J.C. Bradbury
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jcbradbury.com
J.C. Bradbury
@jcbradbury.com
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Economist, Georgian, Gadfly Stadium Subsidies, Film Incentives, Local Economic Development, Sports Economics Tariffs bad. Vaccines good. #ATLUTD jcbradbury.com
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After 2 years of writing, I sent this out for review today.
Sadly, this is par for the course.
The better deal is that taxpayers pay nothing, and the Spurs stay right where they are. That's what *all* available evidence indicates will happen. Your motivated naive conjecture doesn't counter 50 years of research. This is negligence.
Whoever wrote this editorial for the @ExpressNews should be embarrassed. If you think 50 years of research demonstrating that publicly funded venues are bad policy doesn't make a "clear and convincing case" then you're not interested in evidence.
www.expressnews.com/opinion/edit...
Worcester's Polar Park continues to not pay for itself, yet what does the City CFO say?: "The ballpark has been and will continue to be an integral catalyst to new investment."
I mean, it's not even a secret. Politicians are shameless jock-sniffers.
outside the georgia state house chamber, there's an anteroom where members can hang around; and it's the room thru which guests enter and pix are taken

The crush in there when there's a celebrity or sports person...
Actually, The Tennessean's coverage was so over-the-top awful that even that probably wasn't necessary. I don't think the editors even cared.
In the line for cocktails in the owner's box.
A colleague approached me about a study of campaign donations to promote film incentives. I said not to bother. Truth is no donations were necessary, I had looked. You drop a movie star in the room, and they're all voting yes. Same applies to sports heroes. Politicians love jocks and movie stars.
For example, if you go look at the campaign donations relating to the Titans stadium, the total amount doled out was tiny. But, I hear that the exclusive stadium events the team put on for state and local reps were much appreciated. tennesseelookout.com/2023/07/26/w...
What happens when a cash-poor billionaire wants a new sports stadium? Lobbying. • Tennessee Lookout
The Tennessee Titans turned a couple million in political spending into over a billion dollars from taxpayers for a new stadium in Nashville.
tennesseelookout.com
People often say that politicians/media members are in tank for stadium deals for financial gain (campaign donations, advertising, etc.) but payoffs aren't necessary. If you go looking for a money trail, you won't find one. The currency that matters among local insiders is access.
I think that I don't think most people understand -- and which I was able to observe while doing public ethics law -- is just how insane politicians are for tickets to sporting events, golf outings at exclusive clubs, etc. They'll risk a LOT simply to be a part of that whole milieu.
Georgia Dems should ask themselves who'd they'd rather have as governor, Geoff Duncan or Burt Jones? I mean, do you really think Keisha Lance Bottoms has a shot? (she doesn't)
Geoff Duncan’s Democratic gamble in Georgia tests party loyalty
Former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan’s biggest challenge might not be money or organization, but trust. Once a Republican, he's now running as a Democrat.
buff.ly
In, my forthcoming book, I've got an entire chapter devoted to media coverage of stadium deals. My advice to editorial boards.
I have to believe that nepo-baby PJ wrote that all by himself (and thinks it's really good), because any competent executive would fire a PR rep who crafted such a poorly written statement.
This gets a sympathy B- in 7th grade English.
People often warn about not giving a coach enough time, but I think the bias is in the other direction It was clear that Deila wasn't going to work by May. Pineda stayed a year too long. If it's not working, move on ASAP. Applies to all sports.
Atlanta United fires head coach Ronny Deila after one win in 18
"Our standard of play was not met this season," Atlanta CEO and president Garth Lagerwey said in a release Sunday.
buff.ly