Cities Should 'Just Say No'

Want an NBA team in your town? You can if your city is willing to pay the price. You know, the usual: sweet lease deal in a brand new, state of the art arena, most of the concession and parking money, tax breaks and, oh yeah, a guarantee that the city will make up for any attendance shortfall.

Seems the Houston Rockets are available because the taxpayers of Houston rejected giving their money to the millionaire owners of the team so that said millionaire owners could get even richer at the taxpayer's expense.

It's a great deal if you can get it and for many years in many cities, people - or at least the city governments - caved in to the ransom demands of the people who held their teams hostage.

Perhaps Houston is a harbinger. In fact, in search of a better deal, the Rockets went to Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville has no more business having an NBA team than I have dating a supermodel but city leaders are always willing to be wooed when a major pro sports franchise comes calling. Their egos won't let them see the reality. But Jefferson County, in which Louisville resides, rejected a proposal that would have split financing among the city, the county and the state.

Someone just said no! Finally!

The delusion didn't end, of course. There was some talk that the city of Louisville could bear the brunt of the cost itself. Thirty-five protesters chanting "don't pick our pockets to pay for the Rockets!" in front of the county courthouse in Louisville disagreed. When those thoughts permeate the brains of the people who sign the sweetheart deals for the teams, greedy owners will not be able to continue to shop their franchises around to the highest bidder.

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