> I don't see a value of having sports teams other than entertainment

At least in Europe, most teams have children organizations, and a lot of kids train. The sports provide motivation for the young kids to exercise and practice, watching high level plays is quite useful to learn tactics as well.

>how many sporting events have you been to in the last three months

It's COVID times, c'mon. Most events have no audience.

This is not generally true of big-money pro sports in the US. I'm unaware of any child leagues for the NFL (American / gridiron football), MLB (baseball), NBA (basketball), or NHL (hockey).

Pro soccer might have something, but it's also a rounding error in the American pro sports landscape.

Many US cities have children leagues for soccer, baseball, hockey, basketball, and sometimes football, in addition to the sports offerings at middle and high schools, though not affiliated with the professional leagues as far as I know. In a Pennsylvania city I worked for the recreation department which maintained soccer and baseball fields for children's leagues. The city near me now in Mississippi has soccer, baseball, and softball leagues for children. When I was in Texas, and also in Maryland, children would play ice hockey in leagues. I think it's harder for football because high schools already dominate the children league landscape, and also act as feeders for college football, but there are still some unaffiliated leagues for children around.

Kid leagues EXIST but they are not generally (or ever?) sponsored by the pro leagues. They're municipal, or private/parent funded, or whatever.

Gridiron football exists as Pop Warner or pee-wee leagues before the school systems take over in middle or high school. Little Leagues for baseball are typically shoestring operations sponsored by local businesses.

Where in Mississippi?

How is this relevant to the pro sports bring value through children's leagues discussion though? It appears these kids leagues exist completely independent of the professional teams, and would continue to do so even if the pro team left.

I might not quite have understood what I was commenting on.

> It's COVID times, c'mon. Most events have no audience.

Good point: Why use tax dollars to build a stadium that is going to be mostly empty?

Let's wait to see if interest in sports pick up again.

> I don't see a value of having sports teams other than entertainment

Entertainment is valuable!

Personally, I think the government spends money in a way that is foolish at best. If the money’s going to be wasted, at least spend it on something I like.

By that logic the government should subsidize/fund Netflix, Amazon and Apple because they deliver and produce content that entertains me.

Lots of governments do subsidize the creation of entertainment media. Ever notice how a lot of US TV shows end up with a logo stating "made in Georgia"?

https://www.georgia.org/industries/film-entertainment/georgi...

This is true of lots of places with large-ish film industries. I see similar things for Montreal, Phoenix, and other places.

Believe it or not, you don’t have to extend every thought you disagree with to a nonsensical conclusion. “Oh you bake cookies in the oven because it is hot? By that logic you should bake cookies on the surface of the sun.”

It's not a nonsensical conclusion.

You need to argue why your entertainment should be paid for by tax money, while his entertainment should not.

You can't simply ask taxpayers to pay for your entertainment.

The idea that the product is disconnected from the state is laughable at this point. I mean, we have military jet flyovers and gargantuan flags. But that's football--baseball, America's old pastime, relies on big families, open spaces, and too many games to be effective propaganda these days.

> You can't simply ask taxpayers to pay for your entertainment.

Of course you can ask! You can ask for any nonsensical thing you want! But, I'll grant you that it should ultimately be up to the voters to give the answer.

Also didn't Amazon get huge tax breaks to build FCs around the country?