The Cost of Public Funding for Stadiums

Public funding for stadiums used to cover 100% of the cost in the 1960s and 1970s, but now typically covers 40%. However, even though the portion of public funding has decreased in absolute terms, subsidies are now roughly three times as much as they were in the 1980s. Governments are usually responsible for about $500 million per sports facility, while stadium owners make money from them. Economic arguments supporting stadium subsidies include job creation, sustained local consumption, and neighborhood development, yet evidence over the last fifty years questions the validity of these claims.