Our SuperBowl

In the twilight of the buzz of Super Bowl 51 I think of my hometown. A Detroit team was not in Texas last Sunday, but Houston, Atlanta and Boston all were abuzz. As the preeminent television event on the American calendar, the Super Bowl’s impact transcends sports-- one day a year our country is a united audience.

The palpable buzz at the center of attention was on my mind last Sunday. I remember 2006 when we hosted the Super Bowl at Ford Field. There was a flurry of improvements and openings, both public and private, in anticipation of the big game. I remember the excitement as Detroit rooted Pittsburgh on to deliver the biggest of W’s to our hometown hero Jerome Bettis in the twilight of his career. Off the field, Detroit swelled with an influx of patronage at our local businesses.

A neighborhood called Brush Park lies just the other side of I-75 from Ford Field. It received fresh attention with the unveiling of Detroit as the 2006 host. New street lights, sidewalks, and the plethora of empty lots and abandoned buildings in this mostly empty space were cordoned off or demolished. On the face of it, this was a tremendous boon for economic development. In reality however the lasting impact was unnoticeable outside of the stadium’s shadow. A section of the city of Detroit (138 square miles in total size) no bigger than a mile square received a sudden infusion of cash after decades of neglect and tolerated decline.

This when our city remained at the top of lists with names like “Most dangerous cities in America”, “Cities with the highest unemployment”, “Worst Big City Public School Systems in the USA”. Was this how we wanted to spend our soon-to-be bankrupt city’s dwindling resources?

Regardless of the answer, fans seemed to be happy with their time in Detroit at Super Bowl XL . Economic developers around the city were happy to point to the new bars and other establishments created to meet the influx of demand. Detroit appeared on the upswing in the coverage we received at home and abroad.

Detroit now has all of its major sports teams coming back into the city. The Pistons, Red Wings, Tigers and Lions will all play their 2017 seasons in “The District”. Encompassing a few square blocks on the edge of downtown there will be tremendous buzz, lots of economic impact created like new jobs. These will be minimum wage jobs. Detroit subsidies funding these moves have addendums that include 51% city resident employment. These can be waived or shifted through the vast network of contractors, sub-contractors and licensed builders on retainer. Or, sports franchises can pay a few thousand dollars in fines for failure to comply to local demands. These miniscule fines are an insult to the public as hundreds of millions of dollars in government funds are diverted from institutions in need such as our struggling local schools, so team owners can house their hobby (aka-sports team).

Although studies have shown the limited benefits of incentivizing sports teams to move back within their city’s limits, Detroit’s leadership seem unable to overcome their desire to point to white elephants and attend ribbon cuttings-- the show goes on. As the first city with all its namesake teams back at home, Detroit will be the guinea pig. We will see if there really is a noticeable and lasting benefit to arenas returning to city centers, and if the tax credits that make these new developments possible are worth the expense to taxpayers.

Meanwhile, a decade since Super Bowl XL, Brush Park has announced a big apartment development. This is not because people love living next to drunk and belligerent sports fans. It is because of the jobs that started returning in 2012, 6 years after Super Bowl XL. The forecast for profit became likely enough for the housing development to to receive financing this year. This was because of the area’s recent economic growth. New tenants won’t be spending $1500 a month on rent because of the 68-odd home games in Tiger Stadium or the 8 afternoons people would spend watching the Lions, nor for the convenience of attending a Piston’s game without worrying about parking. People will move to Brush Park to be close to downtown’s jobs and nightlife, not because of home games.

The Super Bowl reminds us that sports bring us together and are a common bond. In Detroit we only hope that this promise of community invoked by our leaders is more than empty rhetoric from politicians and billionaires who have spent so many of our hard won tax dollars. I hope sports further fuel our city’s resurgence, but I fear that this new era for Detroit sports leads to real, economic benefit for a city in need. We soon shall see.