Posted on 08/26/2017 5:27:17 AM PDT by TigerClaws
The New England Patriots kicked off the 2015 NFL season last week against conference rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Forget about the final score of the game. The real losers weren’t on the field. They were sitting in the stands at Gillette Stadium or on their couches at home.
They were the American taxpayers.
The Patriots built the impressive Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, but it came at a hefty price tag to taxpayers: $72 million. Through the government, we funded 17 percent of the stadium’s total cost.
The Patriot’s aren’t alone. The Pittsburgh Steelers pulled down $171.6 million in public funding for their stadium, 61 percent of the total cost. It’s no understatement to say that stadium truly belongs to the people of Pittsburgh.
And Indiana fans shouldn’t be too happy that the Colts secured $619 million in taxpayer subsidies – almost nine times more than what was given to the Patriots.
Overall, taxpayers have spent nearly $3 billion on the 16 stadiums that will host NFL games during the season’s opening weekend. And over the past couple of decades, we’ve given NFL teams nearly $7 billion total in aid for their stadiums.
But perhaps this is a good example of a “public investment.” Americans, after all, love their sports stadiums. And my fellow New England Patriots fans tout the jobs created in Foxboro by the Gillette stadium and accompanying stores, restaurants, and entertainment. Proponents of the subsidies say that sports teams bring to the local economy is worth the “investment.”
There’s a catch though: many economists agree that the evidence doesn’t back that claim up. A study by Robert A. Baade and Victor A. Matheson explained:
While it is undeniable that sports fans around the country and around the world spend significant sums on spectator sports, in the absence of such entertainment opportunities, their spending would be directed elsewhere in the economy. A night at the ballpark means more money in the players and team owner’s pockets, but it also means less money in the pockets of local theater or restaurant owners.
Photo by: Shutterstock Photo by: Shutterstock Far from pumping money into the local economy, stadium subsidies are merely shifting money from ordinary taxpayers to large corporations. We’re taking money away from some parts of town so that business can boom closer to the stadium. And the small increase in tourism that the stadiums generally attract doesn’t come close to covering what the public pays to make it happen. It’s a false investment that we’re being forced to make, and it’s no wonder we’re not seeing a return.
But what’s the harm of building one more stadium? Further evidence suggests that government favoritism actually hurts areas in which it occurs. Aaron Gordon, writing for the Pacific Standard remarks:
The problem arises when our children become under-educated, our police forces understaffed, and our firehouses emptied while stadiums are built with those same dollars. The problem becomes an epidemic when it’s $31 billion-with-a-B spent by American taxpayers subsidizing privately-owned stadiums, and a merely 20-year-old stadium is being replaced months after the city it’s in threatened to raise taxes or shrink the budget by $20 million. The problem becomes unsolvable when voters rarely get to actually vote on the issue, and when they vote “no,” the stadiums get built anyway.
It’s a shameful example of “corporate welfare,” or the government’s financial support of big businesses that that hire lobbyists to secure special favors from Washington—at the American taxpayer’s expense.
In an economic climate where we’re footing the bills for big businesses, it’s no wonder our generation’s entrepreneurs and small business owners are having a hard time. In fact, we’re seeing a decline in the overall startup rate from 12 to 13 percent in the 1980s to 7 to 8 percent today.
We need lawmakers to level the playing field so that everyone has a chance to win. And if the government is going to act as a referee, it needs to make a commitment to enforce the rules fairly.
That’s the only kind of game we’re willing to play.
Why are taxpayers shelling out billions in corporate welfare to subsidize the insulting of the American flag an anthem?
Defund these thugs. If the NFL can't survive on its own, shut it down. The teams are making over a billion a year. They don't even need these subsidies.
Handy list of the ‘incentives’:
https://cbsminnesota.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/nfl-funding-summary-12-2-11.pdf
Well worth it. No price is too high when it comes to making sure that patriotic Americans continue to be insulted and mocked by our multi-millionaire elites.
Wait, what am I saying? They're not "our" elites. They're the elites of the world, of the universe. They only choose to live in the United States because it happens to be the place where they can make all that money.
I wonder why that is?
Thanks for posting this. The NFL is expert in socializing risk and privatizing profit.
Amen.
CONTACT CONGRESS: Capitol Switchboard 1-866-220-0044
Not so fast. Here in Tampa Bay, the idiot voters said yes to a 1/2 cent tax to fund a new stadium, when we already had a stadium, right next to the new one.
“Why are taxpayers shelling out billions in corporate welfare to subsidize the insulting of the American flag an anthem?”....
Think about the millions spent on the newly built Minnesota Vikings stadium. Subsidized money too? Another major waste. More money spent for “losers” but the losers, as the article states, are the tax payers.
The NFL has become so dysfunctional it's beyond salvation. Last year, players were told they couldn't wear 911 memorial badges. But it's okay for stars who make millions of dollars to play a game to not show respect to those who served in wars to protect that right?
My commenting about the Vikings stadium appears to be premature since, having reviewed the list of those stadiums who DID receive federal funds, DID NOT include the new Viking stadium. Perhaps that was an “old” list or they DID NOT receive federal funds. (My guess an old list).
No matter which way it goes, tax payers money should NOT be used for such. There are way too many other IMPORTANT places for that funding to be directed towards.
A clear picture of how government money controls.
When the owner of the Dolphins pitched the city on paying for the stadium, they said that if it was such a good deal, then why didn’t he do it without them? I guess he had not even thought of that, but once he went over the figures again he agreed with them and financed the stadium himself.
Capitalism at work . . .
Pittsburgh had a vote on building new stadiums. We were told there was no plan B and if the vote failed, it was done. The voters voted No and yet we sit here with two new stadiums paid for with tax dollars. The funny thing is that we were still paying for Three Rivers stadium while they were rigging it to be imploded. Tax dollars thrown down the rathole.
As bad as the NFL is and to lesser degrees the other leagues I think the Olympics are worse. And as far as individual stadiums go how about the Blue Jays Skydome/Rogers Center. Governement built it entirely to the tune of around 500 million and then many years later sells it to the Jays for 25 million. Great deal eh?
Stadiums... what a waste of money.
Thanks to Liz.
Any politician who votes to subsidize the multi-billionaires of the NFL should be voted out of office. Get names...
CONTACT CONGRESS: Capitol Switchboard 1-866-220-0044
Crony capitalism.
What an opportunity for an online class.
It could have real social benefit by raising the awareness of the taxpaying slubs saddled with this single-purpose venues.
We have to keep tackling the NFL over and over again till the populace and the politicians wake up to the fact we ain't gonna take it laying down anymore.
Leni
Apple just juiced $200 million of incentives from Iowa. That’s called negotiating. All businesses that are desired by local and state governments do it. Not doing so would be dumb. NFL owners, by and large, aren’t dumb. Especially not on basic business ideas like don’t pay for things you don’t have to.
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