Let’s say your local sports team wants a new stadium and is trying to get public opinion on their side. Or one of your local city leaders wants to get the public ready for taxpayer money being used on a new sports venue. One of their first calls will be to their local Chamber of Commerce (“CoC”).

Here, they can get people to give interviews with local media about how necessary and meaningful a new stadium would be for the city and how much money the city would make with a new sports home. No need to support these statements with facts.

We see this type of thing on a daily basis.

• Nashville’s CoC couldn’t wait to publicly tell the biggest local newspaper how they would be “very active in support” of a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans.
• There are three different CoC’s in Las Vegas, yet all three were unanimous in supporting the city/state when  give the A’s almost $400 million in taxpayer money.
• The head of Oklahoma City’s CoC told local media that the local NBA team, the Thunder, were worth almost $600 million PER YEAR to the city. Proof? He had none. But it sounded cool. Maybe next time the Thunder want a new arena, they will be worth $1 trillion per year to the city?
• In Worcester, the ballpark is losing money and struggling to be financially viable. But guess what? According to the local CoC, it is a massive success and is paying for itself. Just forget what all the economists said previously, as they just don’t get it.
• In Arizona, the CoC head told local news that a Super Bowl being played in their area would generate $2 billion dollars…which is so insane and crazy, I am not sure where to begin. As Kennesaw State University economist J.C. Bradbury once said, “These are made up numbers”.
• When the Chicago Bears started their PR push for a new stadium, they got their local CoC to tell the Chicago Sun Times that if the city/state won’t pay for a new stadium, well, the team just may leave. Not only that, the city and state need to give them the money as soon as they can….or else…
• Months ago, when Chattanooga’s minor league team was still trying to get support for a new ballpark, the local CoC went to media to tell them about an economic study that they paid for that said a new ballpark would make the city over $300 million! Did the study say that? Of course not, but again, who cares?
• When the Brewers needed help getting taxpayer money for renovations? The local CoC again paid for a study that said whatever they wanted it to say. This time, the ballpark has brought the city of Milwaukee $2.5 billion dollars in economic output. Why not say $12.5 billion while we are at it?

You get the point. This leads me to a recent story in Arizona, where the state Attorney General is claiming that a number of taxpayer dollars are being used illegally by the Arizona Commerce Authority. Normally, this group is “meant to persuade business leaders to move businesses or operations to Arizona“. Instead, money is being used for things that violate the state’s gift clause.

Like the $2.4 million dollars spent between 2018 and 2023 on hosting business executives at different forums around the area. How on earth are these events helping the city? These events are not where a decision is made about where an event will go. They are events where business executives are treated on the city’s dime without taxpayers seeing a single thing in return. There are even reported cases where executives came to a forum after already being awarded the contract for an event. What value!

In 2024, there are two forums planned that are expected to cost taxpayers $1 million dollars. As the Attorney General told the Arizona Republic:

“(Attorney General) Mayes said the forums cost a lot of taxpayer money and don’t add enough value back to the state. “The current structure of the CEO forums confers significant value on invited private executives and their guests without obtaining any identifiable value for the state,” Mayes said in a statement. – Arizona Republic, 01/18/24

I love way that the AG completely slams downn on this practice:

“A long-standing practice in Arizona to lure business investment in the state — by wining and dining executives at forums tied to high-profile sporting events — is unconstitutional…As they currently exist, the CEO Forums violate the Gift Clause of the Arizona Constitution…The current structure of the CEO Forums confers significant value on invited private executives and their guests without obtaining any identifiable value for the state.”– Attorney General Kris Mayes, 01/18/24

Maybe we are being too hard on these people. Maybe these events really are all about the city and its citizens.

“The events provide chief executives and their guests sports and concert tickets, meals, alcohol and luxury resort stays in an attempt to bring business here.” – Arizona Republic, 01/18/24

A scathing September report from the state auditor general brought up questions such as…is the public getting the same value as the money being spent? The Arizona Supreme Court has decided in the past that the “mere hope of an Arizona-based project” is not worth the public spending millions.

Does it really matter that taxpayers spent $150,000 on unused tickets to the Waste Management Phoenix Open over the prior few years? Maybe the people who didn’t use the tickets thought about the state of Arizona when turning the event down?

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