Ahead of the Pinellas County Commission vote on a massive baseball stadium subsidy for the Tampa Bay Rays, the Tampa Bay Times gave CEA President John Mozena more than double their usual op-ed space to make the case against the deal:
If there’s a market-driven demand for development in an area, a stadium isn’t necessary. And if there’s no market for the proposed development, a stadium won’t suddenly create it. That’s what makes the proposal in St. Petersburg to sell a large parcel of land for below-market rates such a bad deal for local residents. The very fact that the land is worth more than it’s being sold for means that the stadium isn’t necessary to incentivize development on that land.
From a national perspective, that’s what appears to be happening in St. Petersburg: People who stand to profit either financially or politically are using sports fandom and civic pride as tools to try to jam a bad deal down local taxpayers’ throats.