Owning A Baseball Team: The Second-Easiest Way To Get A Gov't Bailout

In his new column, “Miami Taxpayers Harpooned On Stadium,” Carl Hiaasen explains how the city of Miami is getting ripped off by the Miami Marlins baseball team:

The new Miami Marlins stadium is rising to completion in Little Havana, and rising with it is the blood pressure of taxpayers who are learning how much the new ballpark will really cost.

On paper, the city and county committed about $487 million in public funds toward the $642 million stadium project. The outlandish arrangement was never presented to voters because they would have pulverized it.

Their mistrust was well placed. In the two years since the financing was approved, the numbers are looking even more dismal than was feared.