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Wednesday, March 19, 1997

Lawmaker floats 'locker fee' to raise money for arenas

By MELISSA WILLIAMS

Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) - Playing professional sports in Texas could cost athletes up to $5,000 per game under a state lawmaker's proposal to raise money for arenas.

State Rep. Kim Brimer, R-Arlington, says he wants to give cities as many options as possible, including taxing the athletes and broadcasters who benefit from public investment in sports palaces.

"We can't do the income tax bit, but we can sure as heck do a locker fee," said Brimer, chairman of the House Business and Industry committee.

The state constitution prohibits a state income tax.

The committee began hearing testimony last week on Brimer's bill to allow local voters to assess an array of taxes to finance sports facilities.

Possible levies include a sales tax boost, a levy on car rentals and hotel rooms, and charges on parking and ticket permits.

An expert for a group representing hotels and car rental companies, Texans for Fair Play, told the committee it made no economic sense to pay for sports arenas by taxing those industries.

Instead, cities should find a way to spread some of the costs to direct beneficiaries like athletes, said Mark Rosentraub, director of the center for Urban Policy and the Environment at Indiana University and author of Major League Losers: The Real Cost of Sports and Who's Paying for It.

"Why should you pay taxes so that Michael Irvin can earn a higher salary?" Rosentraub said in an interview Tuesday. "If you want to see Michael Irvin, then you should pay whatever it costs you to see him. If the Cowboys charge $50, then you should pay $50. Hotels and rental cars have nothing to do with it."

City officials around the state are keenly interested in the arena funding question as metropolitan areas and suburbs vie to keep and lure away teams.

In Dallas, the NBA's Mavericks and the NHL's Stars are pushing for a stadium to replace Reunion Arena, which has a dearth of lucrative luxury boxes.

Stars president Jim Lites said the $5,000 fee per player per game that Brimer suggested Monday would total $100,000 per game.

"You only gross $500,000 on a good night," he told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "You have a 20 percent player tax. The league'll move out of Dallas before they do that."

John Schomby, program director for radio station KLIF, which broadcasts Mavericks games, predicted that stations would pass on any fees assessed against them.

"We may end up charging more for advertising, I don't know," Schomby said. "I think it's ludicrous. Why can't these people get together and realize they're building an arena that is going to draw crowds and bring money into the city of Dallas?"

Some cities already have ways to snag a share of major league athletes' high earnings.

Pros who play at the city-owned Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia owe the same 4.21 percent wage tax as anyone else who earns income in the city, said Kevin Feeley, city spokesman. The $3.2 million collected from visiting players in 1993-96 went into the city's general fund.

Brimer said Tuesday he was looking at ways to amend the bill to include some of Rosentraub's ideas. But Texas' constitutional prohibition against an income tax would bar a wage tax like Philadelphia's, raising the prospect of the set, per-game locker fee.

Brian Mayes, a spokesman for Texans for Fair Play, said his group "is not anti-arena. What we want is a fairer way of financing arenas by making those who benefit, pay for it."Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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