WHITSON, David <br/><br/>
The mills report, the Manley subsidy proposals, and the business of major-league sport 

 -  2000 
<br/><br/> This article examines the debates over subsidies to professional sports teams that have been the focus of much attention and passion in Canada over the past several years, debates that led to the report by Dennis Mills, sport in Canada: Everybody's Business, and to John Manley's ill-fated proposals to offer subsidies to Canadian professional sports operators. The article reviews the arguments put forward by the sports industry: that major-league hockey and baseball teams make substantial economic contributions, both directly and indirectly, to the cities in which they are located and that Canadian teams, especially those based in smaller cities, need substantial reductioons in their public costs (taxes and/or rents) in order to "level the playing field". With their U.S. competitors. The authors argue that the commissioned studies on which these claims are based in smaller cities, need substantial reductions in their public costs (taxes and/or rents) in order to "level the paying field" which these claims are based systematically overstate the economic impacts of professional sports and are not supoorted by independent research. The authors also argue that the difficulties facing Canada's "small market" teams are not primarily the result of higher taxes; rather, they follow from changes in the sports industry over the last decade (notably, much higher player salaries). This means that in order to remain competitive, teams must be able to generate far greater revenues than were needed only a decade ago. When one examines the new economy of professional hockey, in particular, with its heavy reliance on local television and advertising revenues and on the purchase of luxury seating by the local corporate sector, it is hard to avoid concluding that even with public subsidies teams based in provincial Canadian cities may no longer be able to compete in the major leagues. Finally, the authors consider the cultural argument that NHL hockey is a Canadian tradition and warrants support on "heritage", as opposed to economic, grounds. However, the authors concludes that both professional sports and Canada have changed so much in recent decades that commercial sports is not an appropriate candidate for public subsidy