Independent Research Shows Stadium Subsidies Do Not Work

Multiple studies have demonstrated that stadiums do not deliver any net economic benefit for taxpayers, and may in fact have negative effects. Here is some recent research on how little stadiums do for the economy:

• A 2015 study by Dennis Coates, professor of economics at the University of Maryland, found “harmful effects of sports on per capita income, wage and salary disbursements, and wages per job.”
• According to Andrew Zimbalist, economics professor at Smith College, “All of the independent, scholarly research on the issue of whether sports teams and facilities have a positive economic impact has come to the same conclusion: One should not anticipate that a team or a facility by itself will either increase employment or raise per capita income in a metropolitan area.”
• In one poll, only 4% of economic experts disagreed with the statement, “Providing state and local subsidies to build stadiums for professional sports teams is likely to cost the relevant taxpayers more than any local economic benefits that are generated.”
• When stadiums receive tax breaks, the state and localities often lose tax money that would have gone to local schools, infrastructure, and the environment.
• Unlike baseball stadiums and basketball arenas, NFL stadiums typically only host 8-10 games a year. This means that aside from the occasional concert or event, the stadium is usually empty 355 days of the year.
• Stadium deals can negatively affect federal tax revenue. A study of 43 stadiums built since 2000 funded in part by municipal bonds that exempt investors from paying federal income taxes found that total loss to the federal treasury was $4.3 billion.
• Stadiums mean large parking lots. Parking lots are a poor use of taxpayer dollars, as there are far more economically beneficial ways to make use of space.