I had a nice thoughtful post typed out in response to Haggis' questions, but my computer ate it. Suffice to say I see little to no benefit in my own community in terms of the professional sports teams existence and their use of tax-payer monies to fund the building of increasingly elaborate stadiums.
The non-athlete jobs they create are by and large low wage, temporary or seasonal, and come with zero benefits; think ticket takers, confession stand works, parking attendants. Yet the players themselves, and the owners, are taking in the big bucks.
Every time we build a new stadium for one team, another team gets jealous and starts vying for more tax dollars so they can have a fancy new stadium, too, .cause that's only "fair". For example, the football team tore down a perfectly good stadium several years ago and built a bigger one right next to it, which rarely sells out; now the baseball team has their panties in a twist because the stadium they built with our tax dollars 15 or so years ago isn't good enough. They want a new one or they'll strike. I'm sure our hockey team week be demanding a new rink soon, too.
I also hate all the traffic and congestion the games cause, all the drunk tailgating idiots that clog up my streets and cause wrecks, who jaywalk in front of my car when all I want to do is go home after work or run errands on a Sunday afternoon, all the animosity and fake rivalries between fans.
I just don't see how any of that benefits the larger community, I'm sorry. I'd much rather my tax dollars get spent on actual services for the community, on things that matter, like education, social services, roads that aren't pockmarked with "patch and pray" style attempts at maintenance.But that's just me.
