1. Issue: Tax Exempt Status of Stadiums Hurts Greater Communities
Filled Stadiums: Empty Tax Dollars
Kylie VanBuren ’15, Brad Gaffin ‘16, Cam Price ’18
American Studies, Colby College, Waterville, ME
Issue: Tax Exempt Status of Stadiums Hurts Greater Communities
Professional football has benefited from tax payer dollars at the detriment to the greater community. Individual franchises have negotiated deals to allow stadiums to be partially publically funded by taxes, and some have even negotiated to pay no property taxes on their stadiums. This hurts communities by taking away tax money from programs that need more funding, including improving underprivileged schools. Those who are most hurt by the decadent football stadiums are those who are most under privileged and therefore cannot afford to attend the games.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones negotiated a deal with Arlington to receive public funding for the Cowboys stadium. Taxpayers from the City of Arlington are on the hook for about $65.3 million over 29 years.2
AT&T Stadium is appraised as nearly $1 billion. At the basic property-tax rate of Arlington, Texas, where the stadium is located, would owe at least $6 million a year in property taxes. Instead Jones’ receives no property-tax bill.4 3
In 2014 Arlington budgeted $9.15 Million dollars for the Fire, Police, and Parks and Recreation Departments. A year and a half of AT&T Stadium property taxes would be enough to cover that cost, freeing up more money for other projects benefitting the citizens of Arlington.5
Solution: Remove public funding of stadiums and reduction of property taxes; NFL Franchises contribute to their communities. The NFL could take a greater stand and encourage the redistribution of funds to lower income communities.
Bibliography:
1 NPR STAFF. "The NFL: Big Business With Big Tax Breaks." NPR. January 18, Accessed April 22,
2 Rob Heidrick, “Texas Business Support: How Taxpayers Subsidized Construction of Cowboys Stadium,” Texas Monthly, September, 08, 2012, accessed April 20, 2015.
3 Baade, Robert A., and Victor A. Matheson. Financing Professional Sports Facilities. College of the Holy Cross. Department of Economics Faculty Research Series. January Accessed April 22, 2015.
4 Gregg Easterbrook, “How the NFL Fleeces Taxpayers,” The Atlantic, September 18, 2013, accessed April 22, 2015.
5 City of Arlington Budget Department Adopted Budget & Business Plan - Approved Budget Requests. Report. Arlington, 2015.