Spring training in Dunedin: economic impact claims of city disputed by head of Economics Dept at U of FL

In arguing for the recently unveiled “Toronto Blue Jays project“, Dunedin city staff and city commissioners have pointed to the 2016 economic impact analysis (EIA) as support for spending $65 million of public funds on this project. However, the company selected to perform the EIA was not chosen based on a history of accuracy – it was chosen for strategic reasons aimed at securing state and county funding.

Professor Roger D. Blair, Chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of Florida, flatly told DunedinReporter.Com (DR) that “no serious studies show that municipal spending on pro sport stadiums pays off.” Blair said that decision makers “often have made up their minds to go forward, and don’t want to hear something that is inconsistent with the information they already have.”

See the full article here on our sister site DunedinReporter.Com

Leave a Reply