Municipal Consulting Project PSCI 305

Municipal Consulting Project

PSCI 305

Final Project:

“Municipal Consulting Project”

 

Worth 100 points of final grade

 

Introduction

Congratulations, you have been selected to serve as Political Consultant to the Mayor and lead a research project that will advise the mayor of St. Louis, MO on the development of an economic development strategy that will analyze the merits of proactively securing a professional football sports franchise while comparing the strengths and weaknesses of that initiative to any one of the following priorities:

 

1. Funding a new performing arts hub in the downtown core

1. Increased funding in public K-12 education

1. Increased funding for public safety services with the intention to lower inner city crime

1. Reinvesting in municipal bonding projects for roads, bridges, and mass transit

 

Background

 

Gregory J. Goode has been recently elected Mayor of the City of St. Louis, Missouri, a municipality of approximately 350,000 and a metropolitan area of approximately 2.9 million people. He is a pragmatic, ambitious, centrist. Never having previously held political office, he represents a new kind of urban leadership, bridging business and union ties during the hotly contested mayoral campaign.

 

Mayor-elect Goode ran on a platform that highlighted a number of problematic symptoms plaguing the City including: a downtown that has lost is vibrancy and is hollowed out, crime, and poor performing schools. He campaigned that these symptoms stem from a core issue: lack of economic development opportunities. Throughout his campaign, he highlighted his desire to: (1) increase funding for education and the arts, (2) fight crime, and (3) rebuild crumbling roads and infrastructure, and (4) positon the City to attract another professional sports franchise which he believes is the signature external recognition of a vibrant, big-time city.

 

Mayor-elect Goode will be sworn into office on January 1, 2017 and at that precise moment of his swearing-in, the clock will be ticking on what initiatives the people of St. Louis will see from his administration during his first 100 days.

 

Nobody knows for sure what priorities will come out of City Hall during these first 100 days, but nearly every sector believes its priority will be number one. The pressure is on and the time has come to turn the vagaries of campaign rhetoric into an impactful, politically viable policy plan. And, if he gets this right, the mayor-elect could be launched down the path of political success with stops at the Missouri Governor’s Mansion and even the White House.

 

Situation

 

For the third time in three seasons, the Jacksonville Jaguars (located in Jacksonville, FL) have recently played one “home” game in London, England (Wembley Stadium) and announced the continuation of this commitment into the 2020 season. This effort has long-fueled suspicion that the Jaguars franchise (with the NFL’s quiet support) might relocate to London or another city in the future. The team is struggling in Jacksonville. Mainstream and social media continue to fuel speculation that Jaguars owner, Shahid Kahn, is quietly looking for a new city with a new state-of-the-art stadium and other incentives. In the meantime, St. Louis business leaders are hearing that NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, is sympathetic to St. Louis, after the City has lost its second NFL franchise in nearly thirty years (Cardinals, 1987 to the City of Phoenix and Rams and 2015, to the City of Los Angeles).

 

The St. Louis media, particularly the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, KDSK TV, and KMOX radio are pushing for a city-wide renewed effort to lure another football franchise. The labor trade unions have come out with their support of the “Build It and They Will Come” campaign to push the Mayor to lead an effort to proactively build a new downtown stadium right now without any commitment from the NFL (but with the hope that a team will relocate once the new stadium is open). The unions want construction jobs and this project will put thousands of middle class St. Louis citizens to work.

 

Several forces opposed to a new stadium have formed a loose coalition that includes: teacher unions, social worker unions, police/firefighter unions, and citizen anti-tax groups. They argue that spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a stadium without a team is “foolish and irresponsible.”

 

As Political Consultant to the Mayor, you are charged with creating a policy advisory paper that will do the following:

 

• Provide a brief synopsis on the state of the economic and social climate of St. Louis including citing any actual studies news stories polls independent research, ect.

 

• Cite and explain two examples of cities that successfully attracted professional sports franchises to relocate and what key incentives were used? (Hint: “Sonicsgate” and a city in Indiana, 1984)

 

• Determine if a professional football franchise is truly a “public good” for the citizens of St. Louis.

 

• Weigh the financial risks of building a stadium with no permanent tenant yet identified. Even if the NFL does come, what else could we do with a stadium that could cost at least $500 million? Generally speaking, how might we raise the money? (Hint: you might look at how other cities such as Indy/Phoenix/Houston/Minneapolis raised money for new stadiums including: food/beverage taxes, hotel taxes, funding from the legislature).

 

• Consider the political pros and cons around the prioritization of professional sports over at least one other public good priority (such as roads and infrastructure, social services, education, the arts, or public safety).

 

• Make your final recommendation to the Mayor including a concise public relations strategy to argue “yes or no” to the voters.