The High Price Taxpayers Pay for NFL Stadiums

The return of NFL football gives fans plenty to celebrate. But in a new piece featured by the Independent Institute, a Northwood University student and professor are questioning whether taxpayers should be forced to help finance the stadiums where professional teams play.

In a new Independent Institute essay, Noel Tokarev and Dr. Alex Tokarev examine publicly supported stadium projects involving the Chicago Bears, Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills. They argue that the NFL’s limited number of franchises allows team owners to leverage relocation threats as cities and states compete to offer tax breaks, infrastructure spending and other subsidies.

Citing decades of economic research, the authors contend that professional sports facilities routinely fail to generate the economic growth and employment promised by their advocates. They note that public support for major-league sports venues totaled $33 billion between 1970 and 2020, with the median publicly supported venue receiving 73% of its construction costs from taxpayers.

The authors are not criticizing the game or its fans. They describe the NFL as one of America’s great private entertainment enterprises. Their argument is that stadiums should be financed by the owners and developers positioned to benefit from them—not taxpayers who must absorb the financial risks.

They call on Congress to eliminate the tax-exempt status of professional sports venue bonds, urge states to stop offering special tax deals and recommend that cities charge teams for infrastructure as they would other businesses. They also encourage neighboring states to stop bidding against one another for professional franchises.

Read “NFL Fans Get the Fun—Taxpayers Get the Bill” at the Independent Institute.

About the Authors
Noel Tokarev studies sports management at Northwood University. His father and co-author, Dr. Alex Tokarev, is an associate professor of economics and philosophy at Northwood.