Politicians and club owners milk the public.

• Author: Barrett, Wayne M.

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THE HOUSE That Ruth Built is now The House That You--the Taxpayers--Built (and Rebuilt). "The Republican push to slash welfare poses no threat to some of the least appealing recipients of public assistance--owners of major league baseball teams.... Taxpayers can not trust politicians to be as demanding with millionaire owners as they are with teen-age mothers," writes Baruch College professor Neil Sullivan, author of The Diamond Revolution: The Prospects for Baseball After the Collapse of Its Ruling Class.

The ruling class of the sports world--the greedy owners who fleece the public at every turn--are by no means just baseball magnates. This perverse welfare for the rich in the form of stadium subsidies and sweetheart lease deals extends to football, basketball, hockey, and even tennis.

To put forth a detailed road map of all the profit-driven franchise shifts over the last decade or so would take the combined expertise of Rand McNally and the Wall Street Journal. But an overview of the National Football League is instructive: The Oakland Raiders move to Los Angeles (1982); the Baltimore Colts hightail it to Indianapolis (1984); the St. Louis Cardinals pack up for Phoenix (1988); the L.A. Rams relocate to St. Louis (1995); the L.A. Raiders come back to Oakland (1995); and the Cleveland Browns bounce over to Baltimore (1996).

The latter shift caused a nationwide outcry since the Browns, with roots in Cleveland dating back 50 years, enjoyed pretty much perennial success on the field and at the box office. The Browns are among the NFL's winningest franchises, while averaging better than 70,000 fans a game. Not good enough, according to their justifiably villified owner, Art Modell. The state of Maryland extended to the Browns a $50,000,000 signing bonus as well as a brand-new 70,000-seat, $200,000,000 stadium, to be ready in 1998. It will include 108 luxury skyboxes and 7,500 extra-expensive "club seats." Money-hungry Modell also gets every last penny from parking, in-house advertising, and concessions. Not only that, but the state will put up another $1,000,000 to refurbish Memorial Stadium while the Browns wait to move into their new digs. Wait, there's more--another $80,000,000 from fans buying a "seat license," the right to purchase season tickets.

"That stadium packages are guaranteeing ticket sales and bottom-line profitability takes the process one step further from the public good," explains sports agent Leigh...