When the push was on to build the new football stadium, I had a first-row seat and was privileged to be actively involved in the campaign. During that brief campaign we talked about how important the team would be to the economic life of Downtown Seattle, the taxes and jobs it would generate.
The political leaders and the public went along with the program, and as advertised, the stadium has been an important economic piece for downtown. Now, as I listen to the National Football League (NFL) labor dispute and the owners’ insistence on a lockout — which holds with it a threat to cancel most or all of the season — excuse me if I am a little bit confused.
No voice in the debate
When it was time to build the stadium — with a portion of it financed by public funds and tax breaks — the NFL and Paul Allen ownership group sold us a vision of them and the city locked together at the hips — what was good for one was good for the other.
Now fast-forward to 2011: The owner’s are discussing a work stoppage as though their action will not have any effect on anyone but them and the players. The millions of dollars in taxes and jobs that Seattle and other cities would lose during one of the worst economic downturns in the nation’s history, suddenly does not seem to be important.
I have heard the owners’ and the players’ sides of the argument about how to split up $9 billion in revenue, but nowhere in the discussion is how their action will impact the host cities and the fans that are the foundation of their profits or losses.
So I naively called the Seattle City Attorney, Mayor’s Office, Seattle City Council and county executive’s office to find out who represents our interest in the labor dispute, and after a brief pause, they suggested I call the stadium authority that runs the football stadium; they, in turn, told me to call the city or county.
In other words, we had no seat at the table only fears and concerns.
A ‘symbiotic’ investment
The relationship between the owners of professional sports teams and the cities they play in is “weird” at best. The cities lay out tax breaks and a portion of the financing to build a field or coliseum for a team that is personally owned, but they have little to do with the management of the team or when and how it changes hands (the Sonics are a case in point).
If the management are good businesspeople and are willing to invest in the team, you have an opportunity to cheer for a winner every year. But if the owners are not willing to spend money and invest in a winner, the team slides into mediocrity, and we can only sit back and helplessly watch it happen.
We invest in the team, the team invests in the players and the players invest back into the community they play and live in.
In the meantime, the game brings thousands of people to the stadium, diamond or football field, and they generate millions for local businesses, which hire thousands of others to serve those same fans.
The fan support depends on the owners’ management decisions and whether they get the players and coaches to produce a winner. Some fans will be there no matter what, but winning teams will always guarantee a strong fan base. It is a symbiotic relationship where all the pieces depend on each other for success.
In the people’s interest
That is why the cities and the counties need to be directly involved in these negotiations until the issue of whether we have a season is taken out of the negotiation and off the table.
Hire an independent team of arbitrators to figure out a new contract that is fair to both sides, but don’t punish the host cities in these fragile economic times.
This is where politicians need to think outside the box and do their jobs to protect the interest of the voters and taxpayers. All of the cities that have an NFL franchise should get together to hire legal representation for the people’s (i.e. fans and taxpayers) interest.
We cannot afford to assume that either side is operating in our best interest, and the presence of the people at the table may put a human face on it and bring this labor dispute between millionaires and billionaires to an end far sooner and protect our economic interest.
CHARLIE JAMES has been an African-American-community activist/writer for more than 35 years.
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