WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): Mid-South residents love shiny new things. But the money to pay for them comes from our own pockets. With us again to talk about who picks those pockets is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome Back!
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. Good to be with you.
BLANK: So here's an unusual topic for us, Otis: sports!
OTIS: It is unusual.
BLANK: I know you're a big sports guy.
OTIS: I am.
BLANK: You missed my party because you had tickets to some kind of thing where they throw a ball at a hoop.
OTIS: A basket, they call it.
BLANK: Is that what it is? Okay. This week, we saw Memphis's soccer team, 901 FC, hit the road because they didn't get a soccer stadium. Geoff Calkins wrote a column saying the Redbirds could be next if they don't get a new ballpark, or at least major renovations. Now, I'm not one to let millionaires leave without at least a Bronx cheer for their services, but maybe you see sports franchises differently in terms of why we subsidize these operations.
SANFORD: Well, I do. Obviously anything related to the University of Memphis we have to pay close attention to to make sure that they have what they need to be competitive, and that meant renovations to Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. And, of course, the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies, although they've only been here since 2001, they are as as integral a part of this community as anything. And it is very important that we make sure that the FedExForum is up to par. Now, that leaves little room and little money for something like AutoZone Park.
BLANK: And to recap on the money, Tennessee state lawmakers love sports, but not as much as they love shortchanging Memphis. And to that point, they spent around $500 million on athletic buildings at the University of Tennessee, more than a billion on a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. Here, we got a modest $350 million which got divided between the Liberty Bowl and the FedEx Forum, with additional help from local philanthropists. Otis, isn't the solution here just to go back to State lawmakers and say: "Hey! Sports, sports, sports, sports, sports, sports, sports."
SANFORD: That would be nice if we could do that and then they would listen. But you just enumerated the issue here. There's a bias in favor of Knoxville and Nashville. There's a huge bias against West Tennessee and certainly Memphis. And, of course, the recent dust-up over the gun referendums probably won't help either. But yes, the policy makers here should consider asking the state "can you continue to help us for what is an important ingredient in a city, and that is the health of our sports venues." Because sports brings people together. Sports help us to enjoy life in ways that we won't be able to enjoy. And it's also an economic driver. It helps businesses that are located around there. So yeah, I'm making a big push here to do what we can, knowing that we have a ton of needs in the community and we just can't satisfy all of them, but we do need to try to see what the legislature can do to help us.
BLANK: You know what else, is expensive, Otis? New high schools. Like the one planned for Cordova, which is $213 million dollars. And I couldn't help but notice a statement by local State Representative Mark White saying getting a little state funding for this would be a "tough request." Now, the irony of this, of course, is that Mark White is the reason taxpayers are building the school in the first place. He sponsored the state law forcing Memphis-Shelby County Schools to vacate its high school in Germantown so [Germantown] doesn't have to educate Memphis kids. It's seems like the district got handed another bad deal here.
SANFORD: I think they did. And as far as Mark White is concerned, you know that old saying: you broke it, now fix it, seems to apply here. He was the driving force behind the law that forced Memphis-Shelby County Schools to give up the so-called 3-G Germantown Schools. And so it is up to Mark White and others in the legislature to come aboard here and help with this issue about a new Germantown school.
BLANK: Well, Otis, the reason this came out is that the district is having a tough time finding land for this new school, which they say they need a lot of. Because, as you may have guessed: they want to make it a big sports school as well! So, Otis isn't that the solution, right?
BLANK: So it's back to sports again? And yeah, if you want to make this a world class school with the sports amenities like a football field and maybe even a soccer field, yeah, you're going to have to find the appropriate land for this. At least seven members of the Memphis City Council believed that this was not the right place. And I live out here in Cordova and so I understand the reluctance to use that land. And so I just hope that Memphis-Shelby County Schools leaders continue to look for an acceptable site. But I say, again, the legislature needs to get involved here, especially Mark White and the people who voted to force Memphis-Shelby County Schools to give up the 3-G schools, they need to jump in and help us with this project, too. Because they helped create the problem.
