Cities keep shelling out taxpayer money for sports stadiums, yet the economics almost never makes sense

Atlanta's Truist Park, like many sports venues, got public funding, but the new stadium has had no measurable effect on the local economy, research shows. Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images

Americans are crazy about sports. But whether that passion requires taxpayers to subsidize new facilities every time leagues and franchises ask for them needs rigorous scrutiny.

A lot of money is at stake. For 2025, the NFL reported some US$14.5 billion in revenue, while the MLB collected an estimated $12.2 billion and the NBA earned almost $12 billion.