COMMENTARY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — During the fall of 1995, with Baltimore fans in a tizzy over swiping an NFL franchise, effectively doing unto Cleveland what Indianapolis had done unto them, Brad Humphreys was fresh into his new job at the University of Maryland Baltimore-County.
He owned a Ph.D. in economics and an affinity for sports, so the racket of Browns-becoming-Ravens intersected his passions. And his career soon was redirected by what Humphreys heard from the Baltimore deal-makers selling their plan to arrange public financing for a new stadium.
“The state put out one of these ridiculous economic studies to justify that subsidy,” he said, recalling how revenue projections rang like inflated propaganda.