Of course were there no baseball team it is likely fewer tourists would stay at the hotels from which some of the money (tax) comes.
Does anyone object to visitors paying tourist taxes to support the Mets baseball complex?
2 Replies to “Link -> Analysis: St. Lucie County pays up to $3 million a year to subsidize New York Mets spring training complex”
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It’s not just the tourist taxes from the spring training facility. It’s based on the idea (correct or not) that those hotels and that ballpark employ people who would otherwise not have work in PSL, and that they will, in turn, spend money in PSL. And the tourists who stay in those hotels also help keep restaurants busy during what would otherwise not be a prime time of year for tourists, helping restaurants bridge the gap between one busy season and another. It’s one of the reasons that the number of ST games has increased. A lot of these subsidy deals with municipalities stipulate that the MLB team must host some minimum number of games during ST, and that they have to have a minor league team housed there the rest of the season.
Ultimately, it’s a bit of a zero sum game. You have lots of small towns in FL competing against each other to lure/keep MLB spring training facilities, but most of the tax revenue is at the state level, and most of these teams aren’t about to leave FL for AZ. (Now, FL vs. AZ competing for teams is another matter, as every team that left FL to go to AZ is lost tax revenue/jobs in FL, which are gained in AZ.)
It’s not necessarily any more sound than the ridiculous subsidies that various cities throw at MLB/NFL/NBA/NHL facilities. If I were a PSL taxpayer, I’d be annoyed at the wastefulness of it. I can’t blame the Mets for accepting it.
It’s not just the tourist taxes from the spring training facility. It’s based on the idea (correct or not) that those hotels and that ballpark employ people who would otherwise not have work in PSL, and that they will, in turn, spend money in PSL. And the tourists who stay in those hotels also help keep restaurants busy during what would otherwise not be a prime time of year for tourists, helping restaurants bridge the gap between one busy season and another. It’s one of the reasons that the number of ST games has increased. A lot of these subsidy deals with municipalities stipulate that the MLB team must host some minimum number of games during ST, and that they have to have a minor league team housed there the rest of the season.
Ultimately, it’s a bit of a zero sum game. You have lots of small towns in FL competing against each other to lure/keep MLB spring training facilities, but most of the tax revenue is at the state level, and most of these teams aren’t about to leave FL for AZ. (Now, FL vs. AZ competing for teams is another matter, as every team that left FL to go to AZ is lost tax revenue/jobs in FL, which are gained in AZ.)
It’s not necessarily any more sound than the ridiculous subsidies that various cities throw at MLB/NFL/NBA/NHL facilities. If I were a PSL taxpayer, I’d be annoyed at the wastefulness of it. I can’t blame the Mets for accepting it.