They Play, You Pay by James T Bennett
They Play, You Pay is a detailed, sometimes irreverent look at a political conundrum: despite evidence that publicly funded ballparks, stadiums, and arenas do not generate net economic growth, governments keep on taxing sales, restaurant patrons, renters of automobiles, and hotel visitors in order to build ever more elaborate cathedrals of professional sport—often in order to satisfy an owner who has threatened to move his team to greener, more subsidy‑happy, pastures. This book is a sweeping survey of the literature in the field, the history of such subsidies, the politics of stadium construction and franchise movement, and the prospects for a re‑privatization of ballpark and stadium financing. It ties together disparate strands in a fascinating story, examining the often colorful cases through which governments became involved in sports. These range from the well‑known to the obscure—from Yankee Stadium and the Astrodome to the Brooklyn Dodgers’ move to Los Angeles (to a privately built ballpark constructed upon land that had been seized via eminent domain from a mostly Mexican‑American population) to such arrant giveaways as Cowboys Stadium. It examines alternatives that might lessen the pressure for public subsidies, whether the Green Bay Packers model (in which the team’s owners are local stockholders) or via league expansions. It also takes a look at little-known, yet significant, episodes such as President Theodore Roosevelt’s intervention in the collegiate football crisis of 1905—a move that indirectly put the federal government on the side of such basic rule changes as the legalization of the forward pass. They Play, You Play is a fresh look at a political and economic puzzle: how it came to be that Joe and Jane Sixpack in the Bronx and Dallas subsidize the Steinbrenners and Jerry Joneses of professional sport.James T. Bennett is Eminent Scholar at George Mason University (USA). He holds William P. Snavely Chair of Political Economy and Public Policy in the Department of Economics and is Director of the John M. Olin Institute for Employment Practice and Policy. Bennett received his Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1970 and has specialized in research related to public policy issues, the economics of government and bureaucracy, labor unions, and health charities. He is Founder and Senior Associate Editor of the Journal of Labor Research and has published more than 60 articles in professional journals such as the American Economic Review, Review of Economics and Statistics, Policy Review, Public Choice, and Cato Journal. As a prolific author, he has also written dozens of books related to his research interests.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781461433316 |
| ISBN 10 | 1461433312 |
| Title | They Play, You Pay |
| Author | James T Bennett |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Springer-Verlag New York Inc. |
| Year published | 2012-05-10 |
| Number of pages | 225 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |