what would be the impact on Kansas City, for example, if they lost the Chiefs?
Or consider another example that I have witnessed - the Kansas City Speedway. It opened in 2001, about the same time I moved here. I can remember even when Nebraska Furniture Mart first opened down there - there was nothing down there, only NFM, and I guess Cabela's. Now the place is loaded with stores. (Although I have also noticed that 3 or 4 other furniture stores have gone out of business since the arrival of NFM. That may be normal though, stores go out of business periodically anyway.)
All those stores mean retail jobs and sales tax revenue and the Speedway itself brings in a lot of money. "A 2008 survey by The Washington Economics Group revealed that Kansas Speedway brings $243 million to the state of Kansas each year. It also provides over 5000 jobs, with 4000 jobs coming directly from track operations." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_Speedway
Well, 5,000 jobs at even minimum wage means $75,000,000 in payroll and the impact that that has on the economy as those workers buy food, gas, and furniture, etc. for their families.
If Kansas City lost the Chiefs it would lose that kind of revenue. It would also lose status and quality of life in the eyes of many of its residents. My brother in law recently posted a picture on FB of himself, my sister, my brother and his wife all celebrating my sister's anniversary at a Royals game. People enjoy their sports.
It is kinda funny though, in one sense to talk about how sports "generates" revenue. The Speedway's revenue comes from the tens of thousands of people who drive hundreds of miles to see a few races. Presumably if they didn't do that, they would spend that money somewhere else and that spending would be the same $243 million and create the same 5,000 jobs. Wouldn't it? But it might not be in KCK.
So I am not sure that the Speedway "creates" anything. If hundreds of thousands of people were not spending all day watching cars drive really fast around an oval, they could find other things to do with their time.
But ultimately, it is their own choice as to what they want to do with their time. Some people choose to "waste" hours watching cars turn left. Others "waste" hours reading and writing on a message board. It's their own time and their own money, and woe would be to the politician that did not do what they had to do to keep "our" team in our town.
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