Policy Forum

Is the Baseball Deal a Strikeout for D.C.?

November 29, 2004 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM EST

1st floor/Wintergarden

Featuring David Catania, At‐Large Council Member, D.C. Council; Brad Humphreys, Associate Professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, University of Illinois, Urbana‐Champaign; Scott Wallsten, Fellow, AEI‐Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies; Ed Lazere, Executive Director, D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute; and moderated by Stephen Slivinski, Director of Budget Studies, Cato Institute

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The deal to bring Major League Baseball to the nation’s capitol has been negotiated. A plan to build a new stadium using taxpayer funds is awaiting approval by the D.C. Council when they meet on November 30. Stadium supporters predict the new stadium will create thousands of jobs and spur economic development in a depressed area of the city. Yet many economists studying this issue agree that professional sports and the government‐subsidized stadiums they demand generally have little, if any, positive effect on a city’s economy. Should the Council play ball with taxpayer money? Join us for a discussion of the D.C baseball deal.