NFL Stadiums Funded with Tax Dollars

Guest: Roger Noll, PhD, Professor Emeritus in Economics, Stanford University These last few years have been a period of stadium renovation and relocation drama in the NFL. Pro-football teams playing in stadiums built in the 1990s are itching for an upgrade, and where do they turn first for the cash? Taxpayers.  But public wallets haven’t opened so quickly this time around and that’s led to some shuffling: San Diego voters in November rejected a tax increase to build a new stadium for the Chargers. So now the Chargers are moving to Los Angeles, where they’ll share a stadium with the Rams, which are moving from St. Louis and leaving taxpayers there on the hook to pay off an old stadium that no longer has a team. Meanwhile, elected officials in Oakland, California refused to foot the bill for a new stadium so the Raiders just announced they’re headed to Las Vegas where taxpayers are willing to pitch in to the tune of three-quarters of a billion dollars. Are taxpayers right to balk at the cost of new stadiums, or are they missing out on an investment opportunity?