Deseret News | Another stadium foul play?

Another stadium foul play?

Deseret News editorial

Published: Friday, May 2, 2008 12:09 a.m. MDT

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Imagine you'd really like to buy a luxury item but your spouse says you can't afford it. So you cleverly let your spouse think your monthly car payments continue beyond when the loan is paid, and you pocket the difference to buy the item.

Would that be honest? We can imagine more than a few nights sleeping on the sofa over such shenanigans.

And while this may not be a perfect analogy, it might explain what could be taking shape between Salt Lake County and Sandy, where soccer stadium funding once again is an issue.

County Mayor Peter Corroon and a majority of the county council do not want to give any more money toward stadium construction — beyond the $35 million in hotel taxes state lawmakers forced them to give. Sandy wants to form a community development agency to raise another $10 million toward the stadium, but that would require a substantial buy-in from the county.

Meanwhile, however, the county may be ready to continue giving Sandy $300,000 a year toward funding the Sandy Amphitheater, even though the county's commitment toward the amphitheater was set to end this year. That money would not go directly toward the stadium, but Sandy certainly could shift funds around to free up $300,000 elsewhere.

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Some county leaders, including the mayor, say there is no connection. The amphitheater is successful and deserves continued support, they say, and the county needs to mend fences with Sandy after a rancorous stadium struggle. We hope that's true, given the county's hitherto principled stand against stadium funding.

That stand was bolstered Wednesday when the University of Utah's Center for Public Policy and Administration released a study on the public funding of sports stadiums. Similar to many other studies nationwide, it concluded, "Academic economists have not found statistically significant relationships between various measures of economic growth and stadium construction." A stadium has roughly the same economic impact as "a large grocery store." The only possible benefits may be in intangible things such as community pride.

As the study notes, along the Wasatch Front, taxes already have built a quarter of EnergySolutions Arena, all of the E Center and 93 percent of Franklin Covey Field.

In the end, whether what the county is considering truly is an end-around for stadium funding depends on Sandy. If the county does decide to extend amphitheater funding, the city will have to decide where best to allocate resources.

The public, as always, can only sit and watch, and, we hope, take notes.

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