South Carolina Statehouse Blog

Columbia, S.C. - May 14, 2009 - Today’s Waste of the Day is taxpayer subsidized traffic control for football games and other special events. Rather than allowing the Highway Patrol to recoup its costs from event organizers and the Universities, each year it costs the Patrol nearly $1 million to provide this service for special events across the state.

In fact, the biggest single cost to the Patrol is college football, costing $567,000 with USC and Clemson constituting $473,000 of that amount. Universities reap millions in revenue from broadcast contracts related to their games. For example, the Southeastern Conference, of which USC is a part, signed a deal with ESPN last year worth over $2 billion over the next 15 years. When events like these produce big profits, does it make sense for one arm of government - and by extension taxpayers - to subsidize the arm of government reaping a windfall as a result of the event?