Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Streetsblog

Study: Taxpayer-Backed NBA Arenas Don’t Help Local Economies

Over the last few decades, sports franchise owners have been hugely successful in convincing governments to give them money in the form of taxpayer-funded stadiums and arenas. A favored approach is to threaten to pull up stakes and move a team, and its attendant economic benefits, to another city.

false

Though taxpayers are often left holding the bag for these new facilities, the ploy works time and again. It seems not many politicians want to be blamed for sending a beloved (or even not so beloved) team packing.

Erica C. Barnett at Network site PubliCola writes that a new study from George Washington University finds that professional basketball arenas, like one now proposed for Seattle (which recently lost its NBA team to Oklahoma City), are of questionable economic value to the public.

The study -- which looked exclusively at basketball-only and basketball-hockey multipurpose arenas -- found “no statistically significant association between having an NBA arena or an NBA franchise” and city residents’ personal income, a standard indicator of economic growth.

In particular, cities with sports other than basketball (like Seattle, which has soccer, pro football, college football, women’s basketball, and baseball teams, and could get a hockey team under the proposed arena deal) were unlikely to benefit economically from new basketball arenas.

Even in cases where basketball arenas do correspond with higher regional incomes, public tax subsidies for arenas tend to erase those gains. And the more recently an arena was built, the worse its economic impact is on the population.

Also on the Network today: Let's Go Ride A Bike wants to hear about your bike-share experiences; Second Avenue Sagas looks forward to not missing the New York MTA MetroCard; and BikingInLA shares a harrowing story of traffic justice denied.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Hit-and-Run Driver Kills Pedestrian on Bedford Av. Hours Before Long-Stalled Safety Redesign Begins

The driver was traveling so quickly that the victim was tossed high in the air before landing back on the car hood and being tossed to the side of the road as the killer drove off.

October 11, 2024

Manhattanites To DOT: Open Queensboro Bridge Pedestrian Path ‘Without Delay’

"It’s really inappropriate for the DOT to delay," said one member of Manhattan Community Board 6.

October 11, 2024

Council Seeks to Force DOT to Build 175 E-Bike Charging Hubs 

A new bill would force the DOT to build over 100 charging hubs, but will it be enough to keep up with demand?

October 11, 2024

Friday Video: A Vision for West 72nd Street

Maybe someday, a roadway that devotes 88 percent of its space to a tiny minority of users (drivers) could finally work for everyone. We can dream, can't we?

October 11, 2024

Friday’s Headlines: Yes, We Will Mention the Yankees Edition

We are praying for the first Subway Series since 2000. Plus other news.

October 11, 2024
See all posts