A report from Conventions, Sports & Leisure says a new downtown San Jose ballpark for the Oakland A's will yield economic benefits for the city — and, predictably enough, the "sports economists" rush out to pooh-pooh the idea.
A report from Conventions, Sports & Leisure says a new downtown San Jose ballpark for the Oakland A's will yield economic benefits for the city — and, predictably enough, the "sports economists" rush out to pooh-pooh the idea.
The report says a new ballpark — totally financed by the A's, with the land leased to the team by the city — would create 2,100 full-time, part-time and seasonal jobs, including 980 new jobs. This isn't necessarily the best use of the land, they say, pointing out that an office development on the site would yield more jobs and more economic impact.
In addition, CSL estimates that a ballpark would create $130 million in annual spending in San Jose.
The city would be leasing land in Diridon area to the A's for the ballpark; the city already owns some of the land needed for the ballpark, while needing to acquire the rest. All in all, the city will likely end up spending $42 million on land; it's doubtful whether a lease to the A's would cover these costs, a fact brought up by the likes of Roger Noll, a Stanford University economics professor and a noted opponent of public spending on sports facilities.
He's right: there's little chance the A's will commit to a land lease that will repay all of these money. However, the real issue is whether there is any developer who would commit to that sort of lease. Realistically speaking, it will never happen.
Noll is also questioning whether 350 construction jobs would be created over the course of the four-year construction of the ballpark. Given staffing levels at new sports facilities over the last decade, we're wondering how a $500-million ballpark construction project would not generate this relatively low number of jobs.
What's really happening here is that the academic sports economists are living in an ivory tower. Is the ballpark the best use of the land? When you throw in every possibility — like office and retail — the answer is no. But is the ballpark the best possible use of the land given the present economic realities? No developer is lining up with development proposals for the site, so to argue the city would wait for a theoretical use of the land is a nonstarter. The office vacancy rate in San Jose and the rest of the Valley is very high, and it could be years before the existing space is filled, never mind create demand for a new office/retail complex. So, the real question — and one ignored by the "sports economists" — is whether a ballpark is a good use for the land given current economic conditions. And given the fact that someone is proposing a $500-million development project in this economy for an empty site in downtown San Jose, the answer has got to be yes.
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