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As a sports fan, I am always interested in seeing sports developed in the
area, but there is a right way and the other way, which is what the Gwinnett
Stadium represents. The Stadium was built under the guise of an economic
stimulus for an area which will benefit a few but leaves the taxpayers of
Gwinnett with the responsibility of repaying the debt on a stadium operated
by the Atlanta Braves with little hope of recouping our investment over the
next 30 years.

Below is an article illustrating this point

BRAVES 1.........TAXPAYERS 0
Economic benefits overstated for publicly funded Gwinnett stadium

By J.C. Bradbury

For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Saturday, April 25, 2009

On April 17, the Gwinnett Braves began play at their new home in Gwinnett
County. The publicly funded stadium was initially slated to cost $45
million, but the price quickly ballooned to $64 million, with no word yet on
what the final construction tab will be. In addition, the county has been
unable to sell naming rights to the stadium, which the county anticipated
returning $500,000 annually to cover 20 percent of the debt service.

Despite recent county government budget cuts, layoffs and tax hikes, the
commissioners have insisted that the stadium will increase economic activity
more than enough to offset construction costs. However, economists have long
known that the frequently touted economic benefits of sports facilities are
pure fantasy.

A recent survey of the American Economic Association found that 85 percent
of its members favored eliminating all public subsidies to professional
sports. It is easy to see why economists -- a community notorious for its
disagreements -- reached such an overwhelming consensus on this issue: Study
after study has failed to find any economic impact of sports facilities.

A recent article surveying the economics literature by Dennis Coates and
Brad Humphreys reports: "There now exists almost 20 years of research on the
economic impact of professional sports franchises and facilities on the
local economy. The results in this literature are strikingly consistent...
articles published in peer reviewed economics journals contain almost no
evidence that professional sports franchises and facilities have a
measurable economic impact on the economy."

How could anyone argue that thousands of fans spending their incomes at a
previously non-existent minor-league baseball stadium does not increase
economic output? It is quite simple: money spent at the ballpark has to come
from somewhere, and that somewhere is other entertainment options within
Gwinnett. The county isn't getting any richer, it's just shuffling its
existing wealth around. And to make matters worse, the bulk of the spending
will be transferred to Liberty Media shareholders (who own the Braves)
outside the county.

What about the county's impact studies that project the stadium will
generate up to $15 million annually in economic activity? The favorable
economic projections by a hired consulting firm and the county's own staff
economist were intended to justify the project rather than to serve as an
objective economic impact analysis. No economists at any of Georgia's many
universities were consulted.

Furthermore, the $15 million estimate is too big to be believable. To
generate $15 million in economic benefits the stadium would have to attract
54 percent of its attendance from outside the county, with each family of
four spending $144 per game. According to Team Marketing Report's Fan Cost
Index, that is 45 percent more than the Triple-A average and 30 percent more
than the most expensive Triple-A franchise in Indianapolis. At that price,
why not travel down I-85 to Turner Field which offers the major-league
experience for $157?

The stadium will no doubt be a community focal point, possibly spreading
good will among citizens. But instead of honestly presenting the facts
before voters, the board of commissioners approved the deal without any
opportunity for community feedback.

County Administrator Jock Connell stated that the stadium would "pay for
itself from Day One," which was an outright lie.

County commissioners continue to tout the economic benefits of the plan,
which are too ridiculous to believe and run counter to everything economists
know about the economic impact of sports facilities.

If you go to the game vs. Charlotte tonight, be sure to cheer your hometown
team; after all, baseball should be an escape from the stress of the
business and political worlds.

Save your boos for the commissioners who purposely misled the public for the
sake of scoring some cheap political points.

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