05-31-2014, 05:56 PM
I'm not a fan of publicly funded stadiums whose primary function is playing field for privately owned professional teams. I've said that before here. I've also seen the evidence to suggest they don't earn money for the cities that finance them.
Men who loved sports as kids but weren't particularly good athletes seem particularly obsessed with this "owning" the team idea. Ballmer was football team manager at Harvard, he's always loved sports and it's been his dream to own a professional team. Men and their toys.
That system is what it is. Fight it politically if you don't like it.
But it doesn't make the philanthropy illegitimate or unimportant. Allen and Ballmer would give money away whether they owned teams or not.
Men who loved sports as kids but weren't particularly good athletes seem particularly obsessed with this "owning" the team idea. Ballmer was football team manager at Harvard, he's always loved sports and it's been his dream to own a professional team. Men and their toys.
That system is what it is. Fight it politically if you don't like it.
But it doesn't make the philanthropy illegitimate or unimportant. Allen and Ballmer would give money away whether they owned teams or not.