Climate Change & Sport: Hidden Costs for Black Communities

Reader Note: My knowledge in this subject comes from taking multiple public finance, sports economics, and facility management courses and completing a myriad of projects within a top 1% AACSB accredited business school, where I am in the top 2% of undergraduate students. I am also a Climate Ambassador of Southwest Florida. This short writing will tackle the idea that teams should internalize future climate change related costs on their facilities, freeing up public funds to be used to combat systemic racism.

This taxpayer money will be once again poorly utilized. Cities like St. Louis will even go as far as to override taxpayer voter rights in order to make an attractive offer to entice teams to stay (see the Rams fiasco). Furthermore, the costs of “mega events” on cities when hosting can push taxpayer costs into the billions with no tangible economic benefit and a very real crowding out effect. Yet, cities are still willing to spend billions on hosting them. Why?

Since cities clearly do not have the interests of the common man and adversely impacted communities in mind, and that there is no direct link to cities having stadiums and mega events creating sustained economic growth, this expected future cost could take away (potentially) billions in funds that could go to far better causes. Instead of spending billions in taxpayer dollars, why not have teams internalize the cost (which is what should happen to all negative externalities) and use the budgeted amount to make a difference in the systemic racism that plagues this country?

For those living in poor city areas, education is limited and opportunity for escape even more so. Chicago, where systematic racism has long been engrained, is home to “one of the worst unemployment rates in the country for people in their early 20s. People in that age group are worse off than they were in 1960… Around 40 percent of black 20-to-24-year-olds in Chicago are out of work and out of school today, compared with 7 percent of white 20-to-24 year-olds in Chicago” (Semuels).

The system is already clearly failing young African Americans. The numbers behind it are staggering. For many young, predominantly black students athletes, sport can be the only chance to make it out. This will become even more difficult as our world continues to be ravaged by global warming. The weather might not be suitable for long enough for these athletes to work in increasingly hot summers. Also, don’t forget about the frigid Winters. If they can’t afford a gym membership (or indoor training), their chance of making it out decays even further. Essentially, their chance and circumstance in this world will continue to worsen as a result of climate change augmenting systemic racism. This will be a loss for all of society, and the product of sport in general. The divide will rise ever so slowly, so what can we ask our leaders to do?

We can ask that our leaders not push forward with projects that will bring forth negative externalities on the common man. This can include publicly funding stadiums and mega events. We can push for increased funding of schools and athletics programs. Especially in poor, predominantly black areas. The areas where the funds that will be repurposed. What we cannot do is allow our cities to spend millions on projects that teams can. We should internalize themselves as a simple negative externality. Using this available money for a greater purpose to would be the optimal route. Teams get protection from climate change on their own dollar. Those cities spend money wisely to improve our system of racism and inequality. Pay attention. Don’t let your city waive your rights due to climate change.

References

Leeds, M., Allmen, P. V., & Matheson, V. A. (2018). The Economics of Sports. New York:      Routledge.

Semuels, A. (2018, March 29). Chicago’s Awful Divide. Retrieved June 9, 2020, from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/03/chicago-segregation-poverty/556649/