Today, Columbus, Ohio denied Anthony Precourt’s demands to construct a new stadium for his soccer team, the Columbus Crew. Precourt previously threatened to move the team to Austin, Texas should the city fail to give in to his requests for public funding, though the move is contingent on Austin providing him with a stadium as well.
The following statements from Jesse Hathaway, budget and tax expert at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Media Specialist Billy Aouste at [email protected] and 312/377-4000.
“Sports stadium subsidies primarily help team owners, not the public. Subsidies give wealthy sports team owners the benefits of capital improvement without them having to risk their own money to make those improvements.
“Numerous economic studies have demonstrated shaking down taxpayers to build new stadiums rarely delivers the prosperity promised by lawmakers, yet many continue to make bad deals with big businesses. Columbus lawmakers should be praised for not giving in to Precourt’s threats.
“Business owners should be expected to invest their own money if they wish to reap the rewards of owning a sports team. Instead of socializing the risk of investing in capital and privatizing the riches, lawmakers in Columbus, and in every other city, should call team owners’ bluffs and reject calls for spending other people’s money on sports stadiums.”
Jesse Hathaway
Research Fellow, Budget and Tax Policy
The Heartland Institute
Managing Editor, Budget & Tax News
[email protected]
312/377-4000
Jesse Hathaway is a policy advisor for budget and tax issues at The Heartland Institute.
