There are a lot of great reasons for states and cities to tell sports teams to “Pay For Your Own Damn Stadium,” and CEA President John Mozena laid some of them out this week in a column in National Review’s “Capital Matters:”
These deals involve substantial amounts of money, and they have a very real effect on the choices that go into government budgets. For instance, the $600 million contribution that Washington, D.C., is being asked to make towards arena renovation is as much money as the district plans to collect in business-license and permit fees over the next five years.
There’s a good argument that giving every business in the district a five-year holiday on permit and license payments to the government would do more for economic growth than paying to help renovate the interior of one particular business. That’s why team owners and elected officials go to great lengths to avoid discussions that put subsidy decisions in such blunt terms.