Bigger fish for Florida

If school districts had money to balance their budgets, if all the roads that needed building were built, if all the poor kids who qualified had health insurance -- then maybe it would make sense for the state to give the Florida Marlins $60 million over the next 30 years.

But with so many needs, Florida has no business helping professional sports teams build new stadiums. The Marlins have been trying for seven years to persuade the Legislature to help them move out of Dolphins Stadium into something better suited for baseball. The latest plan calls for the team to contribute $192 million toward a $420 million ballpark in downtown Miami. A bill that would allow the Marlins a $2 million annual sales tax "rebate" goes to a Senate committee today but is stalled in the House Finance and Taxation Committee, where chairman Fred Brummer, R-Apopka, a fiscally conservative accountant, wants it to die. Let's hear it for death in committee.

The Marlins' latest pitch is less credible this year, since Wayne Huizenga says the team can keep playing in his stadium after its lease expires in 2010. Mr. Huizenga's stadium already gets the $2 million subsidy and will keep getting it through 2024. Legislators also heard testimony from an economist who debunked, again, the idea that publicly financed sports arenas generate new tax revenue. They don't because they attract mostly local residents, who don't fill hotel rooms or shop like tourists. The state had to give the Tampa Bay Lightning the subsidy this year even though the team isn't playing because of the National Hockey League strike.

The Marlins have said that without a new ballpark, they'll have to move. They visited Las Vegas to underscore the point. Maybe Nevada has the money. Florida doesn't.