jenk

Courtesy of the Slog:

[S]everal recent studies, one by the University of Minnesota, one by the Lincoln Insititute, one by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and another by the CATO Institute found that, if anything, professional sports teams may actually hurt local economies. The CATO study, for example, debunks industry claims that sports teams generate new consumer spending (they actually just suck up existing discretionary spending), and concludes, “the net economic impact [is] a reduction in real per-capita income over the entire metropolitan area.”
- Josh Feit

I can't help wondering if part of the problem isn't the NFL/NBA business model of expecting cities to subsidize their costs tax breaks and facilities.