Only in New Mexico: $166,000 for study that doesn’t exist

Only in New Mexico and only under former Gov. Bill Richardson would the government hire consultants for a study that doesn’t exist. I was interviewed by KRQE Channel 13 for a story relating to Richardson’s efforts, specifically the commissioning of a $166,000 feasibility study, to determine whether New Mexico would be a likely location for an NFL team.

Now, I am a big NFL fan (Go Steelers!), but I could have outlined why New Mexico can’t support a team for a tiny fraction of that cost. After all, the Metro population of Albuquerque is about 750,000, making it the smallest of any pro-sports town in the nation outside of Green Bay, a city located in a relatively populated, wealthy state, and not too far from Milwaukee. This is a list of the 10 smallest pro-sports cities by state.

See the report from KRQE below which ultimately came to the same conclusion (and was thus spiked without so much as a written report being issued) for about $165,975 more than I just spent to figure this out: