Bookends

Without intending to, I pulled off an unusual double in today's Post-Gazette: I have a byline on the first page -- and on The Next Page -- of the paper's Forum section.

On the front: The Birth of Penguins Nation (with Chad Hermann, a/k/a Teacher. Wordsmith. Madman.). In his 4/1 post today, Chad describes how this piece came about. It's a nice little story in itself -- old media; new media; virtual collaboration; civil and civic discourse and public fellowship. Chad and I each have a new colleague, and we both had a bit of fun. Thanks to Greg Victor at the P-G running the essay. And for anyone who hasn't figured this out: Chad is the hockey fan. I'm the one who hasn't been to an NHL game in 30 years.

On The Next Page: The Cupcake Class and its Contentment. More fun at the expense of, and on behalf of, the region's cupcake creators and consumers. On the same page, Chris Briem offers typically insightful cupcake econometrics; he elaborates (and rightly blames/credits me with the phrase "Cupcake Class" as a derivative of "the Custard Class") in his post today. Our third collaborator, leavening the academic tone of the whole affair, is Rachel Kramer Bussel, who blogs at Cupcakes Take the Cake and who writes on a variety of, um, other topics. Her contribution lends a new dimension to the Cupcake Class, perhaps even to Pittsburgh's future as a whole. In the spirit of Rachel's principal line of work, I'll let you fill in the details on your own. Thanks to John Allison (who edited the page and coined the witty, J.K. Galbraith-ian headline) and Stacy Innerst (for the illustrations). Happy April Fool's Day.

Penguins Nation

The deal has been done; the Penguins and their local fans will, it appears, get a new home. And I've been thinking more about the team's future, in response to Chad's response to this post. In an email note, Chad pointed out something that I simply wasn't tuned into: Some significant portion of the Penguins fan base, including (especially including) fans who show up for home games, doesn't actually live in Pittsburgh. They travel here, stay overnight here, and pay tourist dollars for tickets and food and parking and other things, in order to see Sid and Gino, et al.

What should we make of this?

First -- Are there any numbers on this? Has anyone counted bodies or dollars connected with hockey tourism?

Second -- If those numbers are significant, then maybe a Penguins / entertainment arena is not just a community resource, but instead an economic development resource. What I mean is that the arena would and will be useful precisely because of its appeal (or at least the Penguins' appeal) as a draw for out-of-towners. Hockey and entertainment dollars spent by locals would, in all likelihood, get spent in Pittsburgh anyway. Hockey and entertainment dollars spent by out-of-towners might get spent elsewhere. "Keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh" arguments for public money over the last few months weren't just or even mostly about saving the team for loyal locals. As a local team for local fans, the case for public funding just about collapses. Instead, those arguments were about saving the team for outsiders; public funding of the arena is justified, if it's justified at all, as an investment in attracting outside money.

Third -- What about the Penguins as a draw for inbound, relocating young'uns? As young as the home Pens crowd apparently is, I'm still skeptical that the presence of an hockey team is itself likely to draw people to Pittsburgh, or keep them here once they already have one foot out the door. We need numbers. As a justification for public funding, I still don't get why the city (or the state) should, in effect, bribe people to live here. Fortunately, if the Penguins are an economic development resource, per point two, then this third question is much less important.

Fourth -- If the arena is an economic development resource, then the team should expand its marketing (and its local fans should coordinate themselves accordingly): We need a Penguins Nation, of a size and scale and intensity that tracks (even if it can't quite approach) Steelers Nation. If you build it, they will waddle, and so on. Dear Mario: Publicly embrace hockey-starved fans in Cleveland, Baltimore, Harrisburg, Erie, and Morgantown and encourage them to catch a game in Pittsburgh. Organize hockey charters for Canadian and European fans. Build business-and-hockey relationships with professional and amateur clubs around the world. Work with the VisitPittsburgh team. (Of course, the Penguins themselves don't need to monopolize this market. Calling all entrepreneurs!) The Penguins may be the best flightless ambassadors in the history of Pittsburgh -- and marketing outreach may be the best way for the taxpaying public to see back-end value from their share of the arena deal.

[UPDATED 3/20: "Penguin" in the title became "Penguins," as it should have been in the first place]

Own Your Own Penguin

I've read and heard a lot of dumb things over the last year in connection with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but this may be the dumbest yet.

If hell freezes over and a citizen suit forces the city to condemn the Penguins and sell the team to city residents, then I assume that the next negotiating tactic will be the city's putting a negotiating gun to its own head and making the following threat: Build a new arena for the team, or we're leaving. Every last one of us.

(Photo of Cleavon Little as Sheriff Bart in Blazing Saddles. You'll have to find the dialogue on your own.)

Penguin Pandering

The conversation about whether the Penguins will leave Pittsburgh for warmer climes has reached a new, low level of epic lunacy.

"Who lost the Penguins?" could become to Pittsburgh politics what "Who lost China?" was to the national political debate of the 1950s, a source of never-ending, unresolvable bickering.

(from today's P-G "analysis" by James O'Toole.)

O'Toole is right on, though, with the implied claim that ice hockey is now the third rail of Pittsburgh politics. Were a local elected official to write or say something like "NHL hockey is a dying sport that relies on voodoo economics, and no responsible public official will write a $5 check to build an arena to house a team, come what may," the long knives of hockey boosters -- a vocal minority if there ever was one -- would be out in an instant.

Do the Penguins generate money for the region (does the team generate revenue that comes from outside Western PA that adds to the money that is already here)? No. Does the team provide jobs for young people? No. Are the Penguins a major draw for young professionals who might choose to move elsewhere? For the number who fill the Igloo night in and night out, maybe; for most, no again. And even for those drawn to stay by the Pens and by nothing else, why, again, should you feed at the public trough?

Should County Executive Dan Onorato's political future hinge on whether the Penguins stay or go? If he stands up and delivers a statement like the one I invented above, then I'll vote for him again. If he keeps on pandering, he's out. Pittsburgh's future is in doubt, and the Pens are becoming a distraction.