Wednesday, August 6, 2003

A view from Dallas Just back from Dallas where I noticed that the Cowboys are starting to lobby the Dallas Mayor, Laura Miller (a University of Wisconsin alum) for a new ($1B!!) stadium. The model being pitched, similar to the scheme that financed Milwaukee's ill placed Miller Park is a hotel (up 3%) and rental car (up 6%) sales tax increase. Given the many local and regional government spending priorities, it's difficult to see how public subsidies for such facilities make sense. Further, in the case of Miller Park, the pitch that public investment would lead to a competitive team has not worked out as advertised. Having said that, I've always enjoyed observing the cowboy's atmosphere. Years ago, living in Dallas, we were offered Cowboys tickets. Arriving at the game (early in the Jimmy Johnson/Jerry Jones era), we purchased a couple of sodas. Typically, the plastics soda cups feature photos of the team stars (Troy Aikman and Emmit Smith come to mind). In this case, however, the cups included images of Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson. The cowboys are currently running ads featuring their new coach: Bill Parcells with the music of Laura Nyro (Wedding Bell Blues): "Marry me Bill"..... 9:06:41 AM