Another great idea from Easterbrook, I totally agree! It makes me sick whatBug Selig did in Milwaukee with the Brewers, forcing a new stadium deal funded by taxpayers' dollars, then selling the team since the new stadium increased the value of the team.


In other sports news, don't overlook that on election day, Seattle voters overwhelmingly approved an ordinance forbidding the use of public funds for NFL, NBA and MLB stadia. The proximate result might be that the NBA's SuperSonics leave the Emerald City when their current lease to play at the KeyArena expires. But sports owners beware, this might be the bow wave of an approaching trend. As recently as the 1980s, a civic-minded person could argue that some public expense was justified for pro-sports stadium construction in order to create economic activity, especially in downtown areas. Now there's so much money pouring into pro sports, and many owners are so rich, that it has become obscene to expect taxpayers to fund facilities that generate private profit for the wealthy. It's troubling, too, that with the majority of today's pro sports facilities being partially or wholly publicly funded, the owners claim proprietary rights regarding images of what happens inside. If, say, Indiana taxpayers are going to pay for the Colts' new stadium – as they are – why shouldn't anyone film or broadcast what happens within this public venue, ending the NFL's exclusive network agreements? TMQ expects this view to gain legal traction in the coming years. Pro sports commissioners: Better start planning now to pay your own stadium costs on a free-market basis.