Sports and the City: How to Curb Professional Sports Teams' Demands for Free Public Stadiums

Abstract

This article argues that America needs to better protect its local communities against monopolist sports leagues' demands for publicly funded stadiums. Part I of this article discusses the evolution of sports stadium subsidies. Part II discusses why American communities continue to provide subsidies to professional sports teams. Part III explains why providing stadium subsidies is a bad idea for most local communities. Part IV discusses four types of proposals intended to reduce sports teams' power to demand stadium subsidies. Part V proposes a federal bill that would better protect the interests of American communities by ensuring that any community which builds a professional sports facility is able to keep the pro rata share of that facility's revenue stream.

Keywords: stadium subsidies, publicly funded stadiums, sports law, sports economics, antitrust