Kickoff.

New York's governor, Mario Cuomo, who largely ignores the arts, has gotten caught up recently in a flap over his own proposals to "save" Yankee stadium. The baseball team's principal owner, George M. Steibrenner III, has issued a threat to move the Yankees to New Jersey from their home in the Bronx, where they have played ball since 1923. In support of the governor's position, New York City's comptroller has estimated that the Yankees generate about $160 million in annual economic activity. The Governor's plan would provide improvements costing $150 million, mostly for a new parking garage and unspecified improvements in transportation to and from the stadium for ball fans, many of whom live outside the city, very few of whom eat in Bronx restaurants or stay in Bronx hotels or even attend other related sports (or arts) events in the area. (No provisions are included in the governor's plan for the city to benefit from cable television revenues.)

Related to this story is the new study by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which reported that visitors coming to New York City specifically for the arts--including dance--generated a whopping $2.3 billion in economic activity in 1992, and increase of 13 percent over the amount found by a study in 1982. Cultural activities now pump $9.8 billion into the local economy (including money spent at hotels and restaurants, on merchandise, and income earned from about 150,000 jobs). Eighty-one percent of the adult population in America, we learn, says that the arts and humanities are "essential" to "healthy American society."

As far as I know, there are no similar surveys that ask the same questions of baseball, whether or not it is either essential or healthy. And Martin E. Segal, chairman of the New York International Festival of the Arts, observes that "twice as many people go to theater, dance museums, and concerts as all sports combined in New York."

And what does the Governor do? His budget cuts shout. In 1989-90, the total value of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts (which used to be second only to the National Endowment for the Arts in support of American arts groups) was $54.3 million, with $4.14 million going to dance. In 1990-91, this was cut to $49.9 million, with $3.6 million going to dance. In 1991-92, slashed to $28.3 million, while dance money was squeezed to $2.1 million. In 1992-93, total down again, to $22.9, with dance cut to $1.6 million.

Compare the governor's poor record on support for the arts from 1989 to 1993 (the 1993-94 budget contains very slight increases) with the message sent by the new Port Authority study. The governor, whose popularity is declining in the polls, has lost his political mind. Investing in the arts during the past few recession years has had consistently large economic advantages. Why buck this fact?

Let's consider a similar situation in Buffalo, New York, where the football team, the Buffalo Bills (which has racked up three consecutive Super Bowl losses, a record), has been pitted against the financially ailing Buffalo Philharmonic. Recession-battered orchestras are having an even rougher ride these days than dance companies. One violinist, Alan Ross, observed to a New York Times reporter, "Whenever any sports team needs anything here [in Buffalo], millions of dollars get thrown into that pot right away, whether they're tax dollars or not. But when the orchestra is struggling for its existence with a million-dollar gap [as it did this past year], everyone says, let's cut the orchestra size down."

Some people insist that these issues are not related, but they are: the new parking garage at Yankee Stadium and NYSCA's declining budgets, the proven value of the arts to New York City's economic recovery in contrast to the trackling financial returns from baseball, or Buffalo's ongoing battle between supporters of the well-known symphony and the local football team.

We're not just talking about a $150 million parking garage--in fact, these days, $150 million is not much money, the price of one B-2 bomber being about five times this amount. We're talking about attitudes and priorities and values. And people in public positions sometimes resist discussing values; it's much too dangerous for a politician who wants to get reelected.

New York's governor is concerned with votes. Should the Yankees move out to New Jersey on his watch, he might lose as many or more votes as he would if he tried to reinstate the death penalty. Or would he, really?

Twenty years ago, seriously questioning whether dollars spent on baseball might be better spent on ballet (or any other cultural activity) would have been unthinkable. Today, asking that question addresses a new culture consciousness, new priorities; that question today makes use of solid knowledge we have about what audiences consider important, what they want to see, what they will spend money on. And, although we may know the answer to that question, too many of our politicians haven't caught on.

Ballet or baseball? You bet.