My new col at Time.com is about
the huge amounts of public dollars that are shoveled at college and
pro football.
As someone who enjoys following both levels of competition, it
pisses me off that people who never bought a ticket or even watched
a game are on the hook for something that is in no way a core
function of government.
Here’s the start of the col:
As we enter the drama-filled final week of the regular college
football season and the final month of the National Football
League’s schedule, forget about GM and Chrysler, Solyndra, or even
cowboy poetry readings. Fact is, nothing is more profitable, more
popular, and more on the public teat than good old American
football. That’s right. You, dear taxpayer, are footing the
bill for football through an outrageous series of giveaways to
billionaire team owners and public universities that put pigskin
before sheepskin.It’s just not right when governments shovel tax dollars at
favored companies or special interests, even when those firms are
called, say, the Minnesota Vikings or the Scarlet Knights of
Rutgers University. …Especially in an age of busted government budgets, even the most
rabid sports fan should agree that it’s an outrage that the
highest-paid public employee in
a majority of states is a college football coach (in
another 13, it’s a basketball coach).
And here’s hoping that Ohio State murderlizes Michigan State in
the Big 10 champeenship game.
from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/06/college-and-pro-football-is-a-massive-wa
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