Nationals Stadium Deal is Corporate Welfare

This week brought another sad chapter to D.C.'s attempt to get a permanent Major League Baseball team. MLB in it's ridiculous arrogance, has requested that D.C. build a new stadium on the Anacostia River. The costs of this stadium are estimated to run around $700 million. And that's before all the cost over runs we all know are in the stadium's future. For it's part, MLB is offering to put up $20 million for the construction. However this week they asked D.C. to agree that $20 million would be ALL that MLB would ever pay, regardless of cost over runs. To make matters worse, MLB has also asked for the city to pay back (out of stadium parking revenues) the $20 million over the stadium's lease period. So what on the surface looks like a $20 million up front payment to defray the costs of construction is actually just a loan. Some have argued that the stadium will bring economic development to DC. However a study by the (relatively conservative) Cato Institute shows that over the last 35 years, professional sports teams have done just the opposite for cities. In the best case scenario, there was no economic impact. However, in the most likely scenario, per-capita income dropped.

There is no silver lining to this story. DC has some of the worst public schools in the country. Many have no heat in the winter prompting them to close. They also have some of the worst EMS response times in the nation. There are parts of the city that are quite literally war zones. Yet MLB is asking D.C. to give them $680 free and clear to build a new stadium which they will use to make money.

It is corporate welfare, pure and simple.