Sports spotlight | |
 Mark Rosentraub, associate dean of the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI |
In a world of professional sports fanatics, being the voice of reason won’t always earn you the best seat in the house. Just ask Mark Rosentraub.
The associate dean of the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI has become a recognized cautionary when it comes to the insatiable desire of pro sports teams to have taxpayers build them palatial new stadiums and arenas. “I’ve always enjoyed sports, but I believe we need to think long and hard before we make these kinds of public investments into businesses which are making millions of dollars,” said Rosentraub. Since he first studied the issue in the 1970s, Rosentraub has been heavily involved in debating the proper role of tax funds in building pro sports facilities. He wrote the heavily praised book, Major League Losers, on the topic, as well as numerous journ al articles. He’s been a regular speaker from coast to coast at community meetings in cities facing the battle. He’s even testified at congressional and legislative hearings on proposed stadium deals—and done it so effectively that the National Football L eague routinely sends people into cities where Rosentraub has appeared in an attempt to counter his arguments. “The ironic thing is that I’ve never said cities and states shouldn’t do it—just that they should weigh all the factors before making a decision,” he said. “And I’ve never said there aren’t intangible benefits.” But, he points out that economic impact studies don’t support claims that new stadiums and arenas mean lots of new jobs or income, and that other claims from pro leagues and teams also bear scrutiny. Once Major League Losers was chosen as a “Book of the Week” by Business Week magazine, Rosentraub’s media popularity “just took off. For 1997-98 and even part of 1999, it was pretty much a non-stop sports fest,” he said. He’s worked with ESPN, CNN/SI, FoxSports, ABC’s Nightly News and Nightline, The Washington Post and The New York Times. “The upside is that it was the fulfillment of a fantasy—to make a living talking about sports all day,” Rosentraub said. “The downside is that it pretty much shunted my other work, which I also enjoy. “Most of all, people started talking about the issue, and that was one of my primary goals.” |
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Publication date: September 29, 2000
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