This blog is a random collection of information, partly in support of my quotations web site. Other topics include wine, military news, economics, history, libertarianism, and other random things which happen to strike my fancy. Backup site is at http://quotulatiousness.blogspot.com/ (if there are no posts showing, hit the backup blog for explanation). Comments have been turned off, as the spam was getting too much to handle. Comments can be emailed to me for posting.

July 05, 2006

Soccer stadium to be built in Toronto

The federal government has confirmed the previous Liberal government's commitment of $27 million towards a new soccer stadium in Toronto:

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty caught soccer fever Tuesday, formalizing the government's share of building a stadium to house Canada's first Major League Soccer franchise.

He said the federal government will kick in up to $27 million, as promised last fall, for the construction of the open-air venue, located on the city's waterfront. The $62.9 million facility is due to be completed on May 1, 2007. The timing of the financial agreement coincides with the FIFA World Cup underway in Germany.

Flaherty said he hopes Canada will be able to compete in the next tournament, taking place in South Africa in 2010.

Canada is currently ranked 83rd in the world.

As a soccer fan, I'm happy that Toronto is going to be getting a major league soccer team. As a taxpayer, however, I'm much less happy: the three levels of government should no more be putting up money for a soccer stadium than they should be paying for any other kind of private enterprise. If there's enough fan support for a team, then there'd be enough private funding to build the stadium. If it can only be done by forcing non-soccer-supporting taxpayers to contribute part of their taxes to the deal, then it shouldn't.

This is no more than corporate welfare for sports teams. Since all three levels of government are involved, all Canadians are paying — even if the total amount is relative peanuts — for something to benefit Toronto's soccer fan community and especially the owners of the new team. How is this fair, equitable, or just?

Posted by Nicholas at July 5, 2006 10:32 AM
Comments
You may find that the Provincial and Federal money will require community use so that local leagues and maybe the national team will use the facility then any MSL team is not. It still does not go fully to your point...but neither do I ;-) Alan Posted by: Alan at July 5, 2006 12:25 PM
You may find that the Provincial and Federal money will require community use so that local leagues and maybe the national team will use the facility then any MSL team is not.
Yes, that's quite likely. But still, the government spending public money on behalf of private concerns should bother us more than it apparently does. Posted by: Nicholas at July 6, 2006 11:59 AM


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