Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit Christopher Keshock Neil deMause and Joanna Cagan. Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit. Revised and Expanded Edition. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008. 408 pp. Paper, $19.95. Twelve years ago, deMause was among the first to describe a movement in which owners of professional sports teams demanded new publicly financed stadiums costing millions of dollars from local governments which were often described as poverty stricken. Since the publication of this first book, the current authors have successfully described the emergence of a massive industry costing over two billion dollars a year in sport subsidies. In a well-researched analysis, they effectively expose the faulty rationale foisted upon captive cities, including the myth that sport subsidies are conducive to economic development and the dreaded threat that a city will lose its team if the taxpayers don't build a new stadium. With the addition of four chapters to the new edition, the authors—in the best tradition of investigative reporting—lay out a compelling picture of "deceptive politicians, taxpayer swindles, media slants, the power of big [End Page 172] money, and most of all, a political system that serves the rich and powerful at the expense of the average fan, the average taxpayer, and the average citizen" (xv). In chapters such as "The Art of the Steal Revisited," the calloused and greedy nature of owners like Art Modell, who moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, is laid bare for the reader to ponder. The detailed and almost clinical descriptions of the infighting surrounding the proposed stadiums for the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and the New York Nets represent a high point for the reader. Discussions about the need for public versus private money in stadium building were secondary to the self-serving needs of developers, team owners, and politicians hellbent on obtaining huge sports subsidies. The result, succinctly described by the authors, was that the Yankees and Mets received new parks in record time, while the basketball Nets' move to a new Brooklyn arena was quickly approved. The total cost for the project was three billion dollars with over one billion dollars of that burden borne by taxpayers. Critics of the chicanery involved in the granting of megabucks for sports subsidies could only ruefully conclude that the taxpayers were fleeced. In a more positive vein, efforts of such informed and combative groups as the Detroit Tigers Stadium Fan Club and Boston's Save Fenway Park are described in some detail, providing concerned readers and activist fans with the information needed to stem the tide of underhanded and often corrupt practices of great stadium swindles. In exposing the template used by greedy owners and corrupt politicians, the authors have provided a great service for concerned public officials and fans who no longer have to sit in silence. Copyright © 2009 The University of Nebraska Press