Economic development through sports

Washington Nationals' Ryan Church, right, celebrates his three-run home run against the Florida Marlins with teammates Vinny Castilla, left, and Gary Bennett, during the eighth inning, Sunday, June 5, 2005, at RFK Stadium in Washington. The home run proved to be the margin of victory as Washington won 6-3.(AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Today's papers report that the Washington Nationals are in first place, the first time since 1933 that a Washington major league baseball team is in first place. So I guess it's all worth it. Right?

This short, "Foundation to Take Children to Ballgame" from the Thursday Washington Post, still peeves me:

The Freddie Mac Foundation will donate 50 tickets to each Washington Nationals home game to be used by disadvantaged youth in the District, Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced yesterday. Williams, along with the foundation's president, Maxine B. Baker, said the tickets will allow children, particularly those who may not have an opportunity to attend a game, to enjoy the experience of baseball. A total of 3,000 tickets at $7 each will be donated.

The tickets will be distributed by the mayor's office and the Department of Parks and Recreation, with help from such organizations as the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Clubs.

"We always said that bringing baseball to our city was about more than just dollars and cents," Williams said. "It's about community. . . . This donation will help to make Washington Nationals baseball games accessible to more children in our city."

Why shouldn't the baseball team donate such tickets when they are playing to crowds of about 30,000 and the capacity is 45,000, and the team is getting millions and millions of dollars of public money?

Couldn't something better be done with the $21,000 spent each game for Washington Nationals ticket--given the number of community organizations desperately seeking funding for a myriad of projects and the cessation of new grant funding by Fannie Mae Foundation in 2005--FMF is(was) the leading funder of Washington-area community organizations!

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Speaking of "economic development", many cities are seeking to be chosen as the site for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Mayor McCrory of Charlotte, NC showing off the city's proposal for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. 

Today's Charlotte Observer reports, in "Can racing hall rev up tourism? Study: NASCAR facility would raise revenue from visitors by less than 3%" that the economic impact of such a site wouldn't be all that much. Local officials justify the investment more qualitatively, as an initiative to help maintain the city's centrality to auto racing.

"Charlotte leaders have called the contest to win NASCAR's Hall of Fame a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to lure tourism dollars to the region. But an economic impact study shows the project would generate less revenue per year for Mecklenburg County's economy than a single Nextel Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway does for the region. And it would have only about five times as much impact as the McAdenville Christmas lights do in Gaston County.

The study was conducted for the city to help build support for the hall. The Observer obtained it from Gov. Mike Easley's office through the N.C. Public Records Law. Landing the hall over Atlanta, Kansas City and other bidders would increase the number of tourism-related jobs in Mecklenburg by 1.9 percent and raise the annual revenue generated by out-of-towners by 2.4 percent, according to comparisons with figures from the state Commerce Department.