Not to mention millions upon millions of tax paying fans that may never set foot in the stadium, but who's lives are measurably enhanced by it's presence; the way it's been for what, 50 years now? If only the tax payer could have back all the money spent on Met Stadium and the Dome, then Minnesota would be a real place with real traditions and history, not those phony kind. Kirby who?
Lets be blunt. You are a member of a special interest group clambering for the government teat. You have your rationalizations just like any other special interest group. And just like any other special interest group when you are confronted about your greed you get indignant and self righteous.
You are part of the problem.
Are you actually (seriously?) implying that without the taxpayers getting raked over the coals and shaken down to pay for a new stadium, professional sports wouldn’t exist? Gee - tell that to the REAL sportsmen who pioneered the sport... Who played in the rain/mud/heat, who didn’t get more wealthy than most third-world dictators. Who’s love for the game is what kept them going, providin excitement for the fans, all without give g them the bird. It’s a GAME. If teams want big, $Multi-billion monuments to their hubris, then let them pay for it.
Just seems ironic for governments to fork out such cash for a bunch of spoiled, over-paid schoolboys to play a game.
And this from someone who occasionally likes to sit down and watch a good football game (but is also why I prefer college over the NFL, though the NCAA is starting to hunk and act like the dictatorial NFL.