Put the Pacers in Perspective
There are a couple interesting columns in the print/on-line media this weekend regarding the Indiana Pacers. On its editorial page the Indianapolis Star says there are a lot of questions that need to be answered before the city assumes operational control of Conseco Fieldhouse and Bill Benner opines in the IBJ how the Pacers leaving the city would not make Indianapolis a better place.
Allow me to throw a little more punditry into the mix. With all due respect to the Indiana Pacers, I honestly believe that it isn’t so much that most Hoosiers don’t care if you were to leave the city, as much as it is they have more important things to care about; like their jobs, families, and this economy.
I’m not going to get into class envy here, but a family of four trying to get by on $40,000 a year could probably care less about what happens to Larry Bird and his $4-$5 million annual salary. In fact the probably woudn’t mind seeing him leave based on his job performance.
I’m also willing to bet the most Indy residents would agree that if the city takes over the operational costs of Conseco from the Pacers then not only should the team pay rent, like most people do in the real world, but there’s no real reason why the city shouldn’t collect a nice bit of that non-Pacer revenue to the tune of $6-$8 million a year.
I think the public does understand the team does bring economic activity to downtown on game nights and that there are several businesses that could not stay open had it not been for the Pacers and the city could use the couple million dollars in taxes generated from the team’s salaries.
However, with all that said, with libraries possibly closing, infrastructure needs that have to be met, school funding shortages, job anxiety, a rising homicide rate, it’s not that the Pacers aren’t important, but that people who have to work for a living have more important things to worry about.
