Bill Doing Away With Tax Subsidies for Stadiums Reintroduced in Congress
By Ken Reed
Several decades ago, Jim Bouton, the former New York Yankee, said baseball owners have it made. “Who’s got a better deal than baseball owners?” said Bouton.
“You have no factories, no raw materials, no inventory and no technological obsolescence in a monopoly business that binds your employees to you for the first six years after they’re hired. The media give you free publicity, the taxpayers build the stadiums and the players provide the labor.”
The story remains about the same today. And it’s not just baseball owners. It’s a similar situation for NFL and NBA owners.
Given that an investment in an MLB, NFL or NBA team is about as good — and safe — an investment as anybody can make in the United States, why does our government also give pro sports franchise owners lucrative tax breaks that teams use to build new stadiums and arenas?
Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) recently reintroduced a bill called “No Tax Subsidies for Stadiums Act.” Upon enactment, the bill would halt the lucrative stadium tax break immediately.
“There is no justification for these multibillion-dollar franchises to be eligible for tax-exempt municipal bonds,” said Speier.
“This is tax dollars that could be used for any number of really important public-interest programs. Over the course of 20 years, it [represents a loss of] $4 billion — and probably much more.”
It’s hard to argue with that.
If these billionaire owners need loans they can go down to the marketplace and get in line with other business owners. We don’t need to be giving them taxpayer handouts.
Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

Sports Forum Podcast
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Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
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