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Recently my wife, who doesn't believe in surprise gifts, took me shopping for something expensive and frivolous for our wedding anniversary. We ended up at this jewelry store in Parmatown, looked at a few rings, and found a very nice one, the kind with a bunch of diamonds that surround the solitaire diamond ring she already had. Judy took an immediate liking to that particular ring, and started to say something that sounded like a decision as the salesperson returned. My elbow in her ribs alerted Judy and then we offered about 20 percent less than the already-discounted asking price on the ring. The salesperson didn't go that far, but was able to knock about 10 percent off, no problem, because he was under the impression we might go to the next store otherwise. More about that ring deal later.
Over the past couple of weeks I just completed reading a fascinating book by Jon Morgan, called Glory for Sale: Fans, Dollars, and the New NFL (ISBN 0-9631246-5-X), about the finance structures that drive team location and stadium building in the National Football League. (Yeah, people say I have no life.) For insight on the "other" side of the stadium financing debates, the book is invaluable. But you know what? The stadium socialists are still wrong.
Baltimore, without an NFL team since 1984 when the Colts left for Indianapolis, promised Art Modell a free stadium, free parking, free luxury box revenues, and free concessions. They even granted Modell half the profits from non-sports events held in the new stadium.
It would have been a stretch to keep the Browns in Cleveland, with Modell himself aging, treading water financially, and contending with an ongoing heart condition. Given the depletion of Cleveland's funds after the Gateway and SAFE scandals, there was little left to provide Modell with a stadium facility comparable to those available to other teams in the league. Without the windfall of luxury suite revenues, the Browns would tend to fall behind in the bidding over free-agent talent, leading to a continuing downward revenue spiral. It's true that big-league sports owners today do need the high-margin frills to build a competitive, and thus financially sound, organization. It's questionable that the owners' problems should become the taxpayers' though.
We read a book like Glory for Sale for its pedagogical value, not as a statement of the way things need to work. The trouble is, city leaders seem to believe, because a team owner's demands are rational and reasonable and understandable, that somehow it is the responsibility of taxpayers to turn those demands into reality. They're confusing understanding with pragmatism. My bank doesn't argue that I need a bigger house; where they draw the line is in writing a mortgage that will lose them money when I default on it.
Or put bluntly, if you buy yourself a football team the world doesn't owe you a living.
This is part of the problem with our full-time City Council. They're not obligated to make a living in the outside world. They make bottom-line decisions with other people's money every day. They're used to looking after everyone's interests but their own, because they will always get paid and can realistically be fired only once every four years.
It's a recipie for corporate codependency.
Council members are supposed to work for the citizens of Cleveland. But when they're not kept busy on housekeeping matters Council members are continually exposed to the needs and whims of the special interests. They find it hard to offend or alienate the people who have not only campaign funding but the media access to deliver praise or punishment.
Underlying it all is the terribly weak negotiating position of cities confronting the sports-finance complex. As much as we can understand the economic issues of team owners, they are also both constrained and empowered by the monopoly status of the NFL, Major League Baseball, and the NBA. If you want major-league football in Cleveland, you have to deal with them; but they don't have to deal with you.
Mike White ruined what little leverage the city had with the NFL by proclaiming a unequivocal commitment to bring a new football team to Cleveland for the 1999 season. He'd forgotten or ignored the first rule of negotiation: never let them know how badly you need a deal. Unlike with the ring purchase, I wasn't there to poke him in the ribs, see?
Not only did we pay top dollar for the fast-track stadium construction (and what was that about? why the rush?) but we also got stuck effectively underwriting the NFL's expansion franchise fee. The NFL knew that we had a political imperative to go forward no matter what; they were able to set that fee arbitrarily high because they knew we, through Al Lerner, would come up with it in any event. The taxpayers were already on the hook for an open-ended commitment.
It never would have happened without the actions of White, who wanted to erase the embarrassment of "losing" the Browns; and the acquiescence of Council, whose members were afraid to look like obstructionists. Groupthink. Poorly led.
Time after time our city and county and state leaders play economic development games, pitted against monopolists. They can't win. As the song says, you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. A retired cop I used to know frequently said something like this: "When you're being dealt crummy cards, losing one hand after another, you can keep playing... or you can kick the table over!"
When getting or keeping a local football team costs a struggling city $300 million, it's time to start questioning the need. And isn't a stadium built to order for a particular football team about the farthest thing you could imagine from a truly public purpose?
Let's not demonize Modell for pursuing his own interests. Instead, let's blame White and his compliant Council for pursuing those of Al Lerner and the NFL. It's time for city governments throughout North America to kick the table over, refusing to make one-sided deals with the sports monopolies. Just like a crooked card game, the only way to win is to stop playing.
This document's template was last modified on Wednesday, 09-Nov-2005 18:51:58 EST. There is a new Cleveland Pages more or less every weekend. The entire Cleveland Pages website is © 1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003 by Mark W. Schumann, all rights reserved. Copyrights belonging to others on individual items are noted. Nobody else would take the credit or blame for these opinions anyway.
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