6 months ago. if you wanted to see the NBA All-star game you would had to book tickets to Charlotte, North Carolina. Then a law was passed against LGBT people and although no players are openly gay, the NBA felt the law was sending the wrong message. The NBA all-star game was in flux and New Orleans Convention People and the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation teamed up to make a pitch to the NBA. They won and the all-star game is dovetailing into Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is the big festival in New Orleans with floats and marching bands and street parties and technically related to a Christian time just before you give up your bad things or one last chance to be bad without hurting anyone. If you miss the Christian theme, it is a party and can symbolize the end of winter.

For New Orleans, Mardi Gras brings in thousands of people to New Orleans and the NBA all-star game is icing on the top. Hotel rooms are booked, extra security is coming and  more people are working to service the demands of the tourists. Given New Orleans is a tourist or convention town, the all-star game adds to the city.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, for the most part, dividend paying companies do not have to jump up at every opportunity which comes by, most of the time they have learned to say no or we will get back to you. In the case of the all-star game if the infrastructure of the Convention Center, the New Orleans Sports Foundation, and the Mayor’s office had not been in place, the all-star game would go somewhere else. Dividend paying companies have the infrastructure in place to do and that is what investors are paying for. The ability to supplement the core business of the company. Congratulations New Orleans.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.