Apoplectic

[dxwwf3]

Well, first of all I never said that 'nobody cares about them', I'm aware they have a fan base - it's just not a very large fan base, especially as compared to sports franchises in other cities. As I mentioned on the show, Orlando is a town of transplants - transplants who still maintain strong loyalty to their hometown teams, and generally view the Magic with indifference. As far as the Magic being 'useless', in terms of their value to tourism - they are useless, and that was the point of my argument from the beginning. The site and the show are about ORLANDO TOURISM and my issue with the Magic is ONLY that money originally earmarked for tourism is being spent to build them an arena. They do not draw tourist traffic into Orlando and as such, where tourism is concerned - THEY ARE USELESS.

As for your contention that they have a strong local fan base - I beg to differ. The fans they have may be passionate, but the team is by no means a 'staple' of civic life in Orlando. Back in 2005 when the entire issue about whether or not to spend tourist tax dollars on a new arena was still being argued, an outside agency conducted a survey to determine local interest in the franchise. The numbers are telling: http://www.loyalty-cdci.com/magic_results.html This is not a team that locals are going to go to the mat for. If they decided to leave town, I don't think you'd see too much outcry from the vast majority of residents in the area.

First off, it's good to see when things are made more clear, as they were in this post.

Second, 2005 wouldn't have been the best time to conduct a fan loyalty poll with the Magic. That would be one year removed from the worst record in team history (21-61) and a trade of the most popular player since Shaq, Tracy McGrady. Can't argue with the facts there (which are facts, unlike something found on Ball Don't Lie), but I would guarantee a different result would happen now. A lot of sports fans are fickle. Winning changes a lot. A recent poll on the Sentinel website (again not scientific and shouldn't be taken as a complete fact) showed that Dwight Howard is more popular in Orlando than Tim Tebow. That was pretty shocking and surprising enough to be mentioned on Sportscenter one night before Magic highlights.

Orlando has plenty of transplants, but as we grow further and further away from WDW opening, there are more and more people who have grown up in the area and that being their "home town". I fully realize that people from all over the country to the area, but there are a lot of born and raised Orlando citizens as well.

While the new arena might be useless to tourism, having the team in Orlando is definitely not. The Magic will be on TNT in prime time the next two Thursdays. Both games are at home and they are against the Cavs and Celtics. I guarantee there will be numerous mentions of Disney World during the broadcasts, even more so when they have games on ESPN. When they played the Hornets on Christmas, EVERY SINGLE commercial break return showed a different Walt Disney World attraction. That's quite a bit of advertising to a demographic that Disney can really benefit from. Things like ESPN The Weekend always feature Magic players and Disney got plenty of attention the last time the Magic were in the Finals when they put the Horace Grant goggles on the Earful Tower. Pictures of that were in every newspaper in the country.

Regardless, thank you for a reply and a well thought out reply at that. I just hope to show that the Magic's use for tourism is there if you look outside the box. Now is that enough to justify using a tourism tax to build an arena? Nope, can't argue with that. But I do see it as a way for the city to use their top money maker to help them build something that benefits the community, not just in basketball, but events year round.

 

[Stroller Boy]

As for StrollerBoys question about where I think the money would be better spent: given the current state of the economy, I would think the best use of it would be in promotional venues - use the money to better advertise Orlando in key markets - including Europe and Latin America. In short - use it to get more people into town. Then there is local infrastructure - using the money to expand and build roadways that carry large amounts of tourist traffic (like I-4). I would even support the idea of using the money to further offset the cost of the Light Rail system they are hoping to build. The county has approved it, the Feds are ready to pony up cash to help pay for it - it's the state legislature standing in the way right now. Had money from the tourism tax been directed to that project instead (which would have made more sense), it probably would be close to complete by now, insteand of languishing in limbo for years.

In short - I have no problem with the Magic having a new arena - I could care less, I have a problem with using tax dollars in general, and tourist tax dollars in specific to do it.

Pardon the pun here, Pete, but "he shoots...he SCORES!!!" Okay, you now have my vote (if I lived in town, of course ). The only thing with the foreign investment is that in the end of all this mess, the dollar might be stronger or equal to foreign currency...However....I almost think that's a ploy for American companies to downgrade the raises given this year (oh yeah, I've already heard this one where I work....).

I know some folks think that there was some argument in there, hope that my comments weren't taken this way at all, as I've gotten alot out of this discussion. Thanks!