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So, the Buffalo Bills are getting a shiny new billion-dollar stadium, and we, the taxpayers, are shouldering $850 million of the costs. While the fans will get some much-needed upgrades to a facility that is clearly showing its age, the rest of us are getting ripped off, yet again, by the utopian fantasy that sports teams bring economic value to the region.
Quite frankly, this is not true.
Not only is Albany proposing to cut $800 million from children and family support services (some say as a way to pay), but sports stadiums have also been proven to be a dead weight for local and state economies. And by dead weight, I mean cement shoes to the bottom of the river.
Over the last 30 years, study after study has shown that government investment in professional sports facilities creates incredible deficits that are impossible to recover. A 2019 Berkley Economic Review study states:
"…newly constructed subsidized stadiums show that they have a very limited and possibly even negative local impact."
In effect, these buildings are nothing more than ornate codpieces, pronouncing power and vigor, only to disappoint when one peers at what is underneath them.
It is reported that the team owners, Kim and Terry Pegula, have a combined net worth of over 5.4 Billion dollars. Why do we have to take food out of needy families' mouths to give rich folks a worthless bauble?
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