Pro teams are luxuries recession-plagued communities can no longer afford

A Florida county is divided on whether to subsidize a new stadium for the Boston Red Sox (Spring Training):

[B]ig facilities like the one planned here, once viewed as huge revenue generators and symbols of local pride, increasingly look to many people like monuments of a bygone era of excess ....

But the dramatically diverging fortunes of the Red Sox and Lee County's 600,000 inhabitants are striking local nerves. The ballclub, which has played its spring tune-up games in Lee County since 1993, has enjoyed regular sellouts at the current stadium and won baseball's World Series twice in the last five years. Meanwhile, the number of food-stamp recipients in the county has nearly tripled over the past two years, while the foreclosure rate is one the nation's highest.

For some in a county that already has a stadium, the need for a new ballpark is debatable and pales compared with community needs.

It's not too surprising with the prospect of the county facing a $30 million deficit that the Bosox are acting like Wall Street ingrates wanting more than the luxuries they already enjoy.