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Flashback: NFL teams score $7 billion in taxpayer subsidies on stadiums
Watchdog.org ^

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: nepatriots; nfl
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(Classifying this as a VANITY because the article is from 2015. But certainly relevant given we are facing another year of NFL players insulting our country.)

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.

1 posted on 08/26/2017 5:27:18 AM PDT by TigerClaws
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To: TigerClaws

Handy list of the ‘incentives’:

https://cbsminnesota.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/nfl-funding-summary-12-2-11.pdf


2 posted on 08/26/2017 5:27:53 AM PDT by TigerClaws
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To: TigerClaws
Flashback: NFL teams score $7 billion in taxpayer subsidies on stadiums

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?

3 posted on 08/26/2017 5:42:54 AM PDT by Steely Tom (Liberals think in propaganda)
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To: TigerClaws

Thanks for posting this. The NFL is expert in socializing risk and privatizing profit.


4 posted on 08/26/2017 5:45:52 AM PDT by Fair Paul
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To: TigerClaws; PJammers; GOPJ; RitaOK; DollyCali; Tennessee Nana; sickoflibs; TADSLOS; AuntB; ...
Why are taxpayers shelling out billions in corporate welfare to subsidize the insulting of the American flag and our 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.

Amen.

CONTACT CONGRESS: Capitol Switchboard 1-866-220-0044

5 posted on 08/26/2017 5:47:50 AM PDT by Liz (Four boxes to defend liberty: soap, ballot, jury and ammo; used in that order.)
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To: TigerClaws

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.


6 posted on 08/26/2017 6:05:40 AM PDT by VRW Conspirator (Enforce the Law. Build the Wall.)
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To: TigerClaws

“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.


7 posted on 08/26/2017 6:10:43 AM PDT by DaveA37
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To: TigerClaws
The funding of stadiums is insane. (In Cuyahoga County, the most recent fiasco is the county and city councils found just enough votes to pay to encase the Cavs stadium in glass!) If the owners don't want to make the investment themselves, it should be done as a public corporation, selling shares of stock to fund it.

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?

8 posted on 08/26/2017 6:12:52 AM PDT by grania (Deplorable and Proud of It!)
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To: grania

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.


9 posted on 08/26/2017 6:19:07 AM PDT by DaveA37
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To: TigerClaws

A clear picture of how government money controls.


10 posted on 08/26/2017 6:19:30 AM PDT by old curmudgeon (There is no situation so terrible, so disgraceful, that the federal government can not make worse)
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To: TigerClaws

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 . . .


11 posted on 08/26/2017 6:22:12 AM PDT by impactplayer
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To: VRW Conspirator

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.


12 posted on 08/26/2017 6:28:23 AM PDT by Yorlik803 ( Church/Caboose in 2016)
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To: TigerClaws

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?


13 posted on 08/26/2017 6:32:24 AM PDT by xp38
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To: Liz

Stadiums... what a waste of money.
Thanks to Liz.


14 posted on 08/26/2017 6:44:42 AM PDT by ptsal ( Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. - M. Twain)
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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


15 posted on 08/26/2017 6:45:17 AM PDT by GOPJ (Statues today - books tomorrow - the unmasking is starting...)
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To: TigerClaws

Crony capitalism.


16 posted on 08/26/2017 6:45:34 AM PDT by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: Fair Paul
The NFL is expert in socializing risk and privatizing profit.

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.

17 posted on 08/26/2017 6:47:52 AM PDT by ptsal ( Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. - M. Twain)
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To: TigerClaws; Maine Mariner; flaglady47
Thanks for this post. I posted an almost identical screed about the fleecing of the taxpayers by major league football (with statistics) four days ago.

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

18 posted on 08/26/2017 6:49:17 AM PDT by MinuteGal (u)
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To: TigerClaws

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.


19 posted on 08/26/2017 6:49:40 AM PDT by discostu (Things are in their place, The heavens are secure, The whole thing explodes in my face)
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To: Drango
I am so happy that San Diego told the Chargers to take a hike. The Spanos are evil people. They are the robber barons of this century. They abused the fan base for 15 years and moved to LA this summer. They now play in a 27,000 seat soccer stadium that only 21,000 fans appeared for the first two exhibition games. Take you Dean for taking the Stockton Gang to LA. Thank you San Diego for giving them the boot.
20 posted on 08/26/2017 6:51:46 AM PDT by Kozy (new age haruspex; "Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth.")
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