Cities keep shelling out taxpayer money for sports stadiums, yet the economics almost never makes sense

Communities almost never see a boost in job or income growth after taxpayers subsidize a new sports facility.

By: Abigail Hall, University of Tampa and Aaron D. Wood, University of Tampa, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: September 29, 2026

Words: 1,613

Last Updated: 5 days, 7 hours ago

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By Abigail Hall, University of Tampa and Aaron D. Wood, University of Tampa

Americans are crazy about sports. But whether that passion requires taxpayers to subsidize new facilities every time leagues and franchises ask for them needs rigorous scrutiny.

A lot of money is at stake. For 2025, the NFL reported some US$14.5 billion in revenue, while the MLB collected an estimated $12.2 billion and the NBA earned almost $12 billion.

Given these …

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