NBC news ran a story last night on the struggle for a professional baseball team in Washington, DC. It seems the mayor made a deal with major league baseball that the city would cover the cost of the stadium ($440 million) as part of the package to win the team. Now the city council is balking at the pricetag, especially as other public services (like public schools) are coming apart at the seams. They suggest the city should only pay for half of the construction, with private money covering the rest.
It should come as no surprise to any arts manager that the arguments are focusing on economic impact:
Proponents argue baseball would be a bonanza for Washington — citing how new stadiums in Cleveland and Baltimore have revitalized once run-down neighborhoods. But a new stadium in Seattle hasn’t had that effect, and sports economists argue there’s no reason to think a new ballpark would rejuvenate Washington’s dilapidated waterfront.
Sounds a bit like all city council arguments surrounding cultural facility development or subsidy.
The inevitable public opinion poll informing the media debate didn’t look too good for the baseball big-wigs, showing that 56 percent of those surveyed supported the city council’s position. At least one citizen seemed a bit miffed at the question:
”Let them take their team and get out of town,” said Carla Gaskins, 36, a homemaker and mother of four who lives in Southwest Washington. ”Let’s get a new tax to raise money to build a new hospital. We can use new schools. We have so many other needs,” she said. Baseball owners, she added, were “gaming D.C. to see how high we can jump.”
The debate in DC is yet one more reason arts supporters and enthusiasts should be polishing up some fresher and more robust arguments for cultural activity and development in American cities. The economic impact approach had good traction for a while, even though most knew it to be weak and biased. But now that a full range of other folks are beating it into the ground, it won’t have such traction for long.
AS A SIDEBAR:
I was particularly interested to see the reference in the NBC story to ‘sports economists,’ especially in the plural — showing media acceptance of a new and struggling branch of academia. For those that doubt there are more than one (they showed one on the TV story, and the tagline under his name proved it…’sports economist’), just take a look at their academic journal.And yes, Virginia, arts and culture has its own economic journal too…in fact, more than one. Check out the Journal of Cultural Economics, the Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, or the International Journal of Arts Management.
