The Pro Sports Two-Step: Seduce, Threaten to Abandon

Link to September 8 New York Times article, "As Stadiums Vanish, Their Debt Lives On".

Excerpt:  How municipalities acquire so much debt on buildings that have been torn down or are underused illustrates the excesses of publicly financed stadiums and the almost mystical sway professional sports teams have over politicians, voters and fans.

Rather than confront teams, they have often buckled when owners — usually threatening to move — have demanded that the public pay for new suites, parking or arenas and stadiums.

With state and local budgets stretched by the recession, politicians are only now starting to look askance at privately held teams trying to tap the public till.

They may be looking askance, but they're still caving.

And here's Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's circular logic.

From "How libraries stack up: 2010".

Speaking of Vegas.....

Seventeen full-time and two part-time employees of the city of Las Vegas will be notified in the next couple of days that they're out — they no longer have jobs with the city as of Jan. 29.

That's the most drastic of actions being taken by the city to deal with an expected budget shortfall of about $430 million during the next five years, City Manager Betsy Fretwell told the Las Vegas City Council this evening. (11/18/2009)

It must be the sun and heat.

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday approved $7.1 million for the exhibits that will go into the downtown mob museum, which is expected to be open in less than a year. (7/7/2010)