Variety

Lots of subjects worthy of comment!  Thursday morning’s paper carried a column in which the author proclaimed that Indianapolis is not Chicago and that we ought to quit trying that route while working to improve what we do have and simply being glad to be who we are.

We have to give a hearty "Amen!" to that one.  Has to do, we believe, at least partly with that municipal inferiority complex we have mentioned a few times on this website.

We also have to agree with a column in the new IBJ which hit the mailbox yesterday.  The headline is "Needing a recovery of real journalism."  The author’s penultimate paragraph tells us this.

"In a world that is changing as rapidly and dramatically as ours, the importance of real journalism - not ‘infotainment,’ not talking heads, not bloggers, not columnists, but actual fact-checked, verified news in context - becomes immeasurably more important."

As an octogenarian blogger with a Will Rogers approach - "All I know is what I read in the newspapers." - and with very limited personal facilities, acceptance of the above quote is complete.  We recently congratulated the morning daily paper on an investigative approach.  We sincerely hope that article and this column (hers, not ours) may indicate a forthcoming change in this direction.

Unfortunately, not all the news is good.  The front page of the same issue of the IBJ tells us the not-surprising news that we can probably look forward to a long-term agreement - ten years or more? - of taxpayer subsidy for the Pacers.

A gentleman identified as president of a local "sports marketing firm" tells us the new labor agreement in the NBA may make the team more competitive "...if team management is prudent."

We doubt anyone will describe the owners of the Pacers as being "imprudent" managers, since they have become multi-millionaires through well-known business acumen.

It seems to us then, that the question becomes, "What to do with professional basketball?"  About half the teams claim to lose money.  This is a local situation which, without current subsidy, would require ticket prices covering the full cost of the product being purchased.  Our guess is that the seats, other than those paid for with corporate tax write-offs, would empty faster than a fire drill.  This is an entertainment industry which has priced itself out of economic viability. 

While it is implied that another $10-$15 million handout per year is not worth municipal concern, we are told that the loss of the team would be a financial disaster to the city, with particular reference to restaurants and bars in the area of the fieldhouse, and downtown generally.  We appear to be looking at a miniature of the national concept that we have a private business "Too Big To Fail!" 

The news article tells us that the team, bought in 1983 for $11 million is now (2010) estimated to be worth $269 million.  Without advanced training in either economics or mathematics, we find it difficult to understand how an asset can increase its value 24 times in 27 years while losing money every year.

$10 to $15 million local tax dollar giveaways per year aren't all that "miniature!"  Considering what is happening at the national level with public expenditures, do we really want to head down that route?

Comments

[Vox Populi]

The contract for the NBA hasn't been signed as of this date and yet the campaign to raise more money for the Pacers begins. The last time they cried our city gave them 33.5 million. The city ignored the terms of the Pacers contract which had considerable penalties if they moved from Indy and tossed them more meoney.

How is it that an owner gets a free building, 100% of the profit from that building and 33.5 million the last three years and is still losing money? We'll never know because we aren't allowed to see the books.

[Leslie Baker]

Yeah. What Vox Populi said.