Quote from our expert--Zimbalist... Note line in yellow....
"Sometimes they can be financially catastrophic"
Granted 1997, but still looks accurate today
Here's how sports economists Roger Noll and Andrew Zimbalist summarized the findings of their seminal 1997 essay on the burgeoning trend of the publicly funded stadium or arena:
"The effect of stadiums on the cash flow of teams and cities suggest that new facilities rarely, if ever, are worthwhile. Sometimes they can be financially catastrophic.
Subsidized sports facilities do not exist because they are financially valuable assets in their own right. They exist, instead, because most cities have decided that a subsidized team is better than no team at all, and because scarcity in the number of teams gives owners the advantage in bargaining with cities."
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