Keep the subsidy
The city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority routinely gives big groups free use of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown, even though the venue racks up annual operating deficits.
An annual allocation of $1.7 million from a state tourism and development fund has helped to cover the losses to this point. However, the money is due to run out this year and officials don’t know what they’ll do after that.
The answer is simple. They need to lobby state officials, including the powerful House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, to keep the subsidy in place. There’s really no reason for it to disappear. It’s funded through gaming revenues, and with the decision to add minicasinos, sports betting and internet gaming, the commonwealth expects to realize more gaming-related revenue than ever before.
The push to keep the subsidy intact should have begun months ago. The Post-Gazette’s Mark Belko first reported on the issue in June, and he raised it again last Sunday in a story about how the SEA, which owns the convention center, routinely lets big conventions use it rent-free despite the operating deficits.
Why the free ride for groups like the National Rifle Association and the Veterans of Foreign Wars? It’s the nature of the convention industry. If Pittsburgh didn’t offer free or deeply discounted rents, other cities would, and Pittsburgh’s restaurants and hotels would lose out on convention-related spin-off business. Plus, fewer people would visit Pittsburgh to see how great a city’s it has become.
However, as Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner suggested, an independent entity should compare the discounts the SEA provides with an estimate of the recipients’ economic impact to make sure the city is leveraging enough spin-off business to justify free or discounted rent. Ms. Wagner or State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale should be empowered to conduct the audit.
But there’s another issue here. While some groups get to use the center for free, others, such as the organizers of the annual auto and garden shows, pay full freight. That isn’t right. Government facilities should treat all conventioneers the same, and the SEA should clearly communicate to the public each year which groups are using the convention center, how much rent each is paying and how much spinoff business the city is getting.