For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 15, 2015

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    legaleagle48  about 9 years ago

    It’s simple, Elly. Sports arenas bring in money from ticket sales and corporate sponsors. The arts, not so much.

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    38lowell  about 9 years ago

    Arts and band were taken from our schools!Weren’t we supposed to be edjumacated?

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    NeedaChuckle Premium Member about 9 years ago

    Usually the traffic at stadiums is so bad no one stops anywhere. It has been proven over and over that stadiums only make money for the team owners.

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    rshive  about 9 years ago

    @argythree – Most of the more reliable studies on (professional) sports I’ve seen indicate that they’re a wash to a community (assumes a big city). Try as I may, I can see no reason why any cultural event would be any different. But they’re both things one has to have if one’s city is to considered “big league”. Think it depends highly on where you draw your “black box” and who’s doing the counting. But to some people being “big league” matters a lot; to some it doesn’t.

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    masnadies  about 9 years ago

    Did not expect to learn so much, but it was heartening to find out that the arts are alive and kicking. We only did a few plays, growing up, but they did mirror that experience- almost everyone seems to eat before or after and pay to park in city lots, and it was very exciting

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    Beleck3  about 9 years ago

    lol, sports owner get the idiots/taxpayers to pay for everything the owners want to make more money. Socialism for the sports owners, private costs paid by the public. the American Way.

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    puggles  about 9 years ago

    When Toledo rebuilt their sports arena and baseball park they brought them downtown. They were built with tax and corporate funding. They have brought business and housing back to a dead area. Both have paid for themselves and continue to be a boost to the economy. We have a great art museum with a peristyle for outdoor symphonic and other music concerts. The acoustics are superb. Our civic center for arts and entertainment—a dead bust. A horrible venue for a concert. Its biggest use is for the JW’s annual convention.

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    ellisaana Premium Member about 9 years ago
    38lowell said, about 7 hours ago

    Arts and band were taken from our schools!

    So sorry to hear that. To become a well-rounded adult, very child needs exposure to the arts, music AND sports. It shouldn’t be either/or.Most children won’t go on to become professional artists, musicians or athletes, but exposure to arts and music, similar to exposure to sports can help instill discipline and raise a child’s self-worth.

    The direct economic benefits to cities has been addressed in other comments. But there are many indirect economic benefits to promoting arts and music.

    Look at real estate: Property listings tend to be higher in cities which have “vibrant downtown life.” That includes access to museums, regional theatres, and music venues as well as sports arenas.

    “The arts are essen­tial to any com­plete national life. The State owes it to itself to sus­tain and encour­age them….Ill fares the race which fails to salute the arts with the rev­er­ence and delight which are their due.” – Winston Churchill

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    Triviaguy  about 9 years ago

    They could build sports arenas in the heart of downtown (which many teams have) and you still wouldn’t be able to “run across the road at halftime to grab something.” This is because just about all of them have a no reentry policy meaning that you can’t leave and come back in the stadium without purchasing another ticket. The tickets are expensive enough as it is so no one is going to buy a second ticket to see the second half of a game. Those same stadiums also have policies of not allowing outside food and drink inside except in certain situations i.e. baby food, special dietary or medical needs, etc.

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    WestNYC Premium Member about 9 years ago

    Corporate funding can be a good thing for the arts. Happens all the time in the blue states.

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    Fido (aka Felix Rex)  about 9 years ago

    End of baseball season (Oct. 4 for regular season) – start of hockey season (Oct. 7). Pretty narrow timeframe (and if they count MLB post-season and NHL pre-season, forgetaboutit.)

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    hippogriff  about 9 years ago

    Indianapolis has a major hotel problem. The capacity is too small for participatory games of the annual GenCon; but handles spectator sports quite well.

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    agrestic  about 9 years ago

    If the people would buy those teams they would never leave.

    Correct. The fact that it’s the Green Bay Packers are publicly owned means they won’t leave despite the small size of the market. Especially because the articles of incorporation stipulate that if the Packers are ever sold, all the proceeds would have to go to building a war memorial.

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    USN1977  about 9 years ago

    A piece from James Bovard, who has also been called “America’s Inspector General”:

    “While the subject of welfare often gets discussed, business bailouts seldom do. No government, federal, state, county or local, should give one red nickel in aid to any business. Government must end all no-bid contracts to favored firms and subsidies of stadium building for professional sports teams. Government cannot use tax money to benefit one business without indirectly disadvantaging all others. Corporate welfare bleeds taxpayers for more than the combined cost of food stamps”.

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    K M  about 9 years ago

    I think you’re in trouble, El. Start of hockey season overlaps end of baseball, or at least it seems to.

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    hippogriff  about 9 years ago

    agresticThis is precisely why a team cannot be sold or created without the approval of existing owners – they don’t want even one more Green Bay, much less the resulting trend which would destroy their scam..They also want to control all league expansion which further dilutes the talent pool. They don’t want the British system of levels, where the top two teams of one level exchange places with the bottom two teams of the next higher level. Under that system, a club could theoretically start at the bottom and by talent, slowly rise to the top. They are not interested in talent nor the game, but just the money they can rake off.

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