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Originally Posted by Mormon Red Death
Second, I absolutely hate the fact that there are publicly financed items in sport. The one thing that Seattle Ute is forgetting is that cities all the time give subsidies to business to bring them in. The land in Orlando that Disney sit upon was purchased for $50 an acre. Orlando owned the land and sold it to Disney so cheaply so it would bring in visitors. Detroit just subsidized the office buildings for Quicken Loans and is paying some of their taxes to get them to come to Michigan. This doesnt just happen in detroit and orlando it happens nearly everywhere.
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Disney World is a completely inapt comparison. I daresay Disney World indubitably transformed Orlando's tax base, economy, etc. For sports teams, this concept is mythology. Cities don't give businesses hard cash "all the time." That's bullshit. They may give certain tax concessions or sell land cheaply (I guess) to get a company like Boeing to change their headquarters, but again, that's far more momentous than having an NBA team.