Cuyahoga County Chief Executive
Ed FitzGerald announced an it’s-just-crazy-enough-to-work scheme to
end decades of heartache inflicted upon Cleveland’s sports fans.
FitzGerald, who just happens to be in an uphill gubernatorial
battle, proposed on Thursday a policy by which the Browns, Indians,
and Cavaliers would only receive a chunk of their
taxpayer-subsidized millions if they actually win games.
A press release on his website
explains:
When the sin tax extension takes effect next year, FitzGerald’s
proposal will continue to direct 80 percent of all sin tax revenues
towards repair, maintenance, and improvement to ensure Cleveland’s
three major sports facilities remain among the best in the nation.
…The remaining 20 percent of sin tax revenues would be reserved
for performance bonuses presented to the team or teams that perform
well each year. The “Win Tax” bonus is designed to reward the
organizations that commit themselves to giving fans a winning team
and generating economic benefits for the Northeast Ohio economy.
Based on projections of future sin tax revenues, the Win Tax bonus
will make more than $50 million available for justified capital
improvements.
His plan includes a “fan advisory council” to help decide how to
split the cash, but details on that haven’t been fleshed
out. FitzGerald
told The Plain Dealer that he’s confident this is the
first time such a policy has been proposed. Somewhat alarming,
though, is the fact that the FBI-agent-turned-politician is
a bit dodgy when it comes to questions about sports management
in general or Cleveland’s three major teams in
particular.
Cleveland sports radio personalities Bruce Hooley and Jerod
Cherry
criticized the plan during an interview with FitzGerald.
Cherry, who played in the NFL, assured that it
wouldn‘t improve on-field performance. Hooley
stated, “I don’t want government interference in how my sports
teams are run. You’ve hit on a perfect grandstand play for a
political candidate, because everyone wants to say, well I’ll hold
the teams accountable. But you’re talking about telling
billionaires how to run their business when you guys have enough
stuff to do.”
And I’d like to stand by that, except that Cleveland’s teams are
just as guilty for the situation they’re in. The billion-dollar
owners of multi-million dollar teams invited government
interference by spending the last 24 years lobbying for a cut of
the money every time someone drank a beer or smoked a cigarette in
Cuyahoga County.
Unfortunately, the citizens have also made themselves culpable
in Cleveland’s boondoggle. In May they voted in favor a
20-year extension on the tax.
Below is the episode of Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey
in which Reason specifically warned against subsidizing
athletic franchises and other big businesses that regularly promise
(but fail) to draw consumers into the economically crippled
locale:
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