While New York sports fans' attention has been focused on George Steinbrenner's request for a $1-billion taxpayer-supported stadium in Manhattan, another stadium subsidy package has already been passed, this time with the approval of both Mayor Rudy Giuliani and City Council President Peter Vallone. Over the next two years, New Yorkers will spend $40 million to build minor league stadiums in Staten Island and Brooklyn. Residents of Brooklyn will contribute an additional $7 million to develop the Coney Island site.
We applaud the City Council and the Mayor for nurturing the growth of minor leagues in New York City. Although New York is and always will be a major league town, its residents deserve to benefit from the surging popularity of the minor leagues. Last year, nationwide, more than 34 million fans attended minor league games, up from 20 million fans only ten years earlier. A few minor league teams are drawing crowds comparable to the big leagues.
But building taxpayer-supported stadiums for absentee owners of minor league teams is as bad as building taxpayer-supported stadiums for major league teams. Ten years from now, New Yorkers may have to deal with an aggressive minor league owner's demands for a new stadium. That's not farfetched. As the minor leagues have grown in popularity and profitability, the game of stadium blackmail is being played there as much as at the majors. In the last decade more than 60 teams have moved.
New York can and should do better. Rather than seeking to rent teams, New Yorkers should move to own them. With the nearly $50 million in public investment already committed, the city should start an independent New York Minor League of community-owned teams.
Why fan ownership? Because it roots teams in the communities that support them.
- Fan ownership works. At least a dozen fan-owned or local government-owned minor league teams exist. In the state of New York, fan-owned teams include the Syracuse SkyChiefs and the Rochester Red Wings.
- Fan ownership has widespread public support. A recent poll by the Working Families Party that tested public reaction to the purchase of the Yankees found that two-thirds of New Yorkers favor community ownership. And of those polled, more than 40 percent were likely to purchase a share in the team.
- Fan ownership requires only a modest investment. Fifty million dollars is too little even for a down payment on the Yankees, but it may be sufficient to finance the purchase of an entire minor league with enough left over to upgrade existing stadiums.
Why an independent minor league? (1) To foster the rebirth of inter-borough rivalries. (2) To avoid the need to ask the Yankees or Mets permission to establish a team. (3) To prevent New York from having to steal another city's existing team. (4) To develop a model for the country.
Right now the anti-trust exemption for baseball allows the majors to restrict the number of teams. That's good for the owners but not so good for the fans. Independent, unaffiliated leagues can be expanded if there is sufficient fan support.
The current strategy by New York may be the worst of all possible worlds. For its $50 million, New York hopes to attract two short-season class A teams, only one rung up from the very bottom of the minor league ladder. The city's residents and businesses will be paying up to ten times the market value of these teams to steal them away from other communities and put the city in the position of being vulnerable to demands from the teams' owners in the future.
Fan ownership is the better way. New York has a historic opportunity to align the interests of sports with those of communities. Only when fans and communities purchase their ball clubs will we be able to root for teams that are truly rooted.
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