With the Iowa caucuses just over two weeks away, ABC's "This
Week with David Brinkley" opted for the politics of pro football
over presidential politics yesterday. Hosted were Baltimore
Mayor Kurt Schmoke, OH Sen. Mike DeWine, Patriots Owner Robert
Kraft, Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson and NFL Commissioner Paul
Tagliabue. Excerpts:
FROM THE POLS: DeWine discussed his bill to disallow
federal tax exemptions for cities building stadiums to lure
existing teams. DeWine, noting that federal taxpayers will
contribute $36M to Baltimore's stadium, said people should not be
told: "You need to send you money to Washington. Washington
will turn around and send it to Baltimore, so Baltimore can steal
your team." Under DeWine's bill, a team would qualify if they
had attendance of over 75% capacity in their original market.
Schmoke: "Senator, you know tax-exempt financing's been used for
the last 15, 20 years, for projects that involve the relocation
of major corporations from one state to another."
FROM THE OWNERS: Kraft, on the argument that public funds
are being used to finance stadiums with luxury boxes for rich
owners to pay rich players: "I don't think public taxpayers
should be paying for luxury suites. ... [But] by having those
luxury suites and club seats, that allows us to keep the lower
end seats in a price range so that the average fan ... can still
come to these games."
FROM THE COMMISH: On the bid for a limited antitrust
exemption: "Congress should recognize what a sports league is,
because the federal courts have been all over the lot on the
subject. A league is a business enterprise. It's a business
partnership. The teams in the league are not independent
business competitors." Asked why the league doesn't just expand
more, Tagliabue noted that they are in competition with other
leagues and have to be careful not to "keep dividing the pie and
lowering revenue on a per club basis as your costs are
escalating" (ABC, 1/28).
