Marquette Sports Law Review Volume 10 Article 8 Issue 2 Spring The tS adium Game Pittsburgh Style: Observations on the Latest Round of Publicly Financed Sports Stadia in Steel Town, U.S.A.; and Comparisons with 28 Other Major League Teams Kevin Clark Forsythe Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/sportslaw Part of the Entertainment and Sports Law Commons Repository Citation Kevin Clark Forsythe, The Stadium Game Pittsburgh Style: Observations on the Latest Round of Publicly Financed Sports Stadia in Steel Town, U.S.A.; and Comparisons with 28 Other Major League Teams, 10 Marq. Sports L. J. 237 (2000) Available at: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/sportslaw/vol10/iss2/8 This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Marquette Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE STADIUM GAME PITTSBURGH STYLE: OBSERVATIONS ON THE LATEST ROUND OF PUBLICLY FINANCED SPORTS STADIA IN STEEL TOWN, U.S.A.; AND COMPARISONS WITH 28 OTHER MAJOR LEAGUE TEAMS KEvIN CLARK FORSYTHE* I. INTRODUCTION Few domestic policy issues generated more debate in the closing dec- ade of the twentieth-century than the propriety, nature, and extent of public subsidies for major league sports franchises. My city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: "Steel Town, U.S.A." was no exception. Ages ago, in November of 1997, to be exact, the General Assembly of the Keystone State graciously granted the voters in ten southwestern Pennsylvania counties the opportunity to impose an additional 0.5% sales tax upon themselves, their fortunes, and their sacred honors; the proceeds to be used in part to fund the construction of two new stadiums for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers.