MILWAUKEE, WI – APRIL 30: Celebration outside the BMO Harris Bradley Center for the fans before the game of the Chicago Bulls against the Milwaukee Bucks during the first round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on April 30, 2015 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Being a fan is an act of faith. It requires that we put our hopes into something that we have no control over (even if we sit in our lucky spot or wear the jersey of our favorite player). One of the most repeated tropes of this column is the question of why fans continue to support their teams. My guess is that it is mere tradition that it is what is always done, but it may have more to do with being part of a community. Readers of Missner’s Manifestos past know that my own fandom has largely dissipated. I have a hard time looking upon fans and not thinking them suckers. A couple of weeks ago, I was reading an article from the New York Times by Michael Powell about the Milwaukee Bucks’ new arena, and it made me question fandom anew.
To synopsize the article, “Bucks Owners’ Win, at Wisconsin’s Expense:” Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry bought the Bucks from Senator Herb Kohl with the understanding that a new stadium would be built. The current Bradley Center that the Bucks call home is a dinosaur in terms of NBA stadiums with its lack of luxury boxes and upper class amenities. [I always had a good time there, but I haven’t seen a Bucks game in Milwaukee since 1997-98.] In order to get financing for the new arena, the new owners made nice with local politicians and were able to get a large percentage of public financing for the team’s new digs. At the same time, the government took a similar amount of money out of the University of Wisconsin education system. The two items were not related, but made for an unfortunate seeming cause and effect. The articles shows how the owners greased the wheels of the political apparatus in Wisconsin and even shows that one of the Bucks’ new owners is a majority stakeholder of a company, Nationstar, which manages homes in Milwaukee’s worst areas.
Maybe the article is written in a sensationalistic way, but it is hard to feel good about being a Bucks’ fan after reading it. People like to root for the underdog, but I can’t say that I like to hear stories of the rich getting richer. Local economics are often cited as a reason to keep a sports franchise, but data do not support such an assertion (trickle down economics, I guess). For example, a study from the University of Denver Sports and Entertainment Law Journal from 2011 notes that “The main benefits that comes from having a professional team are intangible, such as civic pride and prestige, but these do not justify using public money to subsidize such ventures.” I am not a supporter of “civic pride and prestige,” which falls into the same bag as faith to me.
Does this make me a hypocrite for supporting the Bucks? I suppose it does, although I don’t know how much support I offer the franchise anymore. I would not have been sorry if they had left Milwaukee and I think the city would have been just fine without them. Has Seattle imploded without the Sonics? Is Los Angeles still a major city without the NFL?
Unlike football, which I stopped watching because it didn’t add up, I still enjoy watching basketball. In this situation, I feel a bit like Kate Nolan in this weak sauce video. She notes that a boycott of the NFL would not work because too many people like football. I am not advocating boycotting the NBA. People are allowed to make money any way they see fit. A person could have qualms about going to the movies or any entertainment because most of the money filters to the people at the top. That’s the way things work. I just wish I could feel better about it.
The post Missner’s Manifesto: Questioning My Fandom, Volume 4,080 appeared first on Hoops Manifesto.
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