Athletic Innumeracy

As I was driving home this evening I was listening to Mike Gallagher. He discussed a new program for the Dallas Cowboys. They have conned Arlington Texas into building them a new stadium. But they are now foisting a new program to sell 30 year leases to season ticket holders for prices between $16,000 and $50,000 per seat. Gallagher estimated that the net yield for that would be a couple of billion dollars ($33,000 times 80,000). This publicly funded turkey is now estimated to cost more than $1 billion in support. Arlington voters approved the increase of the city's sales tax by one-half of a percent, the hotel occupancy tax by 2 percent, and car rental tax by 5 percent. The owner of the Cowboys has said he will pay for anything over the $325 million that the voters approved with all those new taxes. But then come the ticket fees. Yielding $2.6 billion, those fees would then help to line the pockets of the owners. Gallagher also claimed that the cost of season tickets would double.

The voters should have said no. So should the current season ticket holders.