Adriana Rodriguez

88512720
Professional sports can be very entertaining to watch, especially live in person. It might be one of
the best things to do if you are really into sports. Any sport seems like it is always more fun
when it comes to watching is live in person as opposed to watching it at home or at a sports bar.
All you have to is buy a ticket and enjoy the sporting event, the question is: how much are we
really paying to be at the stadium or arena to watch the event? The reason I ask this is because
most of these stadiums and arenas are publicly funded and then privately owned.
Many stadiums and arenas across the United States are in fact publicly funded for the privately
owned. In fact, out of the 31 teams in the National Football League that have a home stadium to
play in, 29 of those teams have received public funds for construction and/or renovation
purposes. Roughly 94% of the National Football Leagues stadiums are publicly funded. With
that being said, in the United States taxpayers have spent close to $7 billion on stadium
constructions and renovations in the last twenty years. Keep in mind that is only about the
National Football League, there are still several different sports leagues, both professional and
semi-professional that use public funds for their stadiums and arenas as well.
About the National Football League, all of this information and statistics are coming from the
Taxpayers Protection Alliance. A non-profit non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the
public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the governments
effects on the economy. TPA, through its network of taxpayers will hold politicians accountable
for the effects of their policies on the size, scope, efficiency and activity of government and offer
real solutions to runaway deficits and debt.
This has become a big expense on the taxpayers in the United States. If these stadiums and
arenas are going to be privately owned, then they should be privately funded. The only way for
the public funding of these professional and semi-professional stadiums and arenas to stop is for
the federal government to get involved. The way for the federal government to get involved is for
them to implements laws that prohibit privately owned teams to be publicly funded. In fact, in
the year 2015 President Obama has proposed to congress a new budget plan that would put an
end to states and cities using taxpayers money for the stadiums and arenas.
A Stanford economist by the name of Roger Noll says that professional sports stadiums have no
positive impact on local economies. These stadiums look glorious and advertise local economic
growth, when in reality that is not the case. In a 2015 article for Stanford University, it says:
NFL stadiums do not generate significant local economic growth, and the incremental
tax revenue is not sufficient to cover any significant financial contribution by the city,
said Noll, a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. He has
written articles and books and given talks on the public financing of sports stadiums.
Many can see how much public funding only help the private owners of these teams, and not so
much the city, county, or even state.