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Back in May there was a bit of a hullabaloo about how the Columbus Blue Jackets could solve their economic issues, which included the idea of having Franklin County purchase Nationwide Arena.
Today, the Columbus Chamber of Commerce released a report that provides their analysis on the situation with the Blue Jackets, and provides nearly 20 different options on how the team can be retained and economic development of the Arena District increased.
“It is important that our community retain this team,” said Dave Blom, President, Ohio Health and Chair, Columbus Chamber Board of Directors. “The Columbus Blue Jackets impact our regional economy, support thousands of jobs, and bring millions of dollars in tax revenue that contribute to our quality of life.”
While no plans are set in stone, the report provides options that include the continuation of the existing ownership, the implementation of public-private partnerships, as well as alternative private ownership agreements.
The report also revealed the total economic impact of the hockey team being worth over $630 million in economic growth for the region, and contributing to the employment of over 5,500 workers with annual wages of over $350 million.
To read the full details of the report, check out the links (PDF) below:
It appears from the following Dispatch article that corporate welfare continues to replace human welfare.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2009/11/05/jackets_study.ART_ART_11-05-09_A1_B1FJ0I3.html?sid=101
It is interesting that under the Clinton welfare reforms, we generally limit welfare to individuals to five years in total for them to transition from welfare to work and independence. I say we should apply the same reforms to corporate welfare by limiting the total number of years they receive public assistance to transition to a viable financially sound entity. The public should not be required to subsidize corporations that are not profitable on their own. GM and Chrysler were required to eliminate workers jobs, cut workers wages and benefits, and close a number of operations to prove they could become profitable once again before public assistance was given. This situation should be no different.
If they didnt choke to the Wings they might have a bigger following.
The owners of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Nationwide Arena are next in line for a bailout. Apparently, these titans of capitalism believe that applying socialism to guarantee the profitability of a hockey team is acceptable. God forbid we do the same to ensure the access and affordability of healthcare.
Has it occurred to anyone else that the Blue Jackets and Nationwide Arena are losing money because they had a bad business plan? Why should their losses now be socialized?
Columbus voters rejected a publicly funded hockey arena in 1997. Most people don’t care about hockey. It’s not all our problem that NHL teams overpay guys from the tundra to skate.
Columbus would survive if the Blue Jackets go kaput and the minor league Columbus Chill returns. People would just spend their leisure budget on other things. Seattle lost the Supersonics and they seem to be getting along o.k.
Give the Blue Jackets time. Back when OSU first had a football team, they lacked a lot of followers too…
I’m not saying the Blue Jackets should be “bailed out” either, but I’m sure there are lots of possible options on the table to keep the team going. I don’t think anyone is suggestion a taxpayer bailout of the CBJ…they just aren’t eliminating that option from the table yet.
I like what the new mgmt is doing with the Jackets as well. They are trying to keep talent in Columbus and build a brand and players you can follow and know their names. That’s EXACTLY what the Blue Jackets need to increase ticket sales and attendance…
The Dispatch article appears to indicate otherwise. ”But a deal to keep the hockey team here and the Arena District alive — the team and the district generated $30 million in taxes last year — probably will include asking for public dollars, and soon.”
Don’t believe the crap about how much the Blue Jackets generate for the local economy. It’s the BIG LIE of the whole debate.
Columbus would survive if the Blue Jackets go kaput and the minor league Columbus Chill returns. People would just spend their leisure budget on other things. Places like local bowling alleys and movie theaters would benefit.
Seattle survived ok after losing the Super Sonics.
gk,
I love your first post about how corporate welfare should be restricted to 5 years just like Clinton’s welfare reform placed a time restriction for people.
The Seattle example is a little unfair. Seattle still has the Seahawks and Mariners. Both pro teams, aside from their college teams. I guarantee if you go ask the owners of O’Shaugnessy’s, Gordon Bierch or RBar they would tell you that the CBJ generates a lot of business for them when in town.
Put an Ihop in the Arena District… that’ll get people down there… if hockey isn’t doing the trick..
maybe i shouldn’t post so close to lunch time……….
It’s funny that they use the word “retaining” the team, like there are greener pastures out there. I know Kansas City has been angling for the NBA or NHL to relocate, and there was that whole thing about the Phoenix Coyotes moving to the bustling metropolis of Hamilton, Ontario (metro population < 700K) but the CBJ are hardly the only NHL team struggling financially and there aren’t many large markets where a team would be better off.
There are large markets without a team, certainly, but would there be more overall support for hockey in Houston, for example, than in Columbus, Nashville, Phoenix or Tampa?
If the team moves (i.e. Columbus fails to “retain” the team), I hope the new home has a better plan for long-term viability or else they’ll just be threatening to move again after the novelty wears off.
Doug Z-
Seattle also has the Mariners, Seahawks, probably some soccer team (not that soccer’s really a sport), a fish market, a big needle, and other many other prominent features that put them on the map as a “major league” city. They could spare the Sonics.
Regardless of all the other cool things going on in our city, having a major league sports presence goes a long way. Being left with only the Crew and OSU would not be good. Your analogy would be similar to saying that LA did not fall off the map when they lost the Rams.
Anyway, I don’t believe in unabated corporate welfare, but if we can work out something with the CBJ that is a win-win for all parties involved (taxpayers, Nationwide, the CBJ) then it’s worth talking about. Many of the exciting new projects happening right now would have never gotten off the ground if city leaders and businesses didn’t meet and say, “let’s do some give and take to make this work.”
One last point: I’m pretty sure that all J.P. McConnell is looking to do is break even….which — on the surface — sounds absurd from a business owner’s perspective. Even though he’s losing $12M a year and that is not a sustainable business model, the CBJ are certainly worth much more than the $80M his dad paid for them. As long as the VALUE of the team grows by substantially more than $12M per year, he’ll be OK when (if!) he sells the team.
I can think of at least three cities in Canada that would be drooling over the prospect of the Jackets relocating…(1) Hamilton, Ontario,
(2) Quebec City, which wants to build a new arena to replace the Nordiquues, and (3) Winnipeg, which is dying to replace the Jets.
People often equate big city status with professional sports. Losing the Jackets would be a huge blow to the city’s preception.
Losing the Jackets would be a disaster. And we’re not going to land another professional sports team in this city. There’s no way that the NFL, MLB or the NBA would put a team in Columbus because of the proximity of teams in Cleveland and Cincinnati. The NHL should work precisely because there are no other teams in the state.
The NHL caused this mess by over-expanding in too many cities and paying their players way too much money. Who would doubt that hockey players wouldn’t play for $250K rather than $2 milion per year? The NHL made a ton of money from franchise fees when they overexpanded. This isn’t second guessing. Most sports reporters said NHL expansion was a bad idea at the time.
Taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to bail them out.
People don’t like the Seattle example. How about Hartford losing the Whalers? Montreal losing the Expos? Charlotte losing the Hornets? Those cities still have a good quality of life. Most people don’t need a Major League franchise to prop up their city’s collective ego.
Public subsidies for sports franchises are a primary way that billionaire tycoons leech off the rest of us which was the topic of a chapter in David Cay Johnston’s book:
”Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill)â€Â
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/18/free_lunch_how_the_wealthiest_americans
If investors in Winnepeg or Hamilton or Quebec City want to move the Jackets, I say good riddance.
At least most of the population cares about hockey up there.
Question is, why did NHL teams in those 3 cities fail before?
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Sure. George Steinbrenner is getting over $600 million for the new Yankee Stadium in New York. The New York Mets are getting over $600 million. In fact, the City of New York gave them money to lobby against the taxpayers to get more money. Rudy Giuliani gave $50 million to the two teams for that purpose.
The new owners of the Washington Nationals baseball team in Washington, D.C., paid $450 million for the team. But, in fact, they got the team for free, because the subsidy they’re getting for the new stadium is worth $611 million. We actually paid these people to buy the team.
Now, in this country right now, we are spending $2 billion a year subsidizing the big four sports: baseball, basketball, football and hockey. It accounts for all of the profits of that industry and more. Now, there may be individual teams that make money, but the industry as a whole is not profitable. And that’s astonishing because the big four leagues are exempt from the laws of competition. By the way, irony is not dead, because here are people who are in the business of competition on the field who are exempted by law from the rules of economic competition.
If you go to England and you want to start a soccer team, they have to let you join the soccer league. There are thirteen commercial soccer teams in the London area. New York City, the biggest city in the country, there are two baseball teams, because there’s no free entry into the market. In Los Angeles, there’s no football team. And the owners use this power to prevent others from owning teams, to prevent municipal governments from owning teams, to prevent nonprofits from owning teams, to extract money from the taxpayers to build them new stadiums.
At the same time that we’re doing this, we are starving our public parks for money. And I show in Free Lunch how the rise of urban gangs and now suburban gangs is connected to this. We used to have all sorts of programs in this country after World War II for young men and young women on Saturdays and during the summer and school holidays, where even if you didn’t have any money—didn’t matter that your parents didn’t have any money, because—and I know this because I did it as a child—you could go to any one of a half-dozen different places, and there were organized activities to keep you out of trouble. After all, idle hands are the devil’s workshop is not exactly a radical new idea. Well, we’ve cut and cut and cut those programs to fund two different subsidies: one to sports teams’ owners, one that goes to Tyco, General Electric, Honeywell and some other big companies. And, lo and behold, we’ve had a big rise in urban violence because of the vacuum being filled by young people who no longer have these organized activities.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/18/free_lunch_how_the_wealthiest_americans
Wow, Doug Z, are you trying to destroy the little bit of image this city has created for itself through the Blue Jackets. Question: what do we do with an empty arena? What happens when businesses (restaurants, bars) and companies leave the district? Vacancy rates go up and the district becomes less desirable. I’m moving to the Arena District next year partly because of the proximity of professional hockey as an entertainment option. However, if the team were to move, i may reconsider.
I don’t think people really sit back and think about what the impact on the Arena District would be if the team moved. I can’t even begin to imagine. Sure Seattle lost the Supersonics and they were ok but I can’t even believe you’re comparing Columbus to Seattle. There is no comparison.
Also, I love how you double posted your most ridiculous claims.
“People don’t like the Seattle example. How about Hartford losing the Whalers? Montreal losing the Expos? Charlotte losing the Hornets? Those cities still have a good quality of life. Most people don’t need a Major League franchise to prop up their city’s collective ego.”
Actually, Charlotte has a new NBA franchise to replace the Hornets and the NFL Panthers. And ask people in Montreal how they would react if they lost the Canadiens. As to the quality of life, do you live in those cities to speak first hand to them?
The value of a major league franchise to a city is something that isn’t universal and cannot be quantified. No one is a fan of corporate welfare and I’d prefer that the team stay without any kind of public assistance. Having lived in Columbus for nearly 30 years without major league sports, I can attest that for me personally I like the city better with having the option of going to a game. Just as I like to have the option of going to other entertainment choices such as concerts, theatre, et cetera. A city without such choices is just not as interesting place to be and a place where I would not choose to be. I’m sure many other people feel the same way.
I don’t have a link to an angry political quote or economic statisticsto back my position. I know you’re using this as another opportunity to make another anti-corporate screed. So be it. I don’t care. But to speak so dismissively as to what constitutes ”quality of life” in this city is insulting. Yes, Columbus will “survive” without the Blue Jackets. But how desirable of a place will it be to live? That’s a judgment solely in the eye of the beholder.
jpizzow,
The swank place in Columbus used to be the Continent. Then it was the Brewry District. Then Polaris. Now Easton and the Arena District.
Developers will keep overdeveloping as long as politicians keep giving them subsidies to do so.
It’s not everyone’s problem if Nationwide and McConnell had a bad business plan. Most people oppose subsidizing losses and privitizing profits. The voters rejected a publicly funded arena in 1997. Elections have consequences.
What will happen to the Arena and the Arena District? I don’t know but I bet it will remain a nice area.