According to Kamala, It's Everyone Else's Fault
What This FL State Attorney Said About Indecent Exposure Is Beyond Baffling
What This C-SPAN Host Did on Live TV Regarding James Comey's Indictment Deserves...
North Korea Is Only One Step Away From Developing Nukes That Could Hit...
These First Responders Saved a Life – Now They Might Lose Their Jobs...
Vice President Vance Skewers Bud Light Troll: Conservatives Boycott, The Left Excuses Viol...
Republican Bill Berrien Drops Out of the Race for Wisconsin Governor
It Gets Worse: What We Know About the Drunk Driver Who Hit Idaho...
WI State Senate Hearing Devolves Into Chaos As Tim Carpenter Demands Healthcare for...
Liberal College Professor Sponsors TPUSA Chapter, Defends Free Marketplace of Ideas
Greta Thunberg's Flotilla Suffers Psychological Warfare in Another Brutal Attack
California Man Sentenced to Nearly 20 Years for Firebombing UC Berkeley, Federal Building
Woman Defrauded Autism Program of $14M, Bought Real Estate in Kenya With Taxpayer...
6-3 Supreme Court Ruling Backs Trump, Halts Billions in Foreign Spending
This Texas Pharmacy Pushed 500,000 Opioid Pills—Now They're Going to Prison
Tipsheet

How Taxpayers Lose In the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl will be played tonight in the beautiful University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Enjoy the game because, as Jared Meyer of Economics 21 says, you're paying for it.

Advertisement

The University of Phoenix Stadium opened in 2006 as one of the most luxurious and modern sports arenas in the United States. And it was mostly paid for by taxpayers, not by team ownership. Nearly $300 million in taxpayer dollars were awarded to the project throughout its construction, paid for by various tourism taxes. As Meyer writes:

Most public stadium cost figures are underestimated since economists and policymakers fail to take into account “maintenance expenses, capital improvements, municipal services, and the abatement of local property taxes,” according to Long. Returning to the Gillette Stadium, Massachusetts did agree to pay for updating surrounding infrastructure, and the other often-ignored costs listed by Long.

When these costs are included, the average public bill for each of the 121 professional sports stadiums in operation at the end of the 2010 season increases to $259 million—78 percent of total average costs. This means the total tab passed on to American taxpayers for the 121 stadiums was $31 billion.

Advertisement

Meyer compares and contrasts the stadium situations for Seahawks and Patriots fans. But the University of Phoenix Stadium is a fascinating case in and of itself. Last year, a judge ruled that one of the tourism taxes used to finance the stadium was unconstitutional. The result? The county might be forced to pay back more than $150 million to car rental companies and find another way to fund the debt raised to build the superstructure.

This is the second Super Bowl held in Glendale at the stadium in the last seven years, which might be an accomplishment - but Arizona wasn't bereft of Super Bowls before (they hosted Super Bowl XXX in 1996, and the Cardinals only moved there in 1988). Stadium deals, as Meyer says, are generally a bad deal for taxpayers and taxpayers would be generally wise to resist them.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos