Will San Diego Help End the NFL’s Addiction to Taxpayer Money?

Cheering for the home team can unify communities divided by politics, economics, and personal differences. However, this unification can come at a high cost, one that will inevitably fall to the taxpayer. While it is typical for professional athletic associations to use tax dollars to pay for their stadiums, arenas, or other venues of choice, public subsidies are not the only means to this end, nor are they the most efficient.
The National Football League (NFL) has defended its use of public subsidies for new infrastructure by claiming that new facilities will serve to benefit the public. Promises of economic booms and job growth are typically used to justify the use of public funds for athletic purposes, though the rhetoric rarely matches the reality of the situation.
Last week, San Diego residents took a powerful stand against professional athletic subsidies.
For over a year, the Chargers have been threatening to leave San Diego unless the city agrees to provide a new stadium for the team’s use. Two separate proposals were placed on the ballot for consideration, each promising to raise the hotel tax and accept public subsidies for the construction of a new stadium. Fortunately, both measures were overwhelming rejected by San Diego voters.

This post was published at Ludwig von Mises Institute on Nov 18, 2016.