Lessons From Stadium Planning
Expert sports economist Mark Rosentraub analyzes lessons learned from D.C.'s recent stadium deal.
"When communities consider welcoming professional sports facilities and teams, they should understand two lessons that economists have learned from the building of dozens of arenas from New England to San Diego. First, by themselves sports facilities can do very little for a community, but if they are part of a development plan tethered to private money, some economic magic can result."
"The second lesson is understand the value of your market so that you do not make wealthy owners even richer without getting anything out of the deal yourself."
[Editor's note: This story is accessible online without subscription for a period of seven days after publication.]
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fair trade?
Yes - is half a billion dollars to fund a stadium really a 'fair trade'? If redevleoping SE DC was such a large priority, why not give 500 billion in tax breaks to businesses that relocate there? Why not use that 500 million to fund infrastructure improvements that might spur other private investment? Why not jsut give every single person in the neighborhood a check for $10,000? Any of those would do much more good to that neighborhood than a stadium.
Most, if not all public subsidies that get directed towards stadium construction are cash giveaways from taxpayer wallets to team owners, plain and simple.
The article mentions San Fran as an example of what stadium based redevelopmetn can accomplish. Well he should also read up a bit on how the Giant's owners ponied up for almost all of the costs of that stadium. There is zero reason why sports teams can not and should not build their own stadia.