12.21.04

Now D.C. can be a real city (still no senator, though)

Posted in General at 7:56 pm by Steven Gardner

So the D.C. city council backed off its private financing stipulation and will now let the Expos move to Washington.

Michelle Malkin and anyone else who has the sense to think these stadium deals are a rip off won’t be happy, but I gotta tell you I’m not so smart when it comes to matters of baseball and my ability to have a team close to home. Had I been in Seattle in 1995 when voters had a chance to decide whether to fund a new stadium I would have said, “Oh yeah, tax me baby, repo my car if you must. Give me baseball.” It’s stupid, I know it’s stupid, but I can’t help it. Stadiums don’t improve the areas around them, taxpayers lose money in the long run, but it’s like being a drug addict. Your sense of right and wrong changes once you become addicted to something. In this case I think the sport is secondary. I think cities that bend over for these stadiums are addicted to the sense of importance having a major league franchise provides. Residents see the stadium and say, “Look how bitchin’ we are.” Seattle is every bit as cool as Detroit or Cincinnati, but unless we have a major league baseball or football team, we suck.

OK, maybe I’ve talked myself out of it. Get me to vote and tell franchise owners to stick it. Build your own stadium and I’ll pay the jacked up prices to see your steroid-ingesting millionaires. It worked in San Francisco. And by the way, taxpayers paid a chunk to get Safeco built and the prices are still among the highest in the majors.

Furthermore, I’m all for baseball in D.C., but with a team in Baltimore about 40 miles away I think the district is one of the last places that should cave to baseball’s junta. I lived in D.C. as an intern and wanted more than anything to move back, but I never made it happen. Besides the great sports franchises that are all well within driving distance (including baseball), the city is not lacking in culture and history. Maybe I’ll change my mind once the Nationals begin play, but it’s hard to imagine baseball making the city that much better that it was worth all this.

And finally, let’s not forget that Seattle residents never did vote in favor of the new stadium. The measure lost in a close election. Then the Mariners had one of the best Septembers and Octobers in franchise history and the state legislature felt it could justify a deal. Voters probably would have approved had it gone to a vote again. In 1997 voters approved a measure to spend $300 million in public funds to build Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks. Paul Allen, Microsoft dude, is the team’s owner, which means voters approved to send him money to build a stadium to help him make more money on the team and the parking lots around the stadium. Fan support has been good, so you could argue that it was worth it. Same with the Mariners.

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