As much as anyone here for small government, I see major sports franchises as infrastructure for cities. The real game is to attract those who would employ thousands with good paying jobs. Sports and educational institutions get it done.
In addition, other cities such as Denver and Phoenix fund sports through dedicated taxes. Sports franchisees can move.
So it sucks for non fans to pay for this, but higher unemployment is worse.
Sports stadiums are not infrastructure. Why should a million people pay so some billionaire can give a gift to his millionaire employees? Let those 50,000 fans per game pay for it instead.
It is a private business, let them pay for their own stuff. This is not the job of a government. Same with public libraries, the patrons should pay for it, not everyone else.
I hardly consider hot dog vendors and ticket takers as good jobs.
If the end-all is to create jobs and infrastructure, why don’t cities invest in manufacturing—or something that actually produces wealth?