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If You Build It, You Will Pay
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If the Los Angeles Angels decide to move to a new ballpark on the Long Beach waterfront, the latest estimate -- and you know how that's usually a lowball number that will only go way up -- is $1.1 billion, and you can assume the taxpayers will have to foot some of that bill. Here's the question that always arises in ballpark financing stories: Why should ANY public money go to this? Every dollar brought to town by a ballpark is just a dollar displaced from other places that's going to be spent whether or not there's a new ballpark. The Angels WANT, but don't necessarily NEED, a new park (yes, the Anaheim park is old, but it's serviceable). They make money, enough to afford Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani's contracts. Why is it even being entertained that they should get a penny from anyone else for a new building? Can't Arte Moreno pay for one himself? It's not like he'd abandon the L.A. market and attendance around 3 million a year for another market. (Los Angeles Times)
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