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Home Run for Corporate Welfare: Taxpayer Subsidies for Sports Stadiums

POLICY FORUM
Monday, April 2, 2001
11:00 a.m.

Featuring Stephen S. Fuller, George Mason University; Dennis Coates, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Raymond J. Keating, Small Business Survival Committee.

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001


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Opening day in baseball-the time for home runs, strikeouts, and corporate welfare. During the 20th century, more than $14 billion in government subsidies went to the four major league sports-Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League. Milwaukee and Pittsburgh have most recently used taxpayer money to build stadiums for millionaire sports owners and players. While cities build fields of dreams for teams, hoping they will come, it isn't clear that there are economic gains. Three experts on the economics of tax-funded stadiums examine the need for subsidies of sports teams and the economic impact of sports on local economies.

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