This past January, the city council of Clark County, Nevada, approved over $750 million in tax-free municipal bonds for the construction of a $1.9 billion stadium for the NFL’s Raiders. This comes on the heels of Arlington, Texas, agreeing to provide $500 million for a new $1.1 billion stadium for the MLB’s Rangers.
Around the country, other cities’ budgets are still reeling from the costs of subsidizing stadiums. Bloomberg News linked Oakland’s 2011 decision to decrease its police force by 18 percent to debt from building the Coliseum, cuts which increased average police response time to 17 minutes. And in 2014, Detroit was forced to cut pensions for retirees by 4.5 percent to subsidize a new stadium for the Red Wings, a stadium which the Red Wings will pay one dollar a year to lease.
These projects reflect a larger nationwide trend of local governments footing the bill for the construction of sports stadiums. Of the 45 major stadiums built since 2000, 36 were financed through tax-free municipal bonds. Their total cost to taxpayers? Over $3.2 billion.
Harvard Political Review
By Michael Wornow | May 21, 2018