A sound stadium decision
At least, his announcement Wednesday that the proposal for a new soccer stadium in Sandy makes no financial sense, despite being pushed by the powerful speaker of Utah's House, sends that message. Corroon isn't buying over-hyped claims about soccer and economic development.
That's the best news yet to come out of the stadium issue. It's a lot better than the message state lawmakers sent during the last session when they abandoned conservative principles and approved the funding scheme, which would divert tens of millions of dollars in county hotel taxes toward the stadium project. That scheme always was subject to county approval because the county administers the hotel taxes, which makes Corroon's rejection a huge obstacle.
As the mayor explains it, the team wants $35 million from the county. That would require the county to bond for $48.5 million and, because the county could not begin repaying the bonds until the Legislature's approved tax kicks in 10 years from now, the total cost would be $87.5 million over the life of the loan. That's more than twice the amount going toward the team. What private business person would even consider such a deal?
Hotel taxes exist either to offset the cost of providing public services to the state's visitors or to promote tourism so as to attract more visitors. A soccer stadium serves neither purpose. Only in rare instances, such as a game that features the U.S. national team or an exhibition against a world-famous club with a following that travels to road games, would soccer actually bring people to the state. But the impact of such visits, which would happen perhaps once a year at the most, would be mostly lost in a county that had to pay too much for the privilege.
Rest assured, Corroon's decision does not spell the end to efforts to get public funding for a stadium. But at least the county mayor has demonstrated that any deal will have to be in taxpayers' best interests before he approves it. That ought to make people in Salt Lake County breathe easier.
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