Sports Stadiums: Utah's Foray In Giving Billionaires Welfare

Utah's legislature approved bills that will go to Governor Cox to sign that will take taxpayer money to entice and possibly bring a MLB and a NHL team to Utah. The money would go to infrastructure and help fund the stadium construction in both cases. The bills are committing $1 billion to Ryan Smith for what is being called downtown revitalization which will provide infrastructure and assistance in renovating the Delta Center, and also $1 billion to Gail Miller for her proposed Power District that will house a MLB stadium and new improvements for area.

There are obviously fans of both MLB and NHL that are excited for these new projects.  The recreational benefits are good for those that are fans of these sports. And the infrastructure and additional amenities will be nice to have.

But downtown Salt Lake City already has new development and vibrant entertainment and restaurant options. There are many vacancies around especially in the Gateway development. And the bloodbath that is office space nowadays still has to play out in the downtown area. How is new infrastructure and new development going to attract more tenants and make the overall downtown area vibrant? Does downtown have the population to support all this new development that is being proposed?  

There are arguments that hockey and baseball are both dying sports. How many of us could realistically attend several MLB games during the week while we're working? There will be jobs created. But most will be several low paying service jobs.

There are many critics and many good reasons not to publicly fund these. There are very good reasons for a state government to not give billions to billionaires. Is there private financing available? Sure. Could the billionaires bring together a coalition of investors and developers? Sure. But free money is always the first choice. Imagine what $2B could do for certain causes that are in real need to assist real people that are in real need.