By Beth Comery in the Providence Daily Dose
On May 12, Governor Gina Raimondo announced to the Providence Journal that the state should be giving no more than $35 million to the millionaire owners of the Pawtucket Red Sox.
This came two days after the news that a considerable shortfall is expected for the state budget of the fiscal year starting July 1st.
From RIPR,
According to the state Department of Administration, revenues trailed November projections by about $99.6 million.Governor Raimondo does not seem to know that $99 million + $35 million = $134 million in the hole. (Magna cum laude in economics from Harvard?)
Not only are modern stadiums not engines of economic development, they are designed to specifically to keep people inside the facility, spending all their money on an extravagant array of food and beverage options.
Team owners don’t want the neighborhood to develop . . . and compete.
Governor Raimondo does not seem to know — or is choosing not to know — what everybody else in the world has now learned: Publically-funded stadiums are a scam!
