The Consensus (?) on Public Spending on Professional Sports Facilities

Sidney A. Johnson, Rodney Fort and Mark S. Rosentraub

Economic Development Quarterly, 2025, vol. 39, issue 2, 136-141

Abstract: Based on surveys and reviews of past academic work, many social scientists and policy pundits claim that public spending on professional sports team venues has been and will be poor public spending choices. Since the late 2000s, this claimed consensus has become a strident policy stance—such spending violates public finance principles and cannot pass a benefit-cost test. The authors raise three main concerns with this claimed consensus and resurrect a method of assessing this type of spending issue that has been steamrolled by the claimed consensus. The goal is the careful assessment of the minimum level of public spending that can be supported by achieving efficient levels of consumers’ surpluses and externalities.

Keywords: sports facilities; subsidies; public spending (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecdequ:v:39:y:2025:i:2:p:136-141

DOI: 10.1177/08912424251314757

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