Bill HF3934, SF4014

Author
Jace Dvorak
Rushford-Peterson Schools
House

Essay

1. The sports grant will help economic development in Minnesota through the World Junior Hockey Championships. Part of this grant will fund 6 million dollars in costs related to the World Junior Hockey Championships and help spread a good image for youth hockey. Over time this will be better for Minnesota because hockey is the state sport and if there are more youth hockey teams, that means that there will be more business for youth hockey shops and other businesses when teams are traveling.

2.   The sports grant will help economic development in Minnesota through other events. The bill doesn’t specify the events or a specific amount they will fund; however, this could aid Minnesota’s economy based on the event's size. For example, if the event is the Superbowl, then that will attract a lot of tourism, which will inevitably help the Minnesota economy. If the event goes well, then who/what ever wanted to work with the state might be interested in working with the state again, and that was all because the funding was high enough to put on a good event.

3.   The sports grant will help economic development in Minnesota by helping out businesses. Local businesses selling sports goods could have more foot traffic because the sports equipment they sell got more funding from the state and major businesses like hotels could have more business because of the tourism of large events. Other businesses like local restaurants and fast food chains will also have more people, which is good for the Minnesota economy.

4.   A bad thing about this bill is that we could probably find a better way to use this money. This money is appropriated from the general fund to the director of Explore Minnesota Tourism, which leads Minnesota’s travel industry by collaborating with partners to market our state. Some could say that this money would be better off with Explore Minnesota Tourism to put towards the travel industry or put to some better use other than sports. For example, the money could go towards Minnesota’s agriculture industry or its manufacturing industry, which are two of its largest industries.

5. “BBER Study Shows Impact of Youth Hockey and Curling Programs.” BBER Study Shows Impact of Youth Hockey and Curling Programs | Labovitz School of Business and Economics | UMN Duluth, 7 Dec. 2022, lsbe.d.umn.edu/articles/lakecounty-0. 

“Festivals and Events.” Explore Minnesota,     www.exploreminnesota.com/things-to-do/festivals-events#!grid~~~Date~1~~. Accessed  27 Oct. 2024.  

 “Minnesota Economic Trends / Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.” Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, 2020, mn.gov/deed/newscenter/publications/trends/. 

“Mission and Goals / Tourism Industry Minnesota.” Tourism Industry Minnesota, 2024, mn.gov/tourism-industry/about-us/mission-and-goals.jsp. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.