Public Financing of Sports Stadiums “Never support public financing of a sports stadium. You as a taxpayer are virtually guaranteed to lose that game.” Over the past few decades, the debate over whether or not sports stadiums should be publically financed has caught more attention with tax payers. Many financial economists have come to agree that publicly financing sports stadiums is a bad investment. The public should not provide financial support of sports stadiums because they have little local impact, provide subsidies to already rich team owners, are not always long term and overall are poor investments.
Local Economic Impact In the debate for public financing of sports stadiums, it has been argued whether or not stadiums provide …show more content…
Some say that teams cannot afford it and they need help from the government through subsidies. Stanford economist Roger Noll, like many others, states that, “most teams are owned by wealthy individuals who could pay for their own stadiums.” Teams can afford to build their own stadiums, but governments are willing to use taxpayer’s money in order to keep stadiums in their community regardless.
As stated earlier, some do not think that professional teams can afford the full cost of stadiums on their own, making public aid reasonable. Part of the reason the some teams could not afford their own stadiums is because of the plans for the new stadiums. Stadiums costs have risen by hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years. The reason being that these plans have included outrageous luxury boxes equipped with costly add-ons like personalized food options. These luxury boxes do not generate enough profit to cover the costs of adding them, which is a loss for the local …show more content…
As the internet has taken over, real-world stadiums have become less popular. In the future, if trends continue, with more technology advancements “real-world attendance will shrink. Another possibility is that all future facilities will be embedded in larger commercial and residential projects, with the sports team being like an anchor tenant at a shopping center.” Noll is saying here, if the public continues to financially support stadiums, they will no longer just be stadiums and will be even more expensive, while the attendance will shrink. This makes the financing of stadiums a poor investment for local and state governments and in turn taxpayers. Stadiums are also a bad investment for state and local governments because it’s not what the public, as a whole, wants. Robert Baade from the National Tax Association stated, “From World War II to the present, taxpayers have shouldered disproportionately the financial burden for sports facilities construction. In recent years, taxpayer resistance has galvanized.” As the debate for financing stadiums has arose, taxpayers have grown angry and frustrated with their governments spending their money on stadiums they do not want to invest
Local Economic Impact In the debate for public financing of sports stadiums, it has been argued whether or not stadiums provide …show more content…
Some say that teams cannot afford it and they need help from the government through subsidies. Stanford economist Roger Noll, like many others, states that, “most teams are owned by wealthy individuals who could pay for their own stadiums.” Teams can afford to build their own stadiums, but governments are willing to use taxpayer’s money in order to keep stadiums in their community regardless.
As stated earlier, some do not think that professional teams can afford the full cost of stadiums on their own, making public aid reasonable. Part of the reason the some teams could not afford their own stadiums is because of the plans for the new stadiums. Stadiums costs have risen by hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years. The reason being that these plans have included outrageous luxury boxes equipped with costly add-ons like personalized food options. These luxury boxes do not generate enough profit to cover the costs of adding them, which is a loss for the local …show more content…
As the internet has taken over, real-world stadiums have become less popular. In the future, if trends continue, with more technology advancements “real-world attendance will shrink. Another possibility is that all future facilities will be embedded in larger commercial and residential projects, with the sports team being like an anchor tenant at a shopping center.” Noll is saying here, if the public continues to financially support stadiums, they will no longer just be stadiums and will be even more expensive, while the attendance will shrink. This makes the financing of stadiums a poor investment for local and state governments and in turn taxpayers. Stadiums are also a bad investment for state and local governments because it’s not what the public, as a whole, wants. Robert Baade from the National Tax Association stated, “From World War II to the present, taxpayers have shouldered disproportionately the financial burden for sports facilities construction. In recent years, taxpayer resistance has galvanized.” As the debate for financing stadiums has arose, taxpayers have grown angry and frustrated with their governments spending their money on stadiums they do not want to invest