It’s no stretch to say that “Reason” magazine does not ♥ public funding of sports arenas. You can get a fair sample of Reasonette bile regarding sports arenas here. And I agree: public funding of sports arenas—most egregiously, the fabled NFL franchises—makes no economic sense. Yet it happens, constantly. So it must make some sort of sense, somehow. But how?
As is so frequently the case, Adam Smith explains it all for you, in chapter III of book II of The Wealth of Nations:
“There is one sort of labour which adds to the value of the subject upon which it is bestowed: there is another which has no such effect. The former, as it produces a value, may be called productive; the latter, unproductive labour. Thus the labour of a manufacturer adds, generally, to the value of the materials which he works upon, that of his own maintenance, and of his master’s profit. The labour of a menial servant, on the contrary, adds to the value of nothing. Though the manufacturer has his wages advanced to him by his master, he, in reality, costs him no expence, the value of those wages being generally restored, together with a profit, in the improved value of the subject upon which his labour is bestowed. But the maintenance of a menial servant never is restored. A man grows rich by employing a multitude of manufacturers: he grows poor by maintaining a multitude of menial servants.
“In the same class must be ranked, some both of the gravest and most important, and some of the most frivolous professions: churchmen, lawyers, physicians, men of letters of all kinds; players, buffoons, musicians, opera-singers, opera-dancers, &c. The labour of the meanest of these has a certain value, regulated by the very same principles which regulate that of every other sort of labour; and that of the n oblest and most useful, 50 produces nothing which could afterwards purchase or procure an equal quantity of labour. Like the declamation of the actor, the harangue of the orator, or the tune of the musician, the work of all of them perishes in the very instant of its production.”
It is “arguable” that Smith’s choice of words—“unproductive labor”—is in itself unnecessarily pejorative and the application of the concept incorrectly broad. The labor of a “menial servant” can add to the productivity of his “master”, unless the master is a gentleman pure and simple, with no other occupation than to live in a gentlemanly way. But even the labor of the truly unproductive—the declamation of an actor or the rush of a halfback—has value, as long as the public is willing to pay for it.
When the public buys the actor’s declamation or the halfback’s rush, what is it paying for? It is paying for excitement, for adrenaline. The capital of adrenaline is Las Vegas. Gambling is adrenaline production in its most artificial, its purest, form, although amusement park rides run a close second. I doubt if “Reason” believes that either Las Vegas or Disney World is “bad”, or “wrong”, or a drain on the economy—diverting expenditures away from “productive” to “unproductive” labor.
Having an NFL franchise in your hometown may be regarded as having your own personal Las Vegas or Disney World—a veritable adrenaline factory—for the true fan. The actual games are the crème de la crème, of course, but for every game there is a pre-game and a post-game, endless opportunities for yelling at the TV, while every day except Sunday is the occasion for talk radio, listening to other people yell, yelling at other people for yelling, and even yelling yourself. The fun continues in the off-season—endless speculation on trades and—most exciting of all—the draft! I smell Super Bowl!
The attraction for politicians is overwhelming. These days only corporations get their names on stadia, but any competent mayor can wrangle some sort of guaranteed access to those luxury skyboxes, which can be considered the modern American version of Heaven, where one sits with celebrities and playas, and even players, basking in their glory and perhaps even cutting a deal or two. A nice way to spend one’s retirement!
Best of all, for the true fan and conniving politician alike, the costs of all this can largely offloaded onto someone else—the non fan or casual fan. What’s not to like?
