Off Wing Opinion

Thanks to Distinguished Senators for the link to a message board, where supporters of the Washington and Virginia bids for the Expos are duking it out.

And for those of you convinced that public subsidies for stadiums are a good idea, Skip Sauer, The Sports Economist, is somebody you ought to be reading. Here's a passage from his latest, a post about how the benefit from hosting MLB's All-Star Game isn't nearly the boon some people make it out to be:

Pittsburgh is slated to host the All-Star game in 2006, according to this report in the Post-Gazzette. The article's title: "All-Star Game a boost for city's image, but economic impact limited" suggests that the reporters have done their homework. They cite Victor Matheson's research on the impact of MLB's all-star games from 1973-1997. Matheson found that "actual job growth lagged behind projected growth" and that "quarterly tax collections dropped in each case." That any boost from the game is minimal should not be a tremendous surprise. A large percentage of seats at the All-Star game are occupied by season ticket holders - i.e. local residents. The money they spend on $200 tickets to the All-Star game does not get spent at the movie theater or hardware store.

This is a very critical item to remember in the sometimes nasty public feud that's brewing concerning the competing bids to bring the Expos to the greater Washington area. You'll have no arguments from me that putting the stadium near a Metro line downtown makes the most sense. But the whole package won't make much sense at all, if a new stadium winds up doing more harm than good to the District's financial condition -- a real risk considering the way the city plans to finance the proposed ballpark.

POSTSCRIPT: For more Expos-related fun, check out Traveling Expos. Thanks to David Pinto for the link.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 20th, 2004 at 12:16 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under D.C. Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The fight over getting baseball to Washington, D.C. got a little ugly yesterday, but for once the mud slinging didn't get outside of the Baltimore Beltway. It all started yesterday morning when Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley had this to say about the prospect of Washington baseball:

"We're glad whenever people come into our city to watch the Orioles play," O'Malley said. "I think there are a lot of diehard Orioles fans in the Washington area. I would hope that they would still want to come to Baltimore and our great stadium, and I'm not opposed to them having a team."

Fine as far as it goes, and downright neighborly too, considering Washington Mayor Anthony Williams has vowed not to attend any games at Camden Yards until Washington gets its own team. And not surprising, considering that O'Malley grew up in the Washington suburbs, and graduated from Washington's Catholic University in 1985.

As you might have guessed, O'Malley's comments didn't go down well with Peter Angelos, who is giving every indication he's not going to let Washington get a ball team without a fight:

"I think that's typical of someone who never really does know what he's talking about and who is nothing more than a small-time politician aspiring to high political offices, which if he was successful to achieve he simply couldn't execute properly," the owner said last night.

"Presumably [O'Malley] wants to say something that he believes is harmful to the ownership group, namely me. But what he doesn't realize is that his statements are harmful to the Orioles' franchise, which is a very, very important asset to this community and which generates more than $200 million of economic activity in this city annually."

Some other things to think about here. Angelos, like O'Malley, is a Democrat. And Angelos helps both the Maryland and National Democratic Party apparatus raise millions of dollars every year. And O'Malley, who's in the midst of his second term as Baltimore's mayor, has his eyes on bigger game -- namely the Governor's mansion in Annapolis.

Meanwhile, Angelos says he isn't happy with the way the Orioles are playing.

Elsewhere, the Post says things aren't moving too quickly. For another perspective, read Soccer Dad's take. Thanks to David Pinto for the link.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2004 at 6:18 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under D.C. Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.