Stadium Subsidies

Tim Snyder Dr. Kohl 1 December 2008 Economics of sports Public Funding for Sport facilities The question that the public has to ask themselves is if this is fair. There are obviously upsides and downsides to every alternative, but what are they when a sports team decided to build a new stadium? Let’s say that the stadium is staying in the same city, but is changing locations and needs a new location to build. The team has to choose a site to build on. This site is the future of the team, but also if negotiations with the city went well it could be the future of the city. If placed in a run-down section of town the city would give tax breaks and incentives to the team to build there. This causes problems with the neighboring buildings and tenants. The people who live there are forced to move out of their homes to build this stadium. The people who owned a house in the area would be bought out and tenants would be forced out on the streets. I am sure there wasn’t a person that would walk away from that that didn’t get compensated for the inconvenience, but it would cause some headaches. Yes, the new build would make new jobs, but not enough to offset the cost for the public. The spots are to be filled with the same faculty that was with the team the last location. This build would only promise construction jobs and some manufacturing. Pro sports will always be a part of our economy. With this being said there will always be the need to rebuild or finance expenses for maintenance. This means the public will always have to deal with this. However, with sports being a very important part of our everyday lives it would be a rough place to live without them.