The world's dullest sport making big promises

It says right there in the newspaper that "if Newark is selected" (as the practice field for the Columbus Crew (a soccer team)) "the facility could bring $52 million in sales, more than $18 million in wages, and more than 1,100 jobs to the region.

"Conservative predictions indicate the facility would bring in at least 500,000 visitors per year, with many staying overnight" (city development director Stephen) "Fowler said.

"Newark could expect to receive more than $600,000 in taxes annually, according to a 1999 Michigan State University study of the Crew facility's effect on a Midwest metropolitan region."

The article is aptly headlined "field of dreams."

To imagine that 25 soccer players practicing on a field in Newark (or anywhere) are going to draw that kind of interest and income is, in my opinion, imagination in its finest hour.

Only the statement about $600,000 in taxes is attributed to any source, and that is a nearly 10-year-old study by an out-of-state university. How could that possibly be valid here and now?

But this is the way it's gone, time after time, with The Advocate picking up on out-the-butt "facts" delivered by some government promoter - never asking where any of this came from, or how it can be substantiated, but picking up on it and parroting it over and over.

I think if 25 guys practicing the most dull sport in the world could inspire that kind of money, it's strange that a little town 30 miles away from Columbus could be the benefactor.

Meanwhile, the other shoe is yet to drop. Just what, exactly, are citizens going to be asked to contribute toward the funding of this?

The city administration, with full cooperation by the media, has set the stage, as is its custom. Now the price tag.