reversing robin hood: millions of taxpayer dollars for billionaires

Subsidies to build arenas for pro sports franchises are among the most egregious uses of taxpayer dollars-- taking money from average taxpayers to support entertainment enjoyed largely by the middle and upper classes, produced by millionaire ballplayers, and operated by billionaire owners.

From Mark Bergin at World...

Such public subsidies are not new; taxpayers began funding sports stadiums in the 1920s. But the frequency with which owners now demand new buildings and the resistance to playing in multipurpose facilities have increased dramatically in recent years. According to data from Rutgers professor and sports-stadium researcher Judith Grant Long, 72 professional baseball, football, basketball, and hockey stadiums went up between 1990 and 2005, a number roughly equal to the 73 facilities built over the previous five decades. What's more, only one multipurpose building went up between 2000 and 2005 compared to 13 such facilities in the 10 years before.

And a table, entitled "Ballpark figures", with a snapshot of a few of the subsidies...

Busch Stadium: St. Louis Cardinals, MLB; 2006; cost: $356 million (12% public)
Jobing.com Arena: Phoenix Coyotes, NHL; 2004; cost: $170 million (100% public)
Great American Ball Park: Cincinnati Reds, MLB; 2003; cost: $344 million (91% public)
New Lambeau Field: Green Bay Packers, NFL; 2003; cost: $295 million (58% public)
AT&T Center : San Antonio Spurs, NBA; 2002; cost: $175 million (84% public)
Gillette Stadium: New England Patriots, NFL; 2002; cost: $430 million (17% public)
PETCO Park : San Diego Padres, MLB; 2002; cost: $411 million (72% public)
Reliant Stadium: Houston Texans, NFL; 2002; cost: $402 million (81% public)

And then, this from Doug Bandow...

Government finances are suffering, spending on the Iraq war continues to escalate while Social Security and Medicare continue to head over the financial cliff. Yet states and localities continue to throw money at the owners of sports franchises. The poor billionaire sports moguls–whatever would they do if they couldn’t force taxpayers to give them land and build them stadiums?

Reports the Associated Press:

Cities and states are offering billions in financial incentives to build stadiums to keep professional sports teams while neglecting bridges, roads and schools, advocates charged Wednesday.

Congress should end the ”economic war” among the states, said Arthur J. Rolnick, senior vice president and director of research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Advocates pointed to the collapsed Interstate 35W bridge in that city as they argued for a ban on the use of tax-exempt financing for sports facilities.

”The Minnesota Twins got public funding approved for a new stadium just the year before the I-35W bridge collapsed,” said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and a Democratic presidential candidate.

The Interstate 35W bridge collapsed Aug. 1, killing 13 people and injuring about 100.

Professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey estimate that the total public subsidy for stadiums opened from 1990-2006 is around $12 billion, Harvard University professor Judith Grant Long said. But when she added costs for public subsidies for land, infrastructure, capital improvements, municipal taxes and forgone property taxes, Long came up with a figure of $18.5 billion.

”There is absolutely no evidence that $18.5 billion in public benefits have been generated since 1990 to compensate,” she said.

At least advocates of government welfare and health programs can point to genuine social needs. What conceivable reason is there for government to transfer money from low and middle income people to enrich the millionaires and billionaires who typically purchase and manage sports franchises?