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Do Economists Reach a Conclusion on Subsidies for Sports Franchises, Stadiums, and Mega-Events?

Author Info

  • Dennis Coates

    ()

    (Department of Economics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County)

  • Brad R. Humphreys

    ()

    (Department of Economics, University of Alberta)

Abstract

This paper reviews the empirical literature assessing the effects of subsidies for professional sports franchises and facilities. The evidence reveals a great deal of consistency among economists doing research in this area. That evidence is that sports subsidies cannot be justified on the grounds of local economic development, income growth or job creation, those arguments most frequently used by subsidy advocates. The paper also relates survey evidence showing that economists in general oppose sports subsidies. In addition to reviewing the empirical literature, we describe the economic intuition that probably underlies the strong consensus among economists against sports subsidies.

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File URL: http://college.holycross.edu/RePEc/spe/CoatesHumphreys_LitReview.pdf
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Paper provided by International Association of Sports Economists & North American Association of Sports Economists in its series Working Papers with number 0818.

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Length: 34 pages
Date of creation: Aug 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:spe:wpaper:0818
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.cdes.fr/index.php?id=fr69
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Web page: http://www.kennesaw.edu/naase
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Keywords: sports; subsidies; stadiums; arenas;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
  • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
  • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Robert Baade & Robert Baumann & Victor Matheson, 2006. "Selling the Big Game: Estimating the Economic Impact of Mega-Events through Taxable Sales," Working Papers 0610, International Association of Sports Economists;North American Association of Sports Economists.
  2. John J. Siegfried & Andrew Zimbalist, 2000. "The Economics of Sports Facilities and Their Communities," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 95-114, Summer.
  3. Dennis Coates & Brad R. Humphreys, 2001. "The Economic Consequences of Professional Sports Strikes and Lockouts," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 737-747, January.
  4. Baade, Robert A & Dye, Richard F, 1988. "An Analysis of the Economic Rationale for Public Subsidization of Sports Stadiums," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 37-47, July.
  5. Dennis Coates & Brad R. Humphreys, 1999. "The growth effects of sport franchises, stadia, and arenas," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(4), pages 601-624.
  6. Robert Baade & Victor Matheson, 2004. "The Quest for the Cup: Assessing the Economic Impact of the World Cup," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 343-354.
  7. Dennis Coates & Craig A. Depken, II, 2006. "Mega-Events: Is the Texas-Baylor game to Waco what the Super Bowl is to Houston?," Working Papers 0606, International Association of Sports Economists;North American Association of Sports Economists.
  8. Dennis Coates, 2006. "The Tax Benefits of Hosting the Super Bowl and the MLB All-Star Game: The Houston Experience," International Journal of Sport Finance, Fitness Information Technology, vol. 1(4), pages 239-252, November.
  9. John Siegfried & Andrew Zimbalist, 2006. "The Economic Impact of Sports Facilities, Teams and Mega-Events," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 39(4), pages 420-427, December.
  10. Dennis Coates & Brad R. Humphreys, 2002. "The Economic Impact of Postseason Play in Professional Sports," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 3(3), pages 291-299, August.
  11. Michael C. Davis & Christian M. End, 2010. "A Winning Proposition: The Economic Impact Of Successful National Football League Franchises," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 48(1), pages 39-50, 01.
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Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. Arena subsidies: Not just for big cities anymore
    by Victor Matheson in The Sports Economist on 2011-05-19 01:44:33
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
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Cited by:

  1. Brad R. Humphreys & Victor Matheson, 2008. "PILOTs and Public Policy: Steering through the Economic Ramifications," Working Papers 0817, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
  2. Feddersen, Arne & Maennig, Wolfgang, 2012. "Sectoral labour market effects of the 2006 FIFA World Cup," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 860-869.
  3. Humphreys, Brad & Zhou, Li, 2013. "Sports Facilities, Agglomeration, and Urban Redevelopment," Working Papers 2013-4, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
  4. Victor Matheson, 2012. "Assessing the infrastructure impact of mega-events in emerging economies," Working Papers 1203, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
  5. Jon Diesel, 2010. "Do Economists Reach a Conclusion on Organ Liberalization?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 7(3), pages 320-336, September.
  6. M.R. van den Berg & M. de Nooij, 2013. "The bidding paradox: how economists and politicians might agree on the attractiveness of mega sports events," Working Papers 13-08, Utrecht School of Economics.
  7. Robert Gasquez & Vicente Royuela, 2012. "Is football an indicator of development at the international level?," Working Papers in Economics 275, Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia.
  8. Robert Baumann & Bryan Engelhardt & Victor A. Matheson, 2012. "Employment Effects of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Department of Statistics and Economics, vol. 232(3), pages 308-317, May.
  9. M. de Nooij & M.R. van den Berg, 2013. "The bidding paradox: why rational politicians still want to bid for mega sports events," Working Papers 13-09, Utrecht School of Economics.
  10. Brad R. Humphreys & Li Zhou, 2014. "Loss Aversion, Team Relocations, and Major League Expansion," Working Papers 14-17, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.

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