Sports teams have always been the center of entertainment, attracting both fans and profits. Sports subsidies began when teams claimed that their stadiums cost too much to build and they could not afford them. However, in reality, these teams have more than enough funds to pay for their stadiums. Taxpayers are suffering as sport teams claim to require subsidies, funding given by the government, to build stadiums that they can easily pay for. The result is a loss of funding to more important sectors with higher returns and damages the economy. To combat such issues, the government should stop giving costly subsidies and let private companies fund these sports teams.

Over the past 20 years, 101 new sports facilities have opened in the U.S. and almost all of them have received direct public funding. Economists have long known stadiums to be poor public investments. According to a study by economic analyst Aaron Gordon, nearly 80% of the cost of the average major league sports stadium falls on the government, and that has resulted in taxpayers losing more than $30 billion subsidizing stadiums. When the city subsidizes, it reduces its ability to pay for public safety officials, public transportation, and services upon which its citizens rely. Public funds spent on subsidizing arenas are dollars that could go to other public projects with higher rates of return including transportation, healthcare, and education.

Sport subsidies damage the economy by decreasing the incomes of people because it does not create more demand for jobs. A study published in the Journal of Urban Affairs estimated that arenas built over the last decade were associated with an average decline in metro area per-capita income of about $2,430. The study also found that the professional sports environment may actually reduce local incomes. Sports subsidies reduced per capita personal income and decrease the wages and employment in the retail and services sectors. The decrease in wages, employment, and overall income is yet another cost that sports franchises subsidized by the government impose upon citizens. Thus, the notion that sports stadium subsidies help the citizens of their cities is even more ludicrous.

With the U.S. in a recession, low ranking in education, and the threat of losing the title of the biggest market, the surge of prosperity that will come with the end of sports subsidies will allow for more quality education, better and cheaper health care, and other improvements in other sectors. It is imperative to stop subsidizing the building of sports stadiums because of the harms caused by sport subsidies. Otherwise, billions of tax dollars will be spent on needless expenditures.