THOMSON: Sarasota vs. Lee? Unseemly.

REVIEW & COMMENT

Sarasota vs. Lee? Unseemly.

by Rod Thomson, Executive Editor

Sarasota and Lee counties, and their municipalities, must avoid a bidding war for spring training.

Everybody loves a winner. But not everyone needs to pay for a winner, or more importantly, be forced to. And when neighboring communities vie to be the high bidder, using tax dollars from a struggling economy, to pay for an already huge winner, well it is downright sordid.

The quickly erupting competition between Sarasota and Fort Myers over the Boston Red Sox's spring training home reveals a deplorable lack of principled use of the public treasury and exposes a distrust of democracy and the will of the people.

This is not a saga about baseball, it is about responsible public leadership.

The competition began when the Cincinnati Reds told the city of Sarasota it needed better spring-training facilities. The city, in conjunction with Sarasota County, came up with several expensive plans to meet the Reds' wishes.

Some were deemed too expensive even by elected officials. But both commissions agreed on a general plan that required voter approval because of bonding limitations. Then, when voters were asked last November to back a $16 million bond referendum to help pay for the $45 million stadium renovation, they rejected the plan, despite the backing of practically every elite group in the county, a telling sign.

Without a backup offer, the Reds turned to Goodyear, Ariz. This city outside Phoenix was already going deep in hock to build a state-of-the-art spring training stadium and facility and had attracted one team. The Reds became the second. So Goodyear residents are now shackled with decades of debt for the Reds. Too bad for them.

After some handwringing, Sarasota leaders looked to see what teams they could attract to keep the expensive merry-go-round going and found that the Red Sox were not happy with their Fort Myers digs. For $1 million, they can buy out their City of Palms contract. And these are the World Champions!

All atwitter at the chance to take credit for what would essentially put future Sarasotans deep in debt, the city began putting together an offer to lure the Red Sox. The price-tag: in the neighborhood of $70 million. After all, these are the World Champions!

Nothing is finalized. The Red Sox do not have an offer yet and rejected the county's request for an exclusive negotiating agreement. County Administrator Jim Ley says he has only asked the budget director to put together a $70 million funding proposal. (For perspective, a handful of Sox players make more than that in one year. Manny Ramirez alone makes nearly a third of it.)

But there has been a media and business lament that Sarasota officials struck out by losing the Reds. No, the voters were given a say and benched the idea. But that is irrelevant to many who believe the Red Sox would provide an ongoing boost to Sarasota's economy.

The Sarasota talk is enough to scare Fort Myers officials, who are pondering a move should Sarasota and the BoSox enter serious negotiations.

Remember this potential bidding war comes while Sarasota and Lee counties and their municipalities are cutting services and laying off employees because of the economic downturn and resulting slide in tax revenues.

Yet many Gulf Coast elites, in the form of government leaders, university professors and even business associations, seem to want to give ever more money to major league baseball teams. Many would jump on board with Sarasota financing a large portion of the $70 million, and the same types would be on board with Fort Myers countering with as much or more.

Lee County Commissioner Frank Mann is one with a level head, wondering (as many of us do) how Sarasota could come up with so much money at such times and saying that Lee must avoid getting into a bidding war.

Amen.

But would he be in the majority?

The problems with this approach are many, and ought to be obvious, except each government entity cannot see the forest of priorities because of the spring training tree in front of them. Consider:

• The money pool. The most likely source for funding a new stadium for the Red Sox, for either community, would be the bed tax. This tax, levied on visitors in hotels and short-term accommodations, is already high and, if raised too much, will put either community at a competitive disadvantage with other tourist destinations, including others in Florida. That can lead to lower room occupancy, which not only hurts bed tax revenues but damages the entire economy depending on tourism.

Further, whatever the source, it will take away from other options. The bed tax in Sarasota, for instance, is a primary source for beach renourishment, which is increasingly becoming a local responsibility. The beaches are the core of our tourism economy, not a month of spring training baseball. It would be foolish to risk a large sum of potential beach renourishment funds on a 30-day boondoggle. Might want to check on how hotels in Venice, Englewood and North Port feel about supporting the BoSox in North Sarasota.

• What economic impact? This is one of the most pernicious canards of those seeking public cash to pay for new stadiums for private enterprise, one that is spurred on by team owners. Studies paid for by those with an interest in getting taxpayer money always show a positive economic impact. They are sometimes wild-eyed, but they are always dubious and padded.

The premier objective research was done by Stanford economist Roger Noll and Smith College economist Andrew Zimbalist. They found no hard data to support the contention that subsidized pro sports teams are a substantial benefit to a community. In a Brookings Institution article, Noll and Zimbalist, along with 15 collaborators, wrote: "A new sports facility has an extremely small (perhaps even negative) effect on overall economic activity and employment."

• Thomas Jefferson, roll over. The role of government is simply not in providing entertainment for its citizens (although elected officials can certainly be entertaining at times) nor is it to provide subsidies for private companies. We spend enormous amounts of time and money trying to make sure everyone gets a good shot at his favorite entertainment. It is long past time to get out of that business and let the market - which is just a bunch of people exercising free choices - decide entertainment.

If Sarasota is successful in burdening itself with a big, new debt and enticing the Red Sox, then as sure as the exertion of gravity, Fort Myers leaders will begin the process of putting together an expensive package to lure another team. There is already talk in Fort Myers of the Baltimore Orioles, whose stadium lease in Fort Lauderdale runs out next year. Then, of course, Fort Lauderdale officials will huff and puff about the need to steal some other team for their stadium.

And so the insanity with public tax dollars will continue.

Rod Thomson is executive editor of the Gulf Coast Business Review and can be reached at [email protected].