Pros And Cons Of New Sports Stadium Subsidies

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A subsidy can be defined as any financial assistance given in the hope that more than the amount given will be generated as a result, and in most cases comes from the government. In the case of new sports stadium subsidies, the use of government subsidies (public funds) has greatly increased in the past two decades. Two questions then come to mind: Why does the government subsidize new stadium construction and does the local economy actually benefit from this investment of taxpayer money? In short, because money drives policy, and no, new stadiums are generally not wise investments.
In order to be granted a subsidy, team owners must first convince the local government, and then work with them to convince the public that using taxpayer money …show more content…

According to the Bloomberg article, government subsidized bonds are used to build the new stadium, and those bonds are backed by city taxes. This in turn leads to an increase in taxes for everyone in, around, or travelling to the city. For the city of Arlington, TX to fund the new Dallas Cowboys football stadium, “voters had to accept a 0.5 percent sales tax increase, a 2 percent hotel levy and a 5 percent rental car tax.” (Kuriloff and Preston) That might not seem like too much of a sacrifice, but Kurioff and Preston go on to summarize that “tax exemptions on interest paid by muni bonds that were issued for sports structures cost the U.S. Treasury $146 million a year” with “$17 billion of exempt debt issued to build stadiums since 1986.” (Kurioff and Preston) That’s $17 billion of taxpayer money not going to maintain infrastructure, fund other local projects, or provide economic relief in unsure times. New stadium construction isn’t the only issue, as existing teams want bigger, better, more modern stadiums. An excerpt from the book Sport and Public Policy states that “between 2000 and 2009, 31 major-league stadiums and arenas opened across urban America at a public cost of approximately $8 billion” and “most of these stadiums were built for already established, financially stable teams to replace stadiums that already existed.” (Santo and

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