50 percent in subsidies.  The reason?  Not surprisingly, Moylan argues, private financiers demand more fiscal accountability with their own money than government bureaucrats do with other people's tax dollars.  Not only is the average percentage of stadium costs subsidized by taxpayers growing, but total subsidy amounts are rising too.

Sports teams pay millions for talent but ask the public to pay millions for stadiums.
 Welfare kings:  In October 1995, the city of Seattle opened a new NBA basketball arena that immediately drew accolades for intimate design elements and dynamic sight lines.  But just a dozen years later, Sonics owner Clay Bennett claims KeyArena is no longer an economically viable NBA facility and that no amount of renovations could alter that reality.  Bennett intends to relocate the team next year barring some unforeseen final-hour deal to build an entirely new arena with public funds.

Tips on writing a term paper on stadium subsidies.  There was a rash of new sports stadium development that occurred in the 1990s.  Most of these stadiums were built partly or wholly with government money in the form of stadium subsidies.  Naturally many social groups were outraged that government money was being diverted from social programs to millionaire players and billionaire owners.  Politicians have argued that stadiums bring tourism dollars into the city that far outweigh the cost of the stadium subsidy.  Many economists disagree; they feel that most of the revenue stadiums generate comes at the expense of other entertainment venues within the town.

Stadium Socialism:  Jesse Ventura, Governor of Minnesota, took a position that is extremely rare in state government.  He said that neither the state nor the city nor any other unit of government should spend any money on funding yet another municipal ballpark or providing a taxpayer subsidy to professional ball teams and their media flunkies.  "The taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill for new stadiums," said Ventura.  That's a sentiment that would have been common in America a hundred years ago.  Today, after decades of government entitlement programs for everyone, it now seems revolutionary.

The Billion Dollar Whatever.  It's possible that the Twins site will flourish — it's already in a part of town with plenty of condo-and-loft development, so it has a leg up on the deadlands of the Vikings site.  We were promised lots of development around the Dome, too, and what did we get?  One bar.  One.  If the planners of the site came back and saw what their work had produced, they would've been convinced prohibition had been reintroduced, because there's no possible other explanation for building a gigantic sports arena that produces exactly ONE bar before the development sputters out and the area sits dead for 20 years.

Santa Claus Government.  Last Monday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors sent its list of wishes to the political equivalent of Santa Claus:  Congress. ... The mayors claim the economy will be stimulated if their wishes are granted.  What do they want?  The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has analyzed the 72-page list. ... [The projects include] 15 projects with the term "stadium" in them, including a $150 million Metromover extension to the Florida Marlins' baseball stadium ... Kristina Rasmussen, NTU's director of government affairs, offers more analysis of the mayors' report on NTU's blog:  "Total cost of the wish list is $73,163,299,303."

The Odd Couple, or Here We Go Again.  We thought this was properly dealt with back in January by Raiders Chief Executive Amy Trask, who simply said in essence that the Raiders would be concentrating on the current season in a stadium they're simply thrilled with, and that they are not actively seeking out the 49ers as business partners.  But like a zombie, this 'joint stadium' idea has come to life once again, walking the streets by night and claiming more victims, many of them credulous 49er Faithful.

E-mails show NYC played ball for luxury boxes.  When it comes to getting a luxury box at the new Yankees and Mets stadiums, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's aides appear willing to play ball.  Recently released internal e-mails between the mayor's aides, city lawyers and Yankees officials show that City Hall gave the team even more parking spaces than had been negotiated previously, plus the rights and revenue from three billboards near the stadium in exchange for a suite.


Funk & Wagnall's, 1964
Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of the English Language,
1964 International Edition, Volume One, page 548. 


Corzine's friendship with investor raises questions.  Gov. Jon Corzine's recent disclosure that one of his close personal friends is a partner in the investment group that threw a billion-dollar lifeline to the troubled Xanadu sports and entertainment complex may have backfired.  While Corzine no doubt expected his disclosure would quell any rumblings of a conflict of interest, critics have raised new questions about the administration's role in the $2 billion Meadowlands complex, including the role of former economic growth czar Gary Rose.

Time Out Needed on Stadium Deal.  Similar to the arena deal seven years ago, all three levels of government have been tight-lipped about providing details of possible government involvement in a new stadium.  Both the provincial government and the City of Winnipeg have refused CTF freedom of information requests for details on using public money for a new stadium.

$1.1 Billion Twins Stadium Tax:  The Minnesota Twins sued to get out of their lease so they can pressure your lawmakers to buy them a stadium.  The new lease presumably would be as worthless as the one they just nullified.  Meanwhile, the disenfranchised citizens — who will not be allowed to vote on it — are stuck paying the tab.  The stadium will cost taxpayers $1.1 billion dollars.  The Twins essentially contribute nothing.  Oh sure, they will tell you the Twins are contributing $125 million.  But the deal also gives them naming rights for the stadium, money from concessions, parking — so the $125 million will be easily recovered.

Seattleites should not have to pay for another arena boondoggle.  Since 1999, Seattle taxpayers have forked over more than $1 billion in today's dollars to the ultra-rich owners of baseball's Mariners and football's Seahawks.  Despite threats to move the teams, folks are a little hesitant to cough up several hundred million more for a new basketball arena for the Seattle SuperSonics and Storm.

Randolph Calls For End to Taxpayer-Funded Luxury Suites at Local Stadiums.  In the wake of the recent public news that the Lucas Oil Stadium could run the taxpayers an extra $10 million in operational costs, City-County Councillor Ike Randolph today, filed a freedom of information request with the City of Indianapolis.  The request seeks all documents and expenditures on city-owned suites at the RCA Dome, Conseco Field House and Victory Field between 2000 and 2006.

DC taxpayers are being thrown an expensive curveball.  DC City Council members who will vote Tuesday [11/13/2007] on whether to approve the Mayor's plan for a publicly-subsidized baseball stadium in Anacostia should remember this year's earlier "commuter tax" court controversy.  According to a new study from the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union Foundation, the stadium proposal would worsen taxes in DC to fund a project that will mostly serve residents of Maryland and Virginia (80 percent of the team's fans are expected to come from those two states).

Storm clouds in the outfield.  The city of Anaheim, thanks to the foolishness of then-Mayor Tom Daly and then-council members Lou Lopez and Frank Feldhaus, gave then-owner Disney $30 million in benefits in 1996 to keep the team in Anaheim.  Residents got little in return, but the one thing they did get was the supposed pride of having the city's name in the national spotlight.  It looks like a sucker's deal in hindsight.

Sports owners fund McCain, shun Obama.  Sports team owners may not be John McCain's answer to the Hollywood elite, but they're overwhelmingly supporting his presidential campaign over Barack Obama's.  Through the end of June, team owners in the four major sports and their families have given to or raised as much or more than $3.2 million for McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, compared with as much as $615,000 for his Democratic rival Obama, according to a Politico analysis of data from the Federal Election Commission, the campaigns and interviews.

If You Build It, They Will Leave.  On the same day the Florida Marlins paraded through Miami to celebrate their second World Series championship in six years, politicians from Miami-Dade County swallowed the young baseball team's corporate welfare bait.  County Mayor Alex Penelas and Manager George Burgess announced they were offering a whopping $73 million in bed tax revenue, plus a parcel of free land, to help build a new $325 million baseball-only retractable-roof stadium that the lucrative franchise desperately wants.

Voters starting to take a stand against stadium funding.  In Sarasota, Fla., a $16 million bond referendum was on the ballot to help fund a $45 million reconstruction of a stadium currently used by the Cincinnati Reds for spring training.  Another $7.9 million was to be spent to add land for practice fields and its related construction costs.  The total of some $52.9 million was to be funded by the county, state and city, with the Reds contributing $10 million.

Stadium is fielding money — from us.  I wasn't overly alarmed when a Deseret Morning News headline announced last week that the funding of Dave's Big Soccer Stadium will cost much more than we were originally told. … When it came time to finalize the funding details for the soccer stadium last week, someone finally got around to mentioning that it will cost more than the $45 million as advertised — it will cost another $28 mil in interest, bringing the price tag to, ka-ching!, $73 million.

Private Benefits of Public Stadium Financing:  Public subsidies of professional sports stadiums provide no tangible public good, a fact being recognized by more cities around the country, says an economist who's studied the issue.  "You see a lot more resistance (to taxpayer-funded stadiums) than you did in the past.  I think people are seeing the evidence that the benefit isn't there," said Phillip Miller, an economist at Minnesota State University.

Baseline Welfare Cases:  Stadiums, Subsidies, and the Dole.  Major League Baseball has become a regular recipient of corporate welfare.  In particular, taxpayer subsidies to fund ballparks — which once were the rarest of exceptions — have become the norm.  Unfortunately, over the years, some businesses and their representatives — in particular, many state and local business groups — have been regular supporters of subsidized stadiums.  It is often the case, in fact, that the business leaders in a community become the loudest cheerleaders for tax giveaways to baseball teams.

Leaky Stadiums — Milwaukee's Stadium Experience.  The typical argument used to sell a stadium construction contract to the tax-paying public is that it improves the local economy.  Money will be generated, and the taxes on the new revenue will in theory offset the taxes used to subsidize the new stadium.  The problem with this stream of thought is the first step.  How is that money generated?  Most people have entertainment budgets, and the $100 they spend taking the family to the ballgame is $100 that they don't spend on movies or bowling later on in the month.

Ballpark figures:  Sports economists agree that cities — and taxpayers — get close to nothing from spending public money on sports teams.  What they haven't figured out is why we're still doing it.

Stadium Subsidies Scalp The Public.  Ever since the Boston Tea Party, public debate over whether to pay taxes and how to spend those dollars has been a vibrant part of our democratic process in Massachusetts and across the nation.  The debate over taxpayer subsidies for the stadium that is proposed to replace the venerable Fenway Park is shaping up to be an epic battle pitting the public interest and the public well-being against the well-financed powers that be.

Sports Stadium Madness:  Why It Started, How to Stop It.  Nationally, subsidies to professional sports facilities cost taxpayers some $500 million a year.  More than $7 billion will be spent on new facilities by the year 2006, with most of it coming from public sources.  Communities that are hard-pressed to keep their schools open or police on the beat are nevertheless entering into agreements to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to bid away a professional sports team from another city.

Put pro sports blackmailers out of business.  Taxpayer subsidies for new sports stadiums have been responsible for some of the biggest expansions of government during the 1990s.  Cities have used public money to engage in unseemly bidding wars, with pro teams playing government against government in quest of an ever-more-lucrative stadium deal.  As the bidding has risen, even teams with stadiums as young as 15 to 20 years old (like the domes used by the Minnesota Twins and the Seattle Seahawks) are demanding new playpens costing upwards of $400 million.

Stadium Subsidies Strike Out.  Do public subsidies for stadiums make sense?  Many studies suggest the answer to that question is an emphatic NO.  Economist Robert Baade of the Heartland Institute, an Illinois think tank, analyzed the effects of professional sports teams and stadiums on economic development in thirty-six metropolitan areas.  The results, he found, overwhelmingly indicated that professional sports is not statistically significant in determining economic growth rates.

The Stadium Gambit and Local Economic Development.  The evidence suggests that attracting a professional sports franchise to a city and building that franchise a new stadium or arena will have no effect on the growth rate of real per capita income and may reduce the level of real per capita income in that city.

Sports Pork:  The Costly Relationship between Major League Sports and Government.  The lone beneficiaries of sports subsidies are team owners and players. … Indeed, the results of studies on changes in the economy resulting from the presence of stadiums, arenas, and sports teams show no positive economic impact from professional sports — or a possible negative effect.

Caught Stealing:  Debunking the Economic Case for D.C. Baseball.  District of Columbia mayor Anthony Williams has convinced Major League Baseball to move the Montreal Expos to D.C. in exchange for the city's building a new ballpark. … A baseball team in D.C. might produce intangible benefits.  Rooting for the team might provide satisfaction to many local baseball fans.  That is hardly a reason for the city government to subsidize the team. D.C. policymakers should not be mesmerized by faulty impact studies that claim that a baseball team and a new stadium can be an engine of economic growth.

Mets, Yanks stadium subsidies top $1.25 billion.  Field of Schemes has obtained new figures from the New York City Independent Budget Office (I'm sure they'll give them to anyone, but I asked) on the cost to taxpayers of publicly subsidized tax-exempt bonds for the new Yankees and Mets stadiums.  The verdict:  The $930 million in Yankees stadium bonds will cost the city $10 million in lost tax revenue, the state $18 million, and federal taxpayers a whopping $200 million; for the Mets' $528 million in tax-exempt bonds, the figures are $6 million city, $10 million state, and $115 federal.

Speaking of the Yankees...
 A-Rod Gets Steal Of A Deal Thanks To NYC Tax Loophole.  They were crying foul Friday [2/25/2011] about a sweetheart tax loophole that will enable Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez to live in his new $6 million luxury West Side penthouse and pay virtually no real estate taxes.  The cost of a 28th row ticket for the Yankees 2011 home opener is $1,211.  The cost of an A-Rod autographed bat is $700.

Say It Ain't So:  Stadium Subsidies in Nevada.  Research has shown that the economic benefits of subsidized stadiums are monumentally overstated.  For years, analysts have searched in vain for proof that the pro-subsidy hype peddled by stadium supporters squares with reality.  In fact, on this issue the level of agreement between free-market, conservative and left-liberal economists and policy analysts is startling.

Poll:  48% Oppose Cotton Bowl Project.  Almost half of Dallas residents say the city should pull the plug on a planned $50 million face-lift for the Cotton Bowl, according to a Dallas Morning News poll.  Even though the City Council strongly supports the renovation, 48 percent of those polled last week said the investment doesn't make sense now that the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic, the January collegiate bowl game, has announced that it's leaving in 2010.

$1.1 Billion Minnesota Twins Stadium Tax.  The Minnesota Twins have sued to get out of their lease so they can pressure your lawmakers to buy them a stadium.  The new lease presumably would be as worthless as the one they just nullified.  Meanwhile, the disenfranchised citizens — who will not be allowed to vote on it — are stuck paying the tab.

Update:
 Ballpark bill in scoring position.  The Minnesota Twins scored a major victory late Thursday [4/20/2006] when the [Minnesota] House Taxes Committee said a sales tax could be used to help build a $522 million stadium in downtown Minneapolis without requiring a referendum.

Minnesota Twins Win Stadium Subsidy Deal.  Years of concerted effort by the Minnesota Twins Major League Baseball team paid off on May 26, when Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) signed a stadium subsidy bill before the start of the Twins game against the Seattle Mariners.  It was a good night for the Twins, as they won hundreds of millions of tax dollars for a new stadium and then defeated the Mariners 3-1.  But many analysts believe it was a bad night for Minnesota taxpayers.

Penguins souring on Plan B.  Gov. Ed Rendell yesterday [1/19/2007] said the arena deal being offered the Penguins is better than others struck recently in the National Hockey League, but the team has balked at a proposal to share development rights and parking revenues with Pittsburgh casino backer Don Barden.

Florida Turns Down Subsidy for Marlins Stadium.  Although Florida lawmakers declined to provide financial assistance to the Florida Marlins Major League Baseball franchise, a proposed move of the team to San Antonio, Texas has been killed.

[So!  All that talk about leaving town was just an empty threat.  Imagine that.]

Sports Stadiums and the Effects on the Economy.  Before the depression, stadiums such as Wrigley Field, Tiger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, and Fenway Park were being built by using private funds.  In the 1980's America was spending about $1.5 billion on new stadiums; in the 1990's it spent $11 billion.  Furthermore, in 1967 the cost to build the Kingdome was $67 million, in 1999 the cost to build Safeco Field was $517.6 million.

Election Fraud Investigation in San Francisco.  An investigation into allegations of organized fraud in the June 1997 stadium bond election in San Francisco.

The team that mistook its stadium for a hat.  Whenever a new major league baseball stadium opens, it's hailed as an emblem of progress, a palace of sport, an engineering wonder, a centerpiece of the community, and an immense improvement over its predecessor.  In recent years, it has also become mandatory to apply such overworked expressions as "state of the art," "intimate," and "old-fashioned ballpark with all the modern conveniences."  Historically, even underachievers such as San Francisco's wind-cursed Candlestick Park and the multi-sport concrete ashtrays of the '70s have drawn opening-day accolades — and, of course, so have the good ones.

Public Funding of Stadiums:  A very large collection of articles on this subject at No Land Grab dot org.

The name of the game is money — tax money used to build sporting arenas.  As players' salaries and ticket prices spiral astronomically upward, it is the taxpaying public that is being stuck with the bill for new stadiums.  If there has been one constant in professional sports over the past 20 to 25 years, it is that owners and players are becoming increasingly wealthy at the expense of fans, non-fans, and taxpayers.  In 1976, the average salary of major league baseball players was $51,000.  That jumped to $412,000 by 1987 and is well over $1,000,000 today.

Field of Schemes dot com  is the companion website to Field of Schemes:  How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money Into Private Profit, by Joanna Cagan and Neil deMause. Since 1998, we have been casting a critical eye on the roughly $2 billion a year in public subsidies that go toward building new pro sports facilities.

Top 10 Dumbest Reasons to Build a New Stadium.

Sports Stadiums Becoming Major Corporate Welfare.  "We are just pointing out two important facts," [Roger] Noll says.  "Stadiums are not a net local economic benefit, and the reasons cities are paying for them is because the (federal) government made the professional leagues monopolies" — exempt from anti-trust laws that apply to most other industries.

Take pro sports off the government payroll.  Call it "public funding" if you like, but the fact remains:  There is no such thing as public money.  The government has no money, except what it takes from the taxpayers.  What the D.C. Council's agreement means is this:  If I decide to go to any games at the new stadium, which is to be completed in 2008, I will be paying for a ticket to a game, at which I will buy drinks and hot dogs, and the entire spectacle will take place in a facility that I helped pay for.

Ballpark Boondoggle.  Beginning in the early 1990s, an unprecedented stadium construction boom has swept the world of professional sports.  Since the opening of New Comiskey Park in Chicago in April of 1991 a total of 28 new stadiums have been built or are under construction to house professional football and baseball franchises in the United States.

Big money socialism:  If the wealthy owners of sports teams want new stadiums, let them build them with their own money.  They're not entitled to our money.  Just as cities take people's homes so rich corporations can do what the politicians call "urban renewal," telling the courts economic development is a "public use," sports tycoons argue their stadiums are in the "public interest."  Their politician friends tell voters that a stadium will "bring jobs," be "good for the city," "pay for itself."  Bunk.  Study after study finds stadiums cost far more than they return.

Bowl games and traditions.  It irks me that the Peach Bowl is now the Chick-fil-A Bowl.  It vexes me to hear the mandated phrase "Invesco Field at Mile High."  I grieve the loss of the old and honored place-names of sports:  Candlestick Park, Three Rivers Stadium, Jack Murphy Stadium. … That corporate names, attached to stadiums by means of vast expenditures, can make no claims to the people's veneration, as opposed to their fleeting fancy, is no mere controversial assertion on my part — it is an admitted feature of the principle of the system.

The Capital Spenders:  Why are $100,000 of our tax dollars going to the Tiger Woods Foundation?  This multi-millionaire can afford to support his own foundation.  Why must taxpayers continue to contribute to various sports halls of fame, including $75,000 for the one in Syracuse, N.Y.? … Why is the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., getting $450,000 for "educational outreach"?

Supposed economic benefit?  I'm fine with the idea of the Cowboys playing in Arlington, but I wish owner Jerry Jones would write the check for it and leave Arlington taxpayers alone.  He'll get their money eventually, along with ticket, parking, food and souvenir revenue from everyone else who comes to see the Cowboys of 2009 and beyond.

Dallas Cowboys' Shining Star.  The stadium will cost $1 billion by the time it's finished.

Stadium project is burning through $1 million each day.  The new Cowboys stadium is about 40 percent complete, and crews are spending nearly $1 million a day to build the team's new home, construction manager Jack Hill said.

New Cowboys stadium costs tower over others.  Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said since [Jerry] Jones is paying for most of the stadium, taxpayers shouldn't have a problem.  "Does it bother me?" he said.  "No, it does not.  He is making a huge investment in Arlington."  Jones' investment is about $725 million.  The city of Arlington's investment is about $475 million.  For that kind of money, Arlington could have built its own stadium like the Reliant Stadium in Houston, which is where the Houston Texans play. ... The big difference is that the 50 yard line seats that are 20 rows up at the new Cowboys stadium will cost you $150,000 for a personal seat license and $340 for a ticket.

The Art of the NFL.  [Scroll down]  The new Cowboys Stadium provides a good example. The field, the television screen, the party zone, the presumptive lines at the parking lot — the good taxpayers of Arlington, Texas have built Jerry Jones his Taj Mahal.  He didn't forget the harem.  Ensconced within the stands are platforms accommodating clusters of pole-dancers, a kind of J.V. Cowboys Cheerleaders squad.

City ordered to disclose secret arena proposal.  The city of Sacramento was ordered Thursday [10/26/2006] to turn over a copy of a negotiating proposal sent to the owners of the Sacramento Kings as part of their discussions for a new arena in the downtown railyard.

County Claims Bengals Cheated Taxpayers.  Hamilton County commissioners claim the team for which they built a stadium and the league that oversees the team cheated them out of $600 million.  One of the most controversial pieces of evidence is the Bengals' win-loss record:  The team said it needed more money to be more competitive, but the Bengals still stink.

Jones' Subsidy Could Reach $1.2 Billion.  The stadium deal for Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys is weighted heavily on the side of the team.  The Cowboys emphasized during the tax initiative campaign that they were putting up half the money for the stadium — $325 million — but that isn't quite true.  While the city will use the new taxes to retire its side of the debt, Jones will be able to slap his own 10 percent "tax" on tickets and a $3 tax on parking to retire his side.  That will raise about $10 million a year, or $300 million over 30 years.

Take Me Out of the Ballgame.  Generally in these agreements the city will pay part of the costs and the team pays the rest.  In this case, Arlington increased property, car rental and hotel taxes to pay for the city's share.  But according to a story in the Dallas Morning News, it also wants to levy a 10 percent tax on tickets and a $3 parking tax.  The twist here is that those user taxes will be applied toward the Cowboy's portion of the bill.

An End to Sports Welfare?  When Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones asked Arlington, Texas voters to pay for a new stadium last November, he did not call the classic plays from the sports welfare playbook.  He could not say America's Team needed a state-of-the-art facility to compete, since Texas Stadium (in the Dallas-adjacent suburb of Irving) has more luxury suites than any other stadium in the National Football League (NFL) and the Cowboys won three Super Bowls in the 1990s.  He could not say he was financially strapped, since his franchise ranks sixth in the NFL in profits and second in revenue, according to Forbes magazine.

Baseball stadium is striking out in the nation's capital.  The District of Columbia "won" a bidding war for the Montreal Expos by promising to construct a $440 million stadium, one of the most expensive ever.  But total projected costs already have ballooned to $530 million.  And author Charles C. Euchner warns:  "Count on that cost ballooning past $600 million or more.  Public works projects invariably run over budget by at least 25 percent."

Our national disgrace.  Today we hardly bat an eye when a large enterprise like a sports stadium is started not by business people, but by politicians.  Or when one of the poorest-run cities in the nation distracts itself from improving its badly provided essential services to engage in what has become a rich-man's luxury.  Or when we see captains of industry reduced from creators of wealth to welfare addicts. … In the end, the argument is that this kind of subsidy creates jobs and profits and thus "pays for itself."  Of course, it doesn't.  The so-called economics used to justify these subsidies to major league sports are worth less than the literary value of infield chatter.  A simple truth remains:  When it is economical to invest in a stadium, private enterprise will do so.  When it is not, then it shouldn't be done.
I'd ride the subway, but I haven't enough change.
 Baseball vs. D.C.:  The Lerners have already benefited from D.C. taxpayers, who were forced to foot the $611 million bill to build the stadium for Theodore Lerner, his family and his $450 million baseball team.  Fan support has been averaging 29,000 tickets per game, while the team is a last-place-in-the-league joke in almost every category.

Stop the Squeeze Play.  As Major League Baseball announced it was bringing in a mediator to pinch-hit for a baseball stadium lease settlement that could heavily burden taxpayers, a letter to [Washington DC] City Council Members today [1/19/2006] from five citizen groups pitching from the right and left of the political spectrum contended that the costly bidding game should be called on account of fiscal recklessness.

Stadium parking garage to be above ground.  Officials in charge of building the Washington Nationals' new ballpark in Southeast are negotiating a deal with Western Development to build two parking garages above ground at the stadium site and wrap them with condominiums and retail.

Public Funded Fresno Stadium.  Partisan forecasts made by some local economists have grossly overestimated the economic benefits and understated the economic costs of the Diamond Group's proposed publicly funded minor league baseball team stadium.

Is There An Economic Rationale for Sports Stadium Subsidies?  Controversy shadows sports in the United States.  Sports are so deeply woven into the fabric of our culture that disputations about them are inevitable.  Sports are leisure; sports are business; sports are religion.  The multiple personalities of sports are nowhere more visible than in the many municipal stadium debates taking place throughout the country.  City leaders from Miami to San Francisco have summoned sound economic management as their star witness in defending plans to subsidize the renovation or construction of stadiums.

Government-funded stadiums are not worth price of admission.  Games and circuses once were provided by government.  How better to satiate the desire of the Roman masses than to entertain them in the Arena?  Today, governments build stadiums to attract sports franchises for the same purpose.  But the American masses seem to be tiring of transferring billions of dollars to billionaire team owners.

Corporate welfare, Dallas-style:  Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones claims to have lost 55 pounds through renouncing cheeseburgers and beer.  Now it's time for a real diet.  Imagine how much Jerry could contribute to the public weal through renouncing the public money he wants for a new football stadium.

Watchdog cries foul on ballpark.  A government watchdog group plans to ask the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance to investigate whether the use of city employees to solicit letters of support for the mayor's $440 million baseball stadium-financing plan constitutes an ethics violation.

Public Dollars, Private Stadiums.  Do sports stadiums really revitalize a community, bringing revenue, jobs, and status as a "major league" city?  Since the mid-1980s, nearly ten billion dollars of public money have financed new playing fields in the US, so they must be worth the investment, right?

Chicago Stadiums Fail to Deliver Promised Benefits.  Chicago has two taxpayer-subsidized sports stadiums, neither of which appears to be living up to the promises made by supporters of taxpayer funding.  U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, is supposed to pay rent to the state after attendance hits a certain figure, but in recent years attendance has been below the target, effectively giving the White Sox a rent-free stadium.

Experts Agree:  Public Support for Stadiums Is Madness.  Although research proves sports stadiums drain public resources, are of minimal or no economic benefit, and enrich primarily the owners of sport teams, St. Louis and Missouri might succumb and dole out many millions for decades to come.

"Publicly funded sports stadiums are like crack cocaine to local politicians and business bigwigs.  These folks are just like addicts:  They deceive everyone around them for the sake of a fix and rarely take no for an answer when voters decline to subsidize their schemes."

— Michael W. Lynch, Reason Magazine *      


Egregious Earmark of the Week:  $100,000 to Fix Orange Show Stadium.  Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) has spotted this week's egregious earmark buried in the Transportation-Treasury-HUD appropriations bill (H.R. 3058) for fiscal year 2006.  The noteworthy pork project comes to the grand total of $100,000 allotted to the city of San Bernardino, Calif., for making renovations to the National Orange Show Stadium.

Home Run for Corporate Welfare:  During the twentieth century, more than $14 billion in government subsidies went to the four major professional sports — Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League.  While cities build fields of dreams for teams, hoping they will come, it isn't clear there are economic gains.  Three experts on the economics of tax-funded stadiums examined the need for subsidies of sports teams and the economic impact of sports on local economies.

Sports Stadiums:  No Pot of Gold for Cities.  Sports stadiums may have psychological and even political benefits, but they are falsely sold as an economic development tool.  Cities and boosters ought to rely on private capital for funding these structures.

Tax-Exempt Bonds and the Economics of Professional Sports Stadiums.  An economist for the Congressional Research Service concludes that federal, state, and local taxpayers don't benefit economically from subsidizing professional sports stadiums.

Public Financing of Sports Stadiums:  How Cincinnati Compares.  Hamilton County, Ohio, asks taxpayers to approve a sales tax increase to raise funds to subsidize new sports stadiums for the Reds and Bengals.  Ultimately, taxpayers must determine for themselves whether an investment in sports will make life better.

Sports Stadiums Can Be Privately Financed.  This report concludes Ohio is out of step with other states and cities, which have moved away from public financing, and toward private financing, of sports stadiums.

Stadiums, Professional Sports, and Economic Development:  Assessing the Reality.  About one century ago, professional sports became prominent in American public life.  During its early years, the business of sports was primarily a private undertaking, financed with private money and played in private stadiums and arenas.  But state and local government subsidies to professional sports businesses have proliferated over the past few decades, and economic arguments have been crafted to justify the subsidies. … Public funds are increasingly scarce.  We must test the argument that professional sports offer an important return on government subsidies.  The purpose of this paper is to use economic theory and empirical techniques to assess the contribution of professional sports to metropolitan area economic development in the United States.

D.C. Councilwoman Stands against Taxpayer-Funded Stadium — For a While.  Major League Baseball was thrown a curveball on December 15 [2004] as District of Columbia Councilwoman Linda Cropp (D) tried to help local taxpayers by changing the financing rules for a proposed new stadium.

A New Baseball Statistic for Opening Day:  Government subsidies for professional sports stadiums are not only economically unsound, they are unfair to sports fans and non-fans alike.

Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?  And Where are the Stadiums You Played In?  The modern stadium barely tips its hat to its ancestors anymore, rather it prefers to dance on their graves.  How unfortunate to think that one of the establishments that helped to bring America together and forge our nation as one has evolved into nothing more than a greedy child constantly asking for money.

No Jones Tax!  It is not the job of taxpayers to build facilities for private business entities.  The mission of No Jones Tax campaign is to prevent taxpayers from paying higher taxes, new taxes, or for new give-away schemes to build a new stadium for Jerry Jones.  Jerry Jones can build his own stadium without our tax dollars.

We Wuz Robbed!  The Subsidized Stadium Scam.  While the actual sport of baseball is an excellent metaphor for the free market (illustrating how individuals and teams work together and compete against one another), at the professional level nearly all the teams play in government-owned or government-subsidized ballparks.

Here's a Deal We Can Afford to Refuse:  From Cleveland to Baltimore to Chicago, cities nationwide have repeatedly been suckered by team owners who claim they can't operate profitably without state-of-the-art, taxpayer-funded facilities offering luxury boxes and other high-dollar seating arrangements.

It's "play ball"… with taxpayer money.  Down the road, maybe these saps — AKA taxpayers — may balk at paying for stadiums, luxury skyboxes, parking concessions, tax abatements, and various other schemes that funnel taxpayer money to billionaire owners.

Public Interest is Usually Special Interest:  Special interest groups have been quick to tap the public till.  Of course, they usually aren't so blunt as to demand tax money for their personal benefit.  They have found a more effective strategy:  obtain government subsidies for their pet project by arguing that it will benefit everyone in the community.  Their project, in fact, is something we all "need."  It's amazing what a person will "need" when someone else is picking up the tab.

The sports stadium scam:  What is seen and what is not seen.  Taxpayer subsidization of professional sports facilities is almost always a losing bet, economically speaking.  The economic impact studies employed by politicians, the news media, and pro sports owners to support government-financed facilities are beset by methodological problems and don't count all the relevant costs.

Public-Private Promises 1:  Three Rivers Stadium [Part 1].  Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium is deemed "economically obsolete for baseball" by boosters of the Forbes Field II project, yet privately owned Busch Stadium in St. Louis, similar in age and design, has generated profits every year since its opening.

Public-Private Promises  [Part 2]
Stadium subsidies are being offered by local governments but they offer few or no benefits to residents.
 Should Congress Stop the Bidding War for Sports Franchises?  On November 29, 1995, the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights, and Competition of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held hearings on sports franchise relocation.  That testimony is summarized here.

Government Stadium Subsidies Would "Pick Pockets of Taxpayers to Line Pockets of Teams".  According to a study by the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF), the $200-$360 million in stadium subsidies being offered by local governments would offer few or no benefits to residents.

Sports Stadium Stampede Could Trample Taxpayers for $15 Billion.  Between 1990 and 2000, the average Major League Baseball salary rose 243 percent, and the average National Football League salary increased 143 percent.  Tax subsidies help team owners to offset or even inflate these expenses while maintaining their profit margins.

Stadium Socialism:  Research shows that taxpayer-financed sports facilities aren't economically justified, according to economists.  A national poll conducted by Media Research and Communications found that 80 percent of Americans oppose using their tax dollars for sports stadiums and areas.  But city and state politicians keep building them.

Bush's baseball tax fetish:  Economist Raymond J. Keating of the Washington, D.C.-based Small Business Survival Committee estimates the total costs of building big league ballparks at $11.5 billion, with taxpayers picking up about 81 percent of the tab, or $9.3 billion.

Baseball in the Nation's Capital:  Games with Tax Dollars.  Sports teams have grown accustomed to receiving a healthy dose of public money for nearly any stadium project.

Game Plan:  Cincinnati voters approved a sales-tax increase in 1996 that would pay for about 90 percent of the $450 million Paul Brown Field.  PSINet Stadium, home of the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, was built almost entirely with public money.  Revenue bonds and sports lottery money accounted for $200 million of the $223 million price tag.  The Jacksonville Jaguars invested only $10.5 million in the $135 million reconstruction of Alltel Stadium in 1995.

Your Bread, Kansas City's Circus:  The IRS has recently ruled that an elaborate plan devised by the lawyers of the former owner of the Kansas City Royals to keep the baseball team in town served a charitable purpose on the ground that it will lessen the burdens of government.

Everyone Wants A Taxpayer-Funded Stadium, Except Taxpayers.  It's good to be the owner of a sports franchise.  Not only do you rake in millions from inflated ticket prices and exorbitantly marked-up concessions, but you can convince the state into chipping in money to build or maintain your stadium.

Squeeze Play:  Do Baseball Stadiums Need Our Bucks to Get Built?  For taxpayers, the first game of the season is also a pretty good time to ponder ever-larger government handouts to millionaire team owners and players.

Should We Pay For Sports Arenas?  Do cities really benefit from having a professional team?  I am not sure that they do.

State-subsidized Slush:  While the jury is still out on the economic costs and benefits of new municipally supported stadia, the benefit to the fans is, shall we say, minimal?  How about almost non-existent.

Subsidized Ballparks Price Fans Away.  New evidence indicates that sports fans who vote to subsidize sports arenas with their taxpayer dollars quite possibly could be denied entry at the gate.

Pro Sports on the Dole:  Government officials would better focus their attention on creating a healthy economic environment for their respective cities and states by lowering taxes, reducing regulatory burdens, and paring down the size of government.

Taxpayers Shouldn't Subsidize Pro Sport.  In 1994, the Edmonton Oilers persuaded Edmonton's councillors to institute a ticket tax to help the team pay its $2.8 million annual rent, and then managed to have the rent scrapped entirely last year, while still retaining ticket tax proceeds.  Talk about eating and having your proverbial cake.

Sports Stadium Madness… Still Ripping Off Taxpayers.  Future historians will look back on the 1980s and 1990s with amazement.  Communities hard-pressed to keep their schools open or police on the beat nevertheless spent billions of dollars on stadiums and arenas for use by professional sports teams.  Mediocre athletes were paid more in a single season than the average taxpayer earned in a lifetime.  Tickets were priced so high that the average taxpayer, whose earnings were taxed to build these facilities, could not afford to walk through the turnstile.

Minnesota Twins beat taxpayers in extra innings.  Score: Twins: $330 million, Taxpayers:  big losers.  "This bill isn't a deal.  It isn't even the outline of a deal.  It is simply the first step in which the legislature has acknowledged the principle that taxpayers should be on the hook for financing new stadiums for professional sports teams," said David Strom, Legislative Director of the Taxpayers league of Minnesota.

How Taxpayers Prop Up Sport Mogul's Profits:  Sports teams and their facilities have little measurable impact on the economic vitality of a community.  As pro team owners hunker down to protect their interests, it is the hapless taxpayer who will get stuck holding the bag for non-performing assets, not to mention the collateral damage from non-performing schools.  This is the choice many communities now face, and hopefully more will choose wisely in the future than have done so in the past.

Tax Me Out of the Ball Game:  Construction of the new Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati will cost local taxpayers at least 400 million dollars.  Despite this enormous public investment, there is no guarantee that the Cincinnati Bengals will continue to do anything but lose.  Actually, the only thing the Bengals have promised not to do now is - leave.  Try to contain your excitement.  Stadium deals financed with public dollars are one of the most egregious forms of corporate welfare at the municipal level.  Yet, there is no real outcry because professional sports organizations have done a masterful job of promoting a myth.  The myth is that professional sports franchises and their stadiums are good for local economies.  Unfortunately, there is no real evidence to support this.

Public Funding of Stadiums:  Governments Must Simply Say No:  Using public moneys to help fund the construction of new, or the renovation of existing, stadiums is bad public policy.  Teams owners often want new stadiums in part (at least) to realize greater profits and increase the values of their teams.  New stadiums can create from $10 million to $40 million in additional annual income for an owner.  Even if the extra revenue is used solely for players' salaries, the owner still benefits, because the value of the team increases:  Baseball teams that had the highest venue revenue in 1996 tended to be the teams with the greatest franchise value.  Hence, public money invested in stadiums ends up eventually benefitting team owners and players.

Wasting Taxes On Sports Is A Favorite U.S. Pastime:  Americans spend billions in tax dollars to subsidize professional sports.  The government lies, saying stadiums will pay for themselves.  It never happens.  Meanwhile, many fear a tax cut will short-change government, mistakenly believing it is the source of all good.  We have lost the awareness that we control our own destiny, instead relying on government.


Rowdy fans and athletes:

Cops: Saints fan shoots two 49ers fans after loss.  An angry New Orleans Saints fan shot two San Francisco 49ers fans in a restaurant parking lot Saturday evening [1/14/2012] shortly after his team lost the NFL divisional playoff game, police said.  Donald Ray Ayro, 31, reportedly became upset with two 49ers fans while watching the game at an Applebee's restaurant.

High School Basketball Player Attacks Ref.  A video of what not to do when you don't like a ref's call has been circulating the Internet.  In a game between Florida high school teams Arcadia DeSoto and Port Charlotte, DeSoto's Mason Holland shoved a Port Charlotte player, and then, after a technical foul was called on him, went ballistic and threw the referee to the floor.

Chanting "USA, USA" at a college football game termed anti Muslim.  So chanting USA, USA at a football game is now anti Muslim?  According to a University of Illinois professor, the answer is yes.

More about The Religion of the Easily Offended.

The High Cost of Favoritism.  Those who star in sports that are big in educational institutions — football and basketball being classic examples — can start having the rules bent in their favor as early as high school.  Everyone wants a winning team and bending a few rules for those who can make that happen may seem like a small price to pay.  At colleges and universities where football or basketball are big time, ensuring passing grades for players on those teams is a major priority.

Putting Sports on Notice:  The statistics regarding violence at school and other amateur sporting events have been cited regularly in the media — yet violence at those events continues unabated. … It is time for every parent, if not every prospective spectator of an organized athletic event, to consider the wisdom of attending contests that have become as much about the egos of the fans as about the players.

The Last Resort for Losers.  Nowhere in the rule book of any sport is criminal violence authorized.  Even in those sports events where physical force is part of the competition, causing injury to an opponent may be incidental to the goal of the competition but it is not the goal itself.  Even in boxing, a sport about which there is debate over the whether it has crossed the line to violence for violence sake, there are rules which must be observed.

Keep me out of the ballgame.  Today, taking your son or daughter to a major sports event might require a helmet and earplugs.  Too many players aspire to create gangsta images and cover themselves with tattoos, record nasty rap albums in their spare time, and push and kick a cameraman or two just to maintain that bad-boy image.

Concerned about gang signs, NFL reviews tapes.  The league, concerned that some players might be celebrating by using the hand signals of street gangs, has hired experts to study game tapes.

Amoral media, lowlife fans, spoiled athletes and beer.  Let's finally stop repeating the false notion that big business has conservative values.  Big business has no values. … Liberals perpetuate the falsehood of big business as conservative for three reasons:  They have a materialist view of the world (just about everything is explainable by economic status and motives; it aids in getting people to vote Democrat); many people resent the amorality of big companies; and it seems to counter the argument that the major news media are liberal — "How could the news media possibly be liberal when they are all owned by large corporations!"

Obviously, Sports Do Not Build Character.  If you are one of those people who believe the old adage "sports builds character," you have some explaining to do.  Why are so many professional athletes, who have spent their entire lives in organized sports, masters at cheating, serial adultery, drunkenness, compulsive gambling, drug abuse, and thuggish fighting (to name just a few of the vices)? … By character I mean moral excellence:  a life characterized by prudence, fortitude, self-discipline, and humility in pursuit of what is good.

Morons disguised as hockey fans.  Montreal was the lead story on morning TV news on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border yesterday, but the Canadiens' Game 7 victory over the Boston Bruins was merely a footnote.  The big story was the violence and vandalism that grew out of the celebrations after the Canadiens' win.  I'm not sure what Monday night's carnage means, but there's an argument to be made that our society is headed in the wrong direction.

Nashua woman charged with murder after Sox-related argument.  A Nashua, New Hampshire woman is being held without bail after prosecutors say she ran down a man outside a bar — after a argument witnesses say was about the Red Sox and Yankees.

NFL announces new fan code of conduct.  The NFL implemented a new code of fan conduct Tuesday [8/5/2008], warning that spectators who misbehave will be ejected from stadiums and barred from coming back.  The policy, first recommended by commissioner Roger Goodell at league meetings in April, is aimed at conduct that the league said "detracts from the gameday experience."

Booing at games may be banned.  The organization that oversees high school sports in Washington is considering rules for fans that could ban booing and offensive chants.  The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has not made an official ruling, but has discussed guidelines to crack down on negative conduct, a spokesman said.  Some of the state's top coaches believe a boo ban is extreme.

The Editor says...
 This is political correctness carried to its extreme in the land of the easily offended.  Are spectators expected to cheer for both teams?  I think the courts would rule that booing, however offensive, is constitutionally-protected free speech.


The Olympics:

The Olympics, in my estimation, are the UN's way to candy-coat the prospect of a unified world government, with its world-wide laws and taxes.  [1] [2] [3] [4]  The UN flag flies at all competition sites of the Olympic Games. [5]  The Olympics are an attempt to show that one country is morally equivalent to another:  It's all the same if the games are hosted by China or England or Russia or the United States.  Taxpayers, especially in the host country, end up paying the bills for the competition without the benefit of voting on it.

Olympic Boondoggle:  Careful What You Wish For.  Federal, state and local taxpayers end up paying for these Olympic athletic enterprises with few lasting benefits.

NBC Posts $223 Million Loss on Winter Olympics.  The tally is in:  NBC lost $223 million on the Winter Olympics in the first quarter.

Chicago Olympics Bid Could Cost Taxpayers.  The City of Chicago's efforts to land the 2016 Summer Olympics could leave taxpayers across Illinois on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars, even though Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) last year vowed "not a dime" of taxpayer money would be spent on the Olympics.  The Illinois legislature is expected to throw taxpayer support behind Chicago's bid.  Gov. Pat Quinn (D), who recently took office after lawmakers impeached and removed Rod Blagojevich from office, has already publicly committed at least $150 million in state funds for the Olympics — and that could climb higher.

The Olympic Bible:  The organizers of the 2008 Olympic Games in China have put the Bible on the list of items that athletes are banned from bringing with them to Beijing … This would seem to undermine claims by a Chinese government official, Ye Xiaowen, who told Reuters last month that China would accommodate the religious needs of visiting athletes.

The International Olympic Committee's Gag Order:  I'll put my cards on the table:  I'm no fan of the Olympics.  The bizarre North Korean mass-games style ceremonies, the corruption, the fakey universalist cosmopolitan brotherhood-of-man sentiments, the perpetuation of sports that no one cares about which should have died out long ago...  I think the Olympics is to sports as the United Nations is to politics.

China's totalitarian games:  Well, the [2008 Olympic] Games have certainly had a lasting effect on one part of Chinese society — the 1.5 million men, women, and children expelled from their homes in Beijing to make room for the construction of Olympic facilities and urban beautification projects.  To clear them out, the Geneva-based Center on Housing Rights and Evictions found, Chinese authorities resorted to "harassment, repression, imprisonment, and even violence."  Demolitions and evictions frequently occurred without due process.  Many dispossessed residents were not compensated; those who were usually received a fraction of the amount needed to make them whole.

China's gold medals came at a high price.  If anybody feels a pang of jealousy over China's haul of Olympic gold medals, they need only pause to consider what the athletes went through to get them.  The only mother on China's team, Xian Dongmei, told reporters after she won her gold medal in judo that she had not seen her 18-month-old daughter in one year, monitoring the girl's growth only by webcam.  Another gold medalist, weightlifter Cao Lei, was kept in such seclusion training for the Olympics that she wasn't told her mother was dying.  She found out only after she had missed the funeral.

China's apologists are wide-eyed and clueless.  Poor old Robert Mugabe.  Do you know what that guy needs?  An Olympics.  Harare 2012, he really missed a trick there.  A well-run Games and nothing else matters.  Put on a show, throw up a couple of impressive buildings and the world is your friend.  The road home from Beijing is lined with wide-eyed converts who've seen the light on totalitarianism.

I assume you've heard of Robert Mugabe.

China's hi-tech 'death van':  After trials of the mobile execution service were launched quietly three years ago — then hushed up to prevent an international row about the abuse of human rights before the Olympics last summer — these vehicles are now being deployed across China.  The number of executions is expected to rise to a staggering 10,000 people this year (not an impossible figure given that at least 68 crimes — including tax evasion and fraud — are punishable by death in China).

Title IX Tied Our Hands At the Olympics.  U.S. athletes won in spite of Title IX regulations, which impose gender quotas on sports for institutions that receive any federal money.  Title IX has crippled our national competitiveness.  Title IX regulations have forced educational institutions to eliminate men's teams until the number of men and women on sports teams is the same ratio as the number of men and women enrolled in academic classes.  In the numerous colleges that are now 60 percent female in academic enrollment, Title IX requires that men's teams be eliminated until only 40 percent of the athletes are men.

Speaking of Title IX...
 Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.  In a mind-boggling move, NCAA president Miles Brand recently urged NCAA institutions not to blame Title IX for any athletics cuts that they might be forced to make in the current economic downturn. ... The truth is that Title IX is always a factor in athletic department program decisions.

Is the NCAA Anti-Male?  In 1972, Congresswoman Patsy Mink authored an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ... The law was called Title IX.  The question now is whether this admirable idea has evolved into a law that is anti-male, and particularly anti-black male.

Enough is enough:  Here are my reasons for boycotting the Olympics.  The International Olympic Committee and the megabucks corporate sponsors of the games breathed a sigh of relief when the Beijing Olympics got under way last week with no major boycotts or disruptions.  Last spring, faced with widespread outrage over China's brutal suppression of Tibetan protesters and stubborn support for murderous regimes in Sudan, Burma and Zimbabwe, IOC chairman Jacques Rogge nervously insisted "a boycott doesn't solve anything."

Massive Cheating by China at the Olympics.  There is absolutely no doubt — none, zero, zilch — that the Chinese "women's" gymnastics team featured several little girls no older than 14 years of age — two years younger than the international federation allows for competition.  Online registrations of these girls list one age, their passports list another.  This is blatant cheating — no other word for it.

China playing games at Olympics.  Does it get any lower than to use young girls like this to ensure your national glory?  The people of China deserve better than what has been going on at the Olympics and two tiny singers, maybe up to four gymnasts and perhaps the whole world are deserving of an apology.  Here we were thinking the Olympics was about integrity, honesty and fair competition.

Cheating ChiComs, Crouching IOC.  I have an 8-year-old daughter. I know what 8-year-old hands and feet and hips and teeth look like.  They look a lot like the hands and feet and hips and teeth of the purported "teenagers" on the gold medal-winning Chinese girls' gymnastics team.

The 100-Meter Gasp.  The Beijing Olympics [exposed] the environmentalist fraud that the U.S. is the world's biggest polluter.  Compared with China, we get the gold medal for energy efficiency.

Elderly Chinese women ordered into re-education for daring to protest.  Two elderly women who applied five times for permission to demonstrate in China's Olympic protest parks against the demolition of their homes have been ordered to serve a year of re-education through labour, according to a human rights group.  It is the toughest penalty to be reported against any of those who followed up an announcement by the Government that it would allow protests in three Beijing parks during the Games.  So far, police say that they have received 77 applications.  None has been approved.

IOC launches probe into possible underage Chinese gymnasts.  The governing body of the Olympic games is demanding an investigation into whether China stacked its female gymnastics team with underage tumblelinas.  The probe will center on China's gold-medal winning darlings, He Kexin and Yang Yilin.

International Olympic Committee launches probe into He Kexin's age.  The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into mounting allegations that Chinese authorities covered up the true age of their gold-medal winning gymnastics star because she was too young to compete.

Hacker Uncovers Proof Chinese Gymnast Is Underage.  A determined computer expert has delved into cached pages on the Internet to unearth Chinese official documents showing a gymnast who took gold, edging Britain's Beth Tweddle into fourth place, may indeed be underage.

Update:
 IOC strips bronze medal from China for using underage gymnast at 2000 Sydney Olympics.  Ten years after its gymnastics team won an Olympic bronze medal in Sydney, China was ordered to give it back for using an underage girl, allowing the United States to claim it instead.  Acting on evidence that Dong Fangxiao was only 14 at the 2000 Games, the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday stripped the country of the women's team bronze.

And You Thought Watching Was Torture ...  By some estimates, China has as many as 10,000,000 industrial slaves (according to sociologist Zhou Xiaozeng).  What's 10,002,200?  Taking politics out of the Olympics means ignoring the enslaved dancer who suffered paralysis in favor of the strapping American kid who's good at swimming.  If you have no problem doing that and consider the whole charade a wonderful celebration of human achievement, you are going to love the Pyongyang games.

Olympic fakery makes plain China's contempt for reality.  Time to clear the air:  That's not smog hovering over Beijing, swallowing entire office buildings like a mighty python.  It's just "a funny mist," says the city's environmental chief, who insists that the Chinese government has eliminated air pollution in the capital.

Olympic gold medals are made of silver.  The gold medals awarded at the Beijing Olympics are mostly made of silver, the Games' organising committee BOCOG admitted on Monday.  Each medal contains only 6% pure gold, BOCOG secretary-general Wang Wei said.  The bulk is silver, he added.

Human Rights in China Worse Since Olympics Started, Experts Say.  Experts told CNSNews.com that that [John] Ray's experience was only an example of the kind of suppression that has occurred in China during the Olympic Games.  "The human rights situation is much worse than it was a month before the games began," John Tkacik, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told CNSNews.com.  "People used to be able to silently stand at government offices with petitions and protest against various government transgressions, but now they have all been chased away and some put in prison."

IOC calls for additional examination of Chinese gymnasts' ages.  The International Olympic Committee asked the international gymnastics federation Friday to reexamine whether gold-medal-winning gymnast He Kexin and two of her teammates were too young to compete in the Beijing Games.

Olympic-Sized Racism:  The Aug. 8 parade of nations featured representatives from 204 countries and territories of varying degrees of sovereignty bearing 204 flags and wearing 204 outfits designed to reflect the essence of the folks back home.  The parade … is perhaps the most powerful symbol of actual progress the Olympics has to offer.  That's especially true when you consider that people from several of those parading nations first competed in the Olympics at a bizarre, demeaning borderline-freak show designed to further racial pseudoscience.

Rogge rips the wrong guy.  Jacques Rogge is so bought, so compromised, the president of the IOC doesn't have the courage to criticize China for telling a decade of lies to land itself these Olympic Games.  All the promises made to get these Games — on Tibet, Darfur, pollution, worker safety, freedom of expression, dissident rights — turned out to be phony, perhaps as phony as the Chinese gymnasts' birthdates Rogge was way too slow to investigate.

Olympic fans, spectators wish Beijing would stop adding oil.  A large proportion of the audiences who came to view Olympic events had never seen those sports live before or even, in many cases, on TV.  A substantial number had not been to any stadium to view sports.  Thus it did not seem particularly unusual or strange that in the lead-up to these Olympics, the government should have organised the chanting.

Earlier in the year...
 Unmasked:  Chinese guardians of Olympic torch.  China's blue-clad flame attendants, whose aggressive methods of safeguarding the Olympic torch have provoked international outcry, are paramilitary police from a force spun off from the country's army.  The squad of 30 young men from the police academy that turns out the cream of the paramilitary security force has the job at home of ensuring riot control, domestic stability and the protection of diplomats.

Rudd says 'no' to China torch guards.  Chinese paramilitary police will not be allowed to run alongside the Olympic torch in Australia, the country's prime minister said Thursday [4/10/2008], after their heavy-handed tactics drew criticism in earlier legs of the relay.  The men in bright blue tracksuits were dispatched by Beijing to guard the Olympic flame on its journey around the world.  They sparked concern in London and Paris, with the top official for the 2012 London Olympics calling them "thugs."

Accusations spread of Chinese under-age Olympians.  Australian media are reporting today that doubts have been raised about the ages of Chinese medal-winning athletes as long ago as the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.  Age-falsification has become a burning issue since the Beijing Games last month, where it was alleged that Chinese gymnast He Kexin, who won two gold medals, was underage and therefore should have been ineligible to compete in the event.

Chinese gymnasts not underage.  The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) had asked the Chinese federation to submit documents proving the birthdates of five members of the gold-winning team ... The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had specifically asked the FIG to investigate double Olympic gold-medalist He, who was registered as 16 although online media reports suggested she may have been 14.  Gymnasts must turn 16 in the year of an Olympics to take part.

The Editor says...
 So the committee is satisfied by documents produced by the Chinese government?  No medical exam?  I think a good pediatric dentist could answer most of the age questions in five minutes.

The Twenty Biggest Stories Of 2008:  (#20)  China hosts the Olympics:  The ChiComs held the Olympics and although most of the event has already gone down the memory hole, the massive opening ceremony, Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals, the filthy air, and the rampant Chinese cheating in gymnastics won't soon be forgotten.

China wins gold as protesters come to their censors.  When Ji Sizun heard that the Chinese Government had agreed to create three special zones in Beijing for peaceful public protests during the 2008 Olympics, he celebrated.  He said in an interview at the time that he believed the offer was sincere and represented the beginning of a new era for human rights in China. ... It is now clear that his hope was misplaced.  In the end, official reports show, China never approved a single protest application — despite repeated pledges to improve its human rights record when it won the bid to host the Games.

The cover-up of an Olympic tragedy.  As Liu Yan rehearsed her moves on the stage at Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium one evening last July, she had no idea that it would be the last time she would ever dance.

The Obama Olympics.  Last week, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley led a delegation to Lausanne, Switzerland, where the Windy City made its bid in front of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.  Chicago is competing against Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo to host the games. ... While Daley was the public face of Chicago's bid in Lausanne let there be no mistake.  The true public face of Chicago's Olympic bid is its favorite adopted son, President Barack Obama.

Chicago taxpayers are in the deep end of an Olympic pool.  We're all in — completely, irrevocably committed to the 2016 Olympic Games — and we're ahead of other bidders, and the question that occurs now is whether the price will seem worth it at closing ceremonies some seven years from now.  Mayor Daley this week in Switzerland did what Mayor Daley does.  That is, he committed Chicago's every last dollar to staging an Olympics no matter what the cost.

Police given powers to enter homes and tear down anti-Olympics posters during 2012 Games.  Police have been handed 'Chinese-style' powers to enter private homes and seize political posters during the London 2012 Olympics.  Little-noticed measures passed by the Government will allow officers and Olympics officials to enter homes and shops near official venues to confiscate any protest material.  Breaking the rules could land offenders with a fine of up to £20,000.

Obama's Olympic bid stagecraft.  Sixteen days ago, Richard Baehr noted speculation that President Obama would make a last-minute dramatic trip to Copenhagen this week, to pitch the case for Chicago hosting the 2016 Olympics.  The publicly-announced plan had been for Michelle to represent Chicago's bid.  Because other contenders were sending their top leaders, it seemed as if Obama were letting Chicago down.  Unless you took the cynical view and saw this all as dramatic framing of an upcoming event, so as to maximize propaganda benefits.

Why is Obama going to Copenhagen?  I think I speak not only for myself but for the 295 million Americans who don't live in the Chicago area when I say that President Obama has about as much business going to Copenhagen to push the city's Olympic bid as he does taking up the violin.

Bidding for the Olympics, Chicago-style.  Social Security is about to run out of money to cover the monthly checks that millions of senior and disabled Americans depend on to make ends meet.  Unemployment is nearing 10 percent nationwide and has reached its highest mark since World War II among younger Americans, 52 percent.  As many as 80,000 people in California's Central Valley are out of work in part because of federal environmental policies that make fish more important than people.  These are only a few of the most important crises facing the nation today.  And where is our president?  He is in Copenhagen, Denmark, to deliver a sales pitch for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics.

Obama's Olympic Spirit.  It would seem the Obama administration, which hasn't had time to hold conversations with senior military officials involved in such a critical national security issue as the war in Afghanistan, has been spending far more time assisting President Barack Obama's adopted hometown, Chicago, than the White House has previously divulged, using the President's and White House senior staff's presence at global policy meetings to lobby foreign ministers, diplomats and members of the International Olympic Committee.

The President as Pitchman:  It Isn't Pretty.  Politically, economically and historically it makes no sense for the president to travel to Denmark to sell Chicago to the Olympic committee.

Rotten in Denmark.  No other U.S. president has ever personally lobbied for the Olympics to be held in this country.  Even President Obama claimed just days ago that he would not go to the Olympics meeting, because he was so "firmly committed to making real the promise of quality, affordable healthcare for every American."

All the President's Olympic Cronies.  When government officials play the Olympic lottery, taxpayers lose.  That has been the disastrous experience of host cities around the world.  (Forbes magazine even dubbed the post-Olympic financial burden the "Host City Curse.")  So, why are President Obama and his White House entourage headed to Copenhagen, Denmark, this week to push a fiscally doomed Chicago 2016 bid?  Political payback.  Bringing the games to the Windy City is Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's "vision."

Obama's Olympian gamble collapses.  U.S. President Barack Obama's politically risky Olympics gamble failed to bring home the gold on Friday [10/2/2009], with the Olympics committee's refusal to grant the 2016 Summer Games to his hometown Chicago.

The Winter Olympics:  A Dying Proposition?.  Whereas the Summer Olympics dwarfs the sister Winter games in terms of worldwide participation and popular interest, the Winter Olympics features sports that necessitate freezing-temperature playing fields and national training programs — the Jamaican bobsled team notwithstanding — that would be hard to implement or sustain in most of the populated world, where athletic development and training consists of kicking first a can, and later a soccer ball.

Olympic grumblings:  The Winter Games.  An opening ceremony consisting of the RCMP, Natives, k.d. lang dressed as a man, a plump white poet with a silly beard pretending to be black and what appeared to be the cast of Avatar all dancing about and explaining how Canada is based entirely on environmental protection and the cult of equality.  The Olympic torch carried by various people who love Canada so much that they haven't lived here in decades and spend most of their lives pretending to be American.

Olympic Pawns:  The formation of a new and permanent White House Office of Olympics, Paralympics and Youth Sports will establish more centralized control over "amateur" sports and over all athletes in the United States. ... When I competed and traveled as an athlete and United States citizen, I encountered figure skating colleagues who were not free, from nations with government structures that controlled all aspects of their sports; parents were not welcome in the decisions of their children's involvement in athletics.

Countries behaving badly: Every two years, the Olympics crowns a new batch of heroes:  Cinderellas on ice skates, flag-waving champions and gritty underdogs who capture hearts around the globe.  There's also the blowhards, cheaters and sore losers.  With two days left before the closing ceremonies, the Vancouver games have been more inspiring than irritating, but like every Olympics, there have been some whiners among the winners.

Olympics wind turbine is scrapped, threatening green pledges for 2012.  A plan to build a massive wind turbine on the Olympic Park is to be scrapped, raising questions about whether the environmental pledges for the 2012 London Games can be met.

A few years later...
 Top Chinese gymnast found begging on the street.  One of China's most promising young gymnasts, who seemed destined for Olympic glory before his career ended in injury, has been found begging on the streets of Beijing, prompting criticism of the country's Soviet-style sports system.

Snipers, jets and 13,500 troops on Olympics duty.  Up to 13,500 British troops will protect the London Olympics from a terrorist atrocity, it was revealed today.  The figure is 4,000 more than the number who currently serve in Afghanistan and will see bomb disposal experts, specialist sniffer dog handlers, building search teams and regular soldiers will support the police to keep the 2012 Games safe.


Other sports news and commentary:

Fear and Loathing at Arrowhead Stadium.  Claims that Kansas City Chiefs organization taps phones, spies on employees.

School Fears "Cougars" Mascot Will Offend Women.  A Utah school district decided not to select a cougar as the mascot of a new high school partly because school officials and some parents believed the word is disrespectful to women.

The Editor says...
 One by one, legitimate and harmless words are being hijacked by the amoral dregs of society.

Giants-Cowboys tix reaching $7,000.  You'll need to strike oil to afford a seat at the Giants-Dallas game on Sunday night.  The do-or-die game against the Cowboys is one of the NFL's hottest tickets of 2011, with an average price that's nearing a record for the season.

How football took over our culture.  Nothing brings us together like the NFL, which last year provided America with eight of the top highest-rated telecasts and the highest-rated TV program of all time (Super Bowl XLV).  Last week a football program was the week's highest-rated show in 29 different markets — even in Indianapolis, where yet another loss by the now 0-13 Indianapolis Colts drew 50% of the viewing audience.

Freaks Who Forbid Footballs.  A public school in Toronto has put a ban on most balls their kiddos toss around during recess because school administrators have deemed such projectiles dangerous. ... In this day of Puss 'n Boots squish, do we really need more softies who don't have enough sense to avoid getting hit in the mouth by a slider?  Getting rocked up in the face by a fastball could be the best thing that ever happened to your stupid kid.  Pain is God's way of telling your lackluster boy to quit texting and watch the game.

The Footage the NFL Won't Show You.  If you ask the league to see the footage that was taken from on high to show the entire field and what all 22 players did on every play, the response will be emphatic.  "NO ONE gets that," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email.  This footage, added fellow league spokesman Greg Aiello, "is regarded at this point as proprietary NFL coaching information."  For decades, NFL TV broadcasts have relied most heavily on one view:  the shot from a sideline camera that follows the progress of the ball.  Anyone who wants to analyze the game, however, prefers to see the pulled-back camera angle known as the "All 22."

Rep. Bobby Rush: NCAA is dirty, 'would make the mob look like choirboys'.  Issuing a call for Congress to involve itself in monitoring college sports, Democratic Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush said the NCAA "would make the mob look like choirboys."  "I have this innate understanding of the NCAA, and I think it is one of the most vicious, most ruthless organizations that was created by mankind," Rush said Tuesday [11/1/2011] during a roundtable discussion he organized.

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Crackerjack.  Ah, baseball!  That hallmark of summer; those men in their dusty uniforms, the sound of the loudspeakers, the electronic scoreboard. Beer vendors crying out their presence amidst the sweating crowd of boosters, and the smells of the concession stands where a plethora of American fare may be purchased and consumed.  Hot dogs, pretzels, popcorn, nachos, etc.  Ballpark food is party food, treats to be indulged in by reveling fans to celebrate the joys of summer and their favorite teams.  Nobody goes to the ballpark to eat a major meal.

Commie Night at US Cellular Field.  Monday night, July 25th 2011 People's World/Mundo Popular will be holding their 6th annual tailgate BBQ and fundraiser at US Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox.  Although Barack Obama will not be able to attend this openly communist fundraising event, his rabid supporter Pepe Lozano will be on hand for the gala evening.  Chicago native Pepe Lozano is a writer for CPUSA's People's World and a key leader of the Chicago Young Communist League.

Wrestler forfeits rather than fight a girl.
 Iowa's girl wrestlers: Some drama, some sport.  The crowd cheered as Cassy Herkelman's hand was raised, but the historic moment of the first girl to win a match at the traditional state wrestling meet comes with an asterisk.  Her opponent, Joel Northrup of Linn-Mar of Marion, forfeited.

Not Wrestling Girls.  It's so easy to look at teenagers in general today and sigh.  They're more than a bit lazy, a bit spoiled and more than a bit morally compromised.  Two teenagers made national news.  One showed common decency and sportsmanship, two virtues seemingly uncommon in that generation.  Hope is restored.

Should Boys Be Wrestling Girls?  This year's Iowa state championships attracted attention nationwide when the promising high school sophomore Joel Northrup (the fifth-ranked wrestler in the state) defaulted on his first match.  He had drawn Cassy Herkelman, a female freshman, as his opponent, and he could not, in good conscience, wrestle a girl. ... Had he not declined to wrestle Herkelman, he might have won it all.  The New York Times, the AP, and other national news organizations noted that Northrup's father is a minister — the suggestion being that such peculiar and backward views as the young man expressed must be chalked up to a religious sensibility.  Most of the coverage stressed the "girl against the old boys network" angle.

Point to heavens means penalty for Tumwater running back.  Tumwater beat East Valley 63-27 on Monday night at the Tacoma Dome during the 2A state semifinal game, but a post-touchdown penalty call was a big surprise for the player responsible.  In the second quarter of the game, Tumwater running back Ronnie Hastie scored on a 23-yard run, took a knee in the end zone and briefly pointed to the heavens above.  For that the referee threw a flag, saying it was unsportsmanlike conduct.

Bean-Counters and Baloney.  The bean-counters have struck again — this time in the sports pages.  Two New York Times sport writers have discovered that baseball coaches from minority groups are found more often coaching at first base than at third base.  Moreover, third-base coaches become managers more often than first-base coaches.

No 'cheers' for latest Title IX decision.  Title IX, a section of a federal education law passed in 1972, has become an exemplar of the kind of government action that initially was justified but since has taken on a life of its own grounded in legal and bureaucratic nonsense.  A new federal court ruling on "competitive cheer" versus women's volleyball makes clear the descent of Title IX into absurdity.

Soccer ball makers in poverty.  Thirteen years ago companies such as adidas and Nike joined labour and development organisations to end the use of an estimated 7000 children to stitch soccer balls. However, "child labour continues to exist" in the three main ball-making countries — Pakistan, China and India...

The reality of international soccer — anti-American bias.  International soccer is an artistic expression painted by referees on a canvas of grass with athletes as brushes.  Neither current public comments of frustration or the reactions of American players sufficiently explains how international referees create and render the game of international "soccer."  The referees do not specify any foul when they are called.  So "offsides" or "tripping" are never named when they are called by a referee.  The referees do not have to provide any clarification apart from where the kick shall proceed from as it re-enters play.

Osama bin Laden and jihadists love soccer and the World Cup.  We're not the only ones who love the World Cup.  Osama Bin Laden and his fellow jihadists do, too.  Several prominent Islamist organizations have ties to soccer, according to Newsweek.  And jihadists use the sport to bond with potential recruits.

Soccer:  The Perfect Socialist Sport.  The world's most popular sport?  Puh-leeze.  This is like saying that dirt is more popular than gold simply because there is more of it.  Last time I checked, soccer was very popular where starvation, archery, and badminton were the alternative activities.

A Global Sports Problem:  The 2010 World Cup opens in South Africa in a few weeks.  As a sports event, it is unrivaled in its popularity.  It promises to bring a half-million soccer fans to that country.  But it will also draw out the worst of the worst.  The Christian Science Monitor reports that the economic promise of an expected half a million largely male incoming consumers is attracting a massive influx of prostitutes from across the border in Zimbabwe.

Police:  Star Athlete at Texas School Really 22.  A West Texas student who led his high school basketball team to the state playoffs last season was actually a 22-year-old man, police said Tuesday [5/11/2010].

Permian High's basketball version of 'Blind Side' was a mirage.  Jerry Joseph's story was inspiring:  He arrived in West Texas as a 15-year-old, homeless Haitian immigrant. ... Much to Odessa's chagrin, Joseph turned out to be an impostor and a liar.  Investigators confirmed last week that his real name is Guerdwich Montimer.  He is 22 and he already had graduated from a Florida high school in 2007, almost two years before he arrived in Odessa.

Win a soccer game by more than five points and you lose, Ottawa league says.  In yet another nod to the protection of fledgling self-esteem, an Ottawa children's soccer league has introduced a rule that says any team that wins a game by more than five points will lose by default.

Seven Places Where politics Doesn't Belong.  [#7]  Sporting events:  Should Major League baseball yank the All-Star game from Arizona to send a message about their immigration law?  Should the Los Suns deliberately flip off the fans who shell out 90 bucks a pop to watch them play?  It's one thing for an athlete to get involved off the field, but do we really need to know the Washington Redskins' official position on abortion?  Do the Boston Celtics need to take a stance on border security?

'Humanitarian' owners never fight for fans.  What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes of people were sneaking into Suns' games without paying?  What if the owners had a good idea as to who the gate-crashers are, but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn't be ejected?

Horsehide Hangover.  I have given up wondering when sports — which used to be a way to encourage young men away from more dissolute pursuits — has now embraced all that is debased in our modern culture; the objectification of women as sex toys, vulgar language, egotism, and violence.  All of this was on display during "The Hangover" promo and another one for a flick aptly titled, "Drag Me to Hell;" both of which would have never appeared in prime time a few short years ago, but now invade our homes on a Saturday afternoon.  Sadly, the trash emitted from Hollywood has now found its way onto the playing field; so much so that I sometimes feel that baseball itself has become some kind of perverted cross-promotion.

An in-depth look at the "Rooney Rule":
 The NFL's Affirmative Action Deception.  Imagine an America in which employers faced steep fines for failing to interview a sufficient number of minority candidates for a vacant management slot prior to making a hiring decision.  Even in this day and age, where diversity rules, that might seem a far-fetched scenario.  Yet for the last half-dozen years, this has been the way the National Football League has operated.  And its advocates are seeking ways to expand this regime to a variety of venues — and with a strong assist from government.

'Bullies' Team Name Draws Protests.  Anti-bullying advocates are beating up on the name chosen for the new professional basketball team in Syracuse, N.Y.  The Syracuse Bullies will play in the American Basketball Association beginning this fall.

Ballgame keepsake goes electronic.  The paper ticket might be on its way to joining AstroTurf and scheduled doubleheaders in the graveyard of sports obsolescence.  A host of professional teams, including the Washington Nationals, are introducing new systems allowing fans to enter games using their cell phone, driver's license or similar means, potentially making paper tickets a thing of the past.

Anthem Skipped Before Monday Night Game.  Sports in America start with the national anthem.  The Dolphins-Steelers game was an exception.  Rushing to begin the nationally televised matchup following a 25- minute weather delay, the NFL chose to skip the anthem Monday night [11/26/2007] before Miami played Pittsburgh.  The game started without any of the traditional pregame ceremonies, except the coin toss, and neither team was introduced on the public address system.

NFL Steroids Dealer Found Dead.  A convicted steroids dealer who recently met with NFL security officials and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him has been found dead in his home.  Just after midnight on Thursday, Plano police made a welfare check and found 35-year-old David Jacobs and 30-year-old Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell dead.  Both had been shot.

America's Newest 'Victims':  There's a new class of victims in America:  former NFL players. … There's no doubt that many former players are physical wrecks.  But should we feel sorry for them?  After all, many players reveled in the fact that they could punish their bodies week after week and continue to play.  Noticeably absent from this debate is any discussion about the personal responsibility these players bear for their post-career conditions.

The TV Deal the NBA Wishes It Had Not Made.  Roughly once a month, the NBA cuts 31 checks to NBA teams as revenue from its multibillion-dollar national television contract.  There are only 30 NBA franchises, so who gets the extra check? … Ozzie and Dan Silna, co-owners of the long-forgotten ABA team, the Spirits of St. Louis.  It ranks as one of the best sports deals in modern times, one that has paid the Silnas about $168 million and continues to pay off.

The Gratingest Generation.  Does it ever occur to media chatterboxes that people watch tennis because they want to see tennis, not hear about some celebrity's latest movie or TV series?  If those who lived during World War II were "the greatest generation," this must be the gratingest generation.  It's not just the constant meaningless chatter that grates.  There is the incessant self-dramatization.

Bigotry and Sports:  Although not too many years ago, sports-writing was considered the "toy department" of journalism, the boys and girls in the press box have been eager to catch up to their counterparts in the "real" world.  And so, they are also no longer content with merely reporting the scores, trades and what have you; they must now generate the news.  And, similar to the mainstream media, they need divisive issues in order to push the agenda of all J-school graduates:  to change the world.

Bills confiscate critical banners from fans.  Motivated by the failure of his Bills, season-ticket holder Mike Allenbaugh carried a sign of protest to the final home game. But security forces took it away shortly before kickoff Dec. 17. … "It's just ridiculous," he said this week.  "I can go in there and say, 'Go Bills.'  Why can't I say, 'I don't like you as a manager?'"

Judge Calls NFL Coach's Home "A Drug Emporium".  A judge who sentenced Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid's sons to jail on Thursday [11/1/2007] likened the coach's home to "a drug emporium" and questioned whether his adult sons should live there. … O'Neill noted that searches of the Reid home found illegal and prescription drugs throughout the house.  He said both boys had been overmedicated throughout much of their lives….

MSNBGreen:  "We have turned out the lights in the studio," NBC's Bob Costas told viewers of Sunday's Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles game, "to kick off a week that will include more than 150 hours of programming designed to raise awareness about environmental issues." … On a typical game day, a large football stadium burns about 65,000 kilowatt hours of electricity and 35,000 cubic feet of natural gas.  The cars driving to the game spew about 200 metric tons of CO2 (and that assumes nobody's driving SUVs or RVs, which is like assuming tailgaters are eating only sushi).  There's also the electricity used to broadcast the game and to watch it.  But thank goodness Costas turned off the studio lights for a minute or two.

Washington Post Toughens Redskins Coverage; Team Yanks Newspaper's 267 Season Tickets.  For many Washingtonians, a season ticket to Washington Redskins games is almost as valuable as a place at a White House dinner.  This week the Redskins cut the number of season tickets held by the Washington Post from 279 to 12.

A Cut Above:  Why wait for an injury?  The next-generation performance enhancer is elective surgery.

$3.5 Billion bid to buy the entire NHL.  An investment firm and a sports advisory company reportedly made a joint proposal to buy all 30 NHL teams for as much as $3.5 billion.

A gesture from the NFL.  Neither the Vikings nor the NFL could have been surprised by [Randy] Moss' misbehavior.  "An assault charge had cost him time in jail and a Notre Dame scholarship," Newsweek noted in a profile two seasons ago.  "A drug offense sent him back to jail and off the Florida State team."

Should Governments Own Convention Centers?  Government-subsidized convention centers are chronic money losers.

Annual Survey of Football Injury Research:  Some football fatalities result directly from participation in the fundamental skills of football; others are caused by systemic failure as a result of exertion, e.g., asthma, heat stroke, and heart problems.

More and more banks are placing their names on ball parks and arenas.  Banks are warming up to the idea of paying for the national exposure that only professional sports teams can offer.  And several major league baseball teams that have seen attendance drop and revenues fall in recent years, have been spreading out the welcome mat to banks willing to put up some dough.

Non-athletic corporate welfare:
 CEO Makes the Case Against Corporate Welfare.  With nearly 100 stores in 18 states, Gander Mountain is the nation's third-largest outdoors retailer.  Unlike its two larger competitors, Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's, Gander Mountain has achieved impressive growth without seeking targeted tax incentives from state or local governments.  In this interview, Gander's chief executive, Mark Baker, tells us why he believes government officials should oppose retail tax incentives.

Costco's Corporate Welfare:  Tracking published reports on the abuse of eminent domain, one finds Costco is the leading beneficiary of this kind of corporate welfare, having taken government-confiscated land three times more often then its next rival.

Don't spend millions for billionaires.  King County is building a $36 million sewage treatment and irrigation plant in Redmond, but so far the only private customer is the Willows Run Golf Course, owned by multi-billionaire Paul Allen and his brother-in-law.

Airport Privatization in the U.S.:  With all of the furor in the recent past over airport security, one fact has gotten lost in the shuffle:  All 10 of the busiest airports in the U.S. are owned and operated by municipalities.  Public ownership and operation of airports is often taken for granted, but that doesn't mean it's best.  Public ownership and operation — which brings a political dimension to hiring and operations — may result in increased operating costs and other inefficiencies.

Fans Want to Watch Sports, Not Hollywood Gimmicks.  The idea that sports are not enough for sports fans seems to have been behind the fiasco of putting Dennis Miller's silly chatter on Monday Night Football.  Fortunately, the producers of that program finally got the message that football fans want football.  How long will it take producers of baseball telecasts?

What's Wrong with Players on Steroids?  So athletes use steroids to perform better.  Wall Street traders take Ritalin and everyone uses caffeinated drinks during work to stay alert.  News anchors get face lifts and actors take Botox so more people watch them.  What's different about athletes?

Hey, it wasn't my fault.  Rafael Palmeiro, the Baltimore Orioles star, told Congress that he had absolutely, positively never used steroids, but then he failed a urine test.  So last week, he repeated his never-ever statement but inserted a new word:  He never intentionally used them.  He said:  "I am sure you will ask how I tested positively for a banned substance.  As I look back, I don't have a specific answer to give.  I wasn't able to explain how the banned substance entered my body."

Separation of Sport and State?  The Imperial Federal Government is once again sticking their collective noses in places where they do not belong.  The House Committee on Government Reform is scheduled to hold hearings next week on steroids in baseball.  They have "formally requested" the presence of some of baseball's past and present stars and have threatened to use their subpoena power for others if they do not cooperate willingly.

Baseball, steroids and kids.  Distributing steroids carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $250,000 for the first felony offense.  So, why are there no prosecuted athletes?

25 years of ESPN.  America is a lot richer than it was [when ESPN began] in 1979, but not that much richer.  Something else is afoot, turning so many eyes — that is what pulls the tide of money — to sports.  Perhaps people are drawn to sports because they really don't mean a thing.

The great halftime threat:  Are we really so starved for entertainment that we can't go a few moments without some no-talent has-been fresh out of rehab banging out an alleged song that you've already heard too many times through your car window at the nearest intersection? ... Halftime has morphed into a monster that overshadows the game.

Super Bowl Host Is the Poorest Big City in the US.  Before the Super Bowl kickoff this weekend, private planes will land here, limousines will clog the streets, and lavish parties will be thrown for those with famous names or lots of money.  The kitchens of Ford Field will be stocked with two tons of lobster.  Much of the rest of Detroit, though, is a landscape dotted with burned-out buildings, where liquor stores abound but supermarkets are hard to come by, and where drugs, violence and unemployment are everyday realities.

[In other words, hosting the Super Bowl does not provide an automatic boost to the local economy.  Only a handful of people benefit from it.  The same is true when a new stadium is built.]

NFL Pulls Plug On Big-Screen Church Parties For Super Bowl.  For years, as many as 200 members of Immanuel Bible Church and their friends have gathered in the church's fellowship hall to watch the Super Bowl on its six-foot screen. ... But this year, Immanuel's Super Bowl party is no more. After a crackdown by the National Football League on big-screen Super Bowl gatherings by churches, the Springfield church has sacked its event.  Instead, church members will host parties in their homes.  Immanuel is among a number of churches in the Washington area and elsewhere that have been forced to use a new playbook to satisfy the NFL, which said that airing games at churches on large-screen TV sets violates the NFL copyright.  Ministers are not happy.

The Editor says...
 If the church has a cover charge, I can see how the NFL would have a case.  But as long as there is no charge for attendance (even for food, presumably) it's not a commercial use of the telecast, and the NFL lawyers would have to do some smooth talking to get that one past a jury.  On the other hand, what kind of church condones the Super Bowl halftime bump-and-grind show?

$400 for a Day at the Ballpark?  "Only the Yankees would think a $1,200 ticket is affordable and a $2,500 ticket isn't."  That was the reaction of New York Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Democrat and vocal opponent of the team's new stadium, upon learning that the Yankees were cutting the price of premium seats in hopes of filling empty rows near the field.


The NCAA's battle against politically incorrect mascot names:

Apparently even the most oblique reference to Indians is perceived as hostile and abusive by the NCAA.  Someday soon, even the word "Indian" will probably be taboo.

The latest:
 Tribe sues NCAA to let school use name.  The Spirit Lake tribe Tuesday sued the NCAA for blocking its attempt to let the University of North Dakota use the sports nickname Fighting Sioux.

North Dakota to give up attempts to keep Fighting Sioux logo.  The end may finally be near for the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.  After a six-year battle, the state appears ready to declare defeat and retire the nickname, which was deemed unacceptable by the NCAA in 2005.  The Fighting Sioux has been associated with the university's athletic teams since 1930.  State Sen. Lonnie Laffen, a Republican who voted earlier this year to codify the nickname into law, recently told the Grand Forks Herald that he will sponsor legislation to shift authority over the issue to the State Board of Higher Education.

ND House votes to keep UND Fighting Sioux nickname, logo.  The North Dakota House has voted to keep the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.  On a 65-28 vote, the House approved House Bill 1263, which states University of North Dakota athletic teams shall be known as the Fighting Sioux.  Neither UND nor the state Board of Higher Education may take action to discontinue the use of the nickname or logo.

Fighting Sioux on warpath over nickname.  When North Dakota's state board of higher education voted to phase out the "Fighting Sioux" last year, that seemed to signal the end of the lengthy battle over the University of North Dakota's nickname and logo.  Except that it didn't.  Two Fighting Sioux supporters have since launched Save Our Suhaki, a tongue-in-cheek campaign ostensibly aimed at preserving the suhaki, a Russian antelope whose name is pronounced exactly like "Sioux hockey."

Wisconsin law lets residents challenge race-based mascots.  The homecoming pep rally Friday at Kewaunee High School will have extra drama this year:  Everyone in town will learn whether they'll be rooting for the River Bandits or the Storm to beat the Valders Vikings in the big football game.

North Dakota decisions end Fighting Sioux nickname.  A state Supreme Court ruling and a Board of Higher Education decision have retired for good the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname after a four-year legal battle.

End near for Fighting Sioux mascot?  The end of the Fighting Sioux could be near as the University of North Dakota appears ready to abandon its mascot over calls of racism despite a petition drive by local tribe members to preserve the school's nickname and logo.  Supporters from the Standing Rock Sioux want to collect at least 600 signatures before the next tribal council meeting in March.

Ole Miss students to vote on new mascot; Colonel Reb not an option.  University of Mississippi students will vote this month on creating a new school mascot.

Chancellor Supports Retiring 'Fighting Sioux' Logo That Threatens Hockey Arena.  Bill Goetz, North Dakota's university system chancellor, said Thursday [11/15/2007] at a Board of Higher Education meeting he will support retiring University of North Dakota's "Fighting Sioux" logo and nickname in less than three years if the school and Sioux tribes cannot agree to keep it.

NCAA wants sealed court documents.  The NCAA will ask a Grand Forks Circuit Court judge on Wednesday [3/7/2007] to shield documents from public view in its court case against UND over the Fighting Sioux nickname.  North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said most of the documents the NCAA wants concealed from the public have to do with discussions among the association's Executive Committee while drafting its 2006 policy on American Indian nicknames and imagery.

Wisconsin may fine schools $1,000 a day for Indian mascots.  Democratic lawmakers are proposing a bill that would require the state to investigate complaints about American Indian mascots in Wisconsin schools.  If the complaints are justified, the state Department of Public Instruction would have to order the school to drop the mascot or logo within a year or face fines of up to $1,000 a day.

Illinois' Chief Illiniwek performs last dance.  After 20 years of pressure from activists who found the University of Illinois mascot offensive, the school did away with Illiniwek and his antics.  Dan Maloney, a graduate student who portrays the controversial American Indian mascot, performed for the final time in front of students and fans at a men's basketball game Wednesday night [2/21/2007].

Our First Thoughts on the Chief Debacle.  It's bad enough that Chief Illiniwek has danced his last dance.  That fact visibly slammed sorrow into the hearts of thousands of faithful Illini on Wednesday night as men, women, and children hung their heads and even shed their tears.  If the fight to retire the Chief by so-called "oppressed" minorities and hypersensitive leftists is about retribution and vengeance, then they got what they wanted.  But the story unfolding in the aftermath of the Chief's departure is larger than our beloved tradition.

North Dakota to sue NCAA over mascot ruling.  The University of North Dakota plans to sue the NCAA to avoid penalties for using the school's Fighting Sioux nickname and Indian head logo, which the association considers demeaning to American Indians.

W&M will drop the feathers from its athetics logo.  William and Mary will drop the feathers from its athetics logo to comply with the NCAA's request, the school announced Tuesday [10/10/2006].  The phase-out process will begin during the 2007-08 school year.  The NCAA in 2004 identified W&M, whose nickname is the "Tribe," as a school with a logo or nickname that could be viewed as "hostile and abusive" in relation to Native Americans.

High schools defend use of tribal-themed mascots.  Educators from small-town Oregon came to the capital Tuesday [10/23/2007] to argue that their high schools should remain the Indians, Warriors and Braves as a respectful way to honor Native American culture and history.  Fourteen superintendents and principals from Amity to Warrenton spoke forcefully at a state Department of Education meeting against a proposal to ban their Native American mascots.

Name blame by the NCAA is just so lame.  The NCAA hates — and has vowed to crush — any school with a sports nickname that doesn't measure up to politically correct standards. … The NCAA considers Fighting Illini, Fighting Sioux and Indians hostile and abusive.  Worse yet, those names are "inconsistent with the NCAA commitment to diversity, respect and sportsmanship," the organization said in a news release.

NCAA says Newberry agrees to drop Indians nickname.  Newberry College has agreed to drop its "Indians" nickname and has been taken off the list of schools facing postseason bans because of hostile or abusive logos and mascots.  The school was taken off the list Friday [11/10/2006] after it told the governing body about the planned change, NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said Sunday.

Those fighting Sioux nickname lose sight of most Indian views.  Never mind that a well-known Indian artist designed the UND logo of a proud Sioux warrior.  Never mind that this image resembles the stately Indian on U.S. "buffalo" nickels, and on North Dakota's highway patrol cars and highway signs.  Never mind that sports teams choose names that symbolize what they honor — courage on the battlefield — not what they mock or despise.  The forces of political correctness have embraced this latest victim-creating issue and won't let it go.

Nickname debate gains steam before NCAA appeal.  The nickname debate is heating up at the University of North Dakota, just days before the NCAA plans to hear an appeal of the school's Fighting Sioux logo.  The NCAA has listed UND among schools with nicknames or mascots deemed "hostile or abusive," barring those colleges from holding postseason games unless they get rid of the Indian imagery.  Some schools, including Florida State, have won appeals.

NCAA Declines Three Appeals on Indian Mascots.  The NCAA's executive committee on Friday [4/28/2006] rejected appeals by Illinois, North Dakota and Indiana University of Pennsylvania to continue using Indian nicknames, mascots and imagery deemed "hostile" and "abusive" at NCAA championship events.  The committee also placed Bradley on a watch list for five years, the first school in the nation to earn that distinction.  Friday's actions leave seven of the original 18 schools on the offenders list.

Bradley loses its mascot appeal to NCAA.  The NCAA on Thursday [10/20/2005] denied Bradley University's appeal of its inclusion on a list of schools with banned Native American mascots, saying the nickname Braves "leads to a hostile or abusive environment."  It was the first decision on an appeal from a school without a namesake tribe from which it could cite support.

Editor's comments:
 If the term "Braves" really is abusive and so universally offensive, why didn't the NCAA take action twenty or thirty years ago?  The answer is simple:  Political Correctness is their motivation.  The NCAA isn't acting out of generosity toward the Indian tribes; on the contrary, it is responding to the threat of civil litigation from America's over-abundance of lawyers.

The PC NCAA:  Now that the NCAA has banned the use of Native American nicknames and mascots during tournament competition, it's time to make sure all other offensive nicknames and mascots are likewise eliminated.

Chief among the silliness.  Censorship — e.g., campus speech codes — often are academic liberalism's preferred instrument of social improvement, and now the NCAA's censors say:  The [University of Illinois] Chief must go, as must the university's logo of a Native American in feathered headdress.  Otherwise the NCAA will not allow the university to host any postseason tournaments or events.

NCAA rejects Illinois' appeal of mascot ban.  Illinois lost its appeal of the ban on the university mascot Friday [11/11/2005] and will remain on a list of schools prohibited from hosting NCAA postseason events after February.  The NCAA will allow Illinois to keep its "Illini" and "Fighting Illini" nicknames.  The university contended those nicknames derived from the name of the state.

NCAA denies UND's appeal over Fighting Sioux nickname, logo.  The National Collegiate Athletic Association has denied an appeal by the University of North Dakota asking that it be removed from a list of schools subject to restrictions because they have American Indian nicknames, mascots or images.

Playing politics and Indians.  The National Collegiate Athletic Association passed a new rule saying college teams with Indian names and mascots cannot participate in NCAA championship events.  "We believe hostile or abusive nicknames are troubling to us and it can't continue," said Walter Harrison, the NCAA committee chairman.  "We're trying to send a message, very strongly, saying that these mascots are not appropriate for NCAA championships."  Hmmm?  Teams can still have Indian mascots, but only if they're not going to be champions.  That's the silent bigotry of low expectations!

Attack of the Nannies.  Polls keep showing that American Indians aren't really offended by college team nicknames such as warriors, braves, Indians, Seminoles, and Fighting Illini.  But many sportswriters, campus "diversity" officials, and now the National Collegiate Athletic Association think they ought to be.  So the NCAA says it will ban from championship play all college teams with "hostile or abusive" nicknames and mascots.  It apparently took this action without consulting tribal leaders.

The NCAA's nickname ban:  I cannot conceive of a college with an Indian nickname that has hostile intent.  Most colleges using these nicknames and logos do so in admiration of the indigenes' spirit.  What seems at play is the left-wing campus orthodoxy searching for some offense against a designated victim group or subculture.

Don't Offend Indians.  Offend The Evil White Man!  The NCAA is now attempting to tell member colleges that use of mascots and symbols they deem "offensive" to American Indians are to be banned from post season play.  That means teams like the Florida State Seminoles, and other mainstays of post season college football bowl games would be denied the chance to compete if they refused to cover up or change their logos and names.

College team names are harmless compared to the NCAA.  Athletics and sports in America are fueling destructive obsessions.  The inordinate wealth and celebrity garnered by professional athletes is converting many youth sports leagues into training mills that initiate career tracks for aspiring child athletes.  Such hopes have helped to birth an industry of training gadgets, sports schools, and instructional books and video tapes.  The desire for athletes to cash in on their talents has driven demand for chemicals that supposedly enhance strength and agility.

'Civil Rights' Versus Sports Teams Named After Indians:  The US Patent and Trademark Office even stripped the Washington Redskins of their trademark, citing a 1946 law banning the registration of "disparaging, scandalous, contemptuous, or disreputable" names.  (The decision is on appeal.)  Does it really need to be pointed out how idiotic all this is?

American Indian Mascot Under Fire in North Carolina.  The University of North Carolina-Pembroke is fighting a request from the National Collegiate Athletic Association to dump its "Braves" nickname and logo.

Students put twist on mascots:  Indian students in Colorado have turned the tables in a debate on racism by naming their intramural basketball team "The Fighting Whities."

And it's not just the NCAA ...
 Tribe joins battle over Fighting Sioux logo.  The most prominent defenders of the University of North Dakota's right to call its teams the Fighting Sioux are neither alumni nor hockey fans.  They're Sioux.  A group of Spirit Lake Sioux won a temporary restraining order last week to stop the North Dakota University System from retiring the nickname and logo, one of the last in the country associated with an American Indian tribe.

Chief Wahoo Gets Cut from Memorial Day Cleveland Indians Cap.  Major League Baseball pulled the plug on a Cleveland Indians cap that caused some controversy last year.  MLB started producing a line of "Stars and Stripes" baseball caps but many thought that Chief Wahoo adorning Old Glories red, white, and blue was out of bounds.

Braves strike out in Richmond.  The United Methodist Church has rejected Richmond for its 2012 international conference because the city's minor league baseball team is named the Braves.  "Many Native Americans, if you ask them what they think about team mascots, will tell you that they find [them] to be demeaning," said Stephen Drachler, a spokesman for the United Methodist Church.  Apparently, nobody asked Virginia's Monacan Nation, located near Lynchburg about 130 miles west of Richmond.  Kenneth Branham, Monacan chief, yesterday said, "The mascot thing has been blown out of proportion."

Spirit Lake voters overwhelmingly support Fighting Sioux nickname.  Spirit Lake voters apparently overwhelmingly support UND's Fighting Sioux nickname in a referendum Tuesday [4/21/2009].

Complaints and tradition mark high school mascot struggle.  While efforts to remove American Indian themed mascots from college campuses continue to command a high profile, quieter struggles are ongoing in high schools, where the response is just as mixed.  Some schools, citing tradition, are resisting and insist their use is a sign of respect even if Indian advocates disagree.

NCAA won't expand Confederate flag ban.  Wofford athletic director Richard Johnson wasn't sure what to think last summer when the NCAA agreed to hear a request to expand its ban on South Carolina because of the Confederate flag. … Enhancing the ban to include championships awarded on merit — like football playoffs and baseball regionals — would've seriously hurt Wofford's chances of advancing in future tournaments.

Formerly Pork Chop, the mascot's new name is Ferrous.  A handful of complaints from [Guillermo] Lopez and others, as well as a steamed online community, prompted team officials to change the name of the mascot for the Triple A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies to Ferrous.  Team officials announced the switch midday Monday [12/3/2007].

Context of mascot's name made it inoffensive.  Five-year-old Kylie Shimkus of Easton thought it up, entered a contest and won.  The Lehigh Valley IronPigs had a name for their mascot, and it seemed like a darn good one:  PorkChop.  The name became official Sunday.  Monday, it was gone.  Members of the area's Puerto Rican community protested the name as a common racial slur.  The IronPigs quickly changed it to Ferrous, a name which emphasizes the iron, not the pig.  Was this necessary?

The effect is spreading to other fields as well:
 'Squaw' still Utah moniker.  In 2008 alone, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names has renamed 22 geographic features to eliminate the word "squaw" from locations throughout Arizona, Maine, Montana, South Dakota and Washington.  The board's actions effectively approve revision of federal maps and documents to reflect the areas' new names.  The term squaw is considered highly offensive by many American Indians.

PETA Asks PBAU To Change Mascot Name.  The animal-rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is asking Palm Beach Atlantic University to change the name of its athletic mascot.  In a letter sent Wednesday [1/14/2009] to PBAU President Dr. David Clark, PETA urged the school to change its mascot from the Sailfish to Sea Kitten "to reflect the gentle nature of its current marine namesake."

Board advocates dumping UND nickname, logo.  North Dakota's Board of Higher Education has agreed to drop the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname and Indian head logo, a move intended to resolve a decades-long campus dispute about whether the name demeans American Indians.

Supreme Court Asked if "Redskins" Offends.  A group of American Indians who find the Washington Redskins' name offensive wants the Supreme Court to take up the matter.

The Editor asks...
 Since when is the Supreme Court in charge of keeping people from being offended?

Supreme Court rejects case regarding Redskins name.  The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a group of Native Americans who think the name of the NFL's Washington Redskins football team is offensive.

Back to the Home page

 Bookmark and Share

Custom counter developed in-house

Document location http://www.akdart.com/sports.html
Updated January 22, 2012.

Page design by Andrew K. Dart  ©2012