Stadium: A Public Cost for Private Gain

A big reason for the current fire sale of talent in the Florida Marlins is due to their demand for a new stadium.

http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/national/miabpk.htm

This link shows the proposed plans for a new stadium in Miami and of course the owner of the Marlins wants the city of Miami to pay for $198 million dollars, provided by the tax payers of the city. Now it is believed by some that having a sports team provides no new economic growth and that there is a fixed amount of money in an economy and people will spend it at other places within the city if the sports teams leave. Well then why can the owners expect the city to pay for such a large part of it when there is no significant economic boom after? I’m sure there are better things that the almost 200 million dollars could go to in the city of Miami. Also, new stadium or not Miami isn’t that great of a sports town. Attendance at a game this past season was under 1,000 people, more people came to Schaly Stadium for community day. Although the stadium would be nice to have is it really needed, or wanted?