Zirin’s Take on Detroit Nonsense Nails It
By Ken Reed
Politicians are so messed up, so misguided, that they can declare bankruptcy one day, and then approve millions of taxpayer dollars to build a sparkling sports palace for a wealthy team owner the next.
That’s not hyperbole, it actually recently happened in Michigan.
As The Nation sports policy columnist Dave Zirin so aptly put it:
“The very week Michigan Governor Rick Snyder granted a state-appointed emergency manager’s request to declare the Motor City bankrupt, the Tea Party governor gave a big thumbs-up to a plan for a new $650 million Detroit Red Wings hockey arena. Almost half of that $650 million will be paid with public funds.”
The right-wing spin masters love to claim that new stadiums and arenas revitalize cities, put people to work, and lead to economic booms. The evidence says the contrary.
Upon thorough analysis, rarely do these public stadium projects provide any positive financial impact for a city. The gross and net job gains are pathetically small. Roger Noll, a Stanford economist and expert on the economic impact of new stadia, emphatically believes that publicly-financed stadiums are not a net local benefit. (See previous League of Fans take on publicly-financed stadium projects)
Detroit provides a perfect case study on the economic impact — or lack thereof — of new taxpayer-built stadiums. Detroit built the Detroit Tigers’ Comerica Park and the Detroit Lions’ Ford Field. Each of these publicly-financed sports palaces was promoted as a way to turn Detroit’s fortunes around. Obviously, those new stadiums did very little to boost Detroit’s overall economic situation.
Michigan governor Rick Snyder should be ashamed of himself. He’s the most recent low-life politician in the public spotlight. After watching Detroit file bankruptcy and slash the city’s budgets for a multitude of city services, he approves $283 million in taxpayer money to go to a new sports palace for Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch, whose family is worth close to $3 billion.
We now have a leader in the politicians’ clubhouse for “warped priorities.” His name is Rick Snyder.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world, with over 150 camps in 30+ U.S. states and Canada. We discuss problems in youth sports today, including single sport specialization, the growing gap between the “haves” and “have-nots,” the high drop-out rate in competitive sports, and the growing mental health challenges young athletes are dealing with today.
Listen on Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Anchor and others.
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Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Episode #24 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Mental Health and Athletes: Ending the Stigma – Nathan Braaten and Taylor Ricci are the founders of Dam Worth It, a non-profit created to end the stigma around mental health at colleges and universities through sport, storytelling, and community creation.
Episode #23 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Olympian Benita Fitzgerald Mosley Talks Title IX, Youth Sports and the Olympics.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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