Skyboxes

Why skyboxes are bad for American sports.

The rich have been lording it over the poor since Lazarus kicked the bucket at Dives's gate. Why should we expect Giants Stadium to be any different? Because it has been different. While professional sports have willingly contributed to some of society's most malignant evils (materialism, sexism, egomania), they have seldom been promulgators of pretension. And that traditional egalitarianism has never been more necessary than it is now, as America's delicate social balance becomes increasingly strained. As Kevin Phillips and other political watchers have shown so powerfully in recent years, it's not just that the gap between rich and poor grew wider in the eighties, but that the rich seemed less and less willing to acknowledge that the gap exists - while at the same time more and more willing to put themselves at a safe distance. It may seem far-fetched to suggest that mere games could connect the classes, but as long as there's been a team to root for, history has borne it out. In Chicago, L.A., and Boston, the very experience of watching a team could and did build cohesion among diverse racial, ethnic, and economic groups. That's an opportunity few of America's urban centers should overlook today. Unfortunately, nobody's looking.

The man makes a few good points. The rich wonder why Sarah Palin has a crass appeal to Americans...maybe they ought to sit in the bleachers at a baseball game once in awhile.

What makes me ill is that the skyboxes are essentially paid for by the tax payer. The costs are so expensive, only corporations buy them and then deduct them as business costs. Essentially, corporations look at the options - pay the money in tax or buy a skybox for our clients. This is the element of the American upper class that is completely uncouth - they don't even pay for things out their own pocket. Do they realize how expensive it is for a middle class person to take their family to a baseball game? You're looking at $200 for a family of 4 to buy decent tickets and food and maybe a shirt for one of kids. That is probably almost half a monthly entertainment budget for a middle class family. And then you have corporate folks making six-seven figures sitting above everyone else, not even paying for it out of their own pocket, and passing on the costs to the Federal Government by means of tax write-offs. What a joke.