How about keeping Stoops and directing $37.9 million more to buying better players. I bet you get better results than finding a new coach to lead your existing level of talent, and with the $100K you save, you can buy an extra economics professor for a year. www.cbssports.com/college-foot...

Look, I realize this this is an easy way to generate content for a company that doesn’t want to hire actual reporters, but this isn’t even newsworthy enough to post Bluesky let alone worthy of a real news organization.

Based on what I am reading here, Denver Mayor Mike Johnson may be in the running for the dumbest mayor of a major US city. Way to signal an absolute zero intent to negotiate a decent deal for Denver taxpayers. www.cbsnews.com/colorado/new...

Committee for Corporate Welfare - no oversight at all. Atlanta Ctee for Progress & MACC never saw a corporate handout they didn't shill for. Arthur Blank pockets $30M/yr of our hotel-motel tax & has 2 votes! Invest Atlanta board members rarely look critically at TAD cost-effectiveness. Just say No!

I just found an old midterm of mine from September 29, 1999. On that test I asked, "Should the U.S. Treasury abolish the penny?" Looks like I was 25 years ahead of my time. apnews.com/article/us-m...

I am sure this is just a misunderstanding. Who amongst us soccer referees hasn't accidentally placed 18,227 bets on soccer matches? www.theguardian.com/football/202...

I think 2 things here: 1. The chance that Trump forces FIFA to move games out of Boston or other blue cities is now 0%. 2. The winner of the prize is pre-ordained in order to get the answer in part 1. Just total corruption (and for once I am not talking about FIFA!) apnews.com/article/fifa...

Somehow I sound much more authoritative when translated into German! And yeah, the NBA gambling scandal is a big enough deal to get attention across the pond. open.spotify.com/episode/6qQs...

It will take more than a few bad headlines for sports leagues to turn away from the deluge of gambling money. I have to admit I feel a bit star-struck to be one of two experts quoted along with Michael Lewis of Moneyball and Liar's Poker fame. www.cnn.com/2025/10/25/b...

All I know is that it is a lot cheaper to hear me talk about ticket prices on NPR's Morning Edition today than it is to buy tickets to any sporting events nowadays. www.npr.org/2025/10/23/n...

Mamdani hasn’t been elected yet and he’s already driving criminals out of New York.

I am shocked, shocked I tell you, to find out that the Worcester MiLB baseball stadium has not lived up to its economic expectations! www.telegram.com/story/news/l...

Happy to be featured on the latest episode of Freakonomics Radio discussing the crazy(???) idea of the NFL and NCAA merging and forming a promotion/relegation league. freakonomics.com/podcast/the-...

I am passing up a B-52s/Devo concert to attend this “Insights into Educational Inequality” better be as much a banger as “Whip It” or “Love Shack”!

Why is everyone buying lottery tickets? I will tell you on @marketplace.org! www.marketplace.org/story/2025/0...

I don't know why anyone would trust a (reverse)carpetbagger like you to know anything about the Worcester sports market. It's just too bad there aren't any decent sports economists in Worcester who could have given the city decent advice about the stadium.

Here's a good article showing how far Trump has split MAGA and traditional business Republicans. AEI, a wildly conservative traditional thinktank, is talking about how to improve electric cars. Trump is talking about how to eliminate them. www.aei.org/research-pro...

But to be fair, Steve Ballmer living out his midlife crisis by buying a sports team with his billions is probably better than Elon Musk living out his midlife crisis by destroying democracy.

Good job by the state of Illinois understanding the basics of stadium finance. While you ***might*** be able to argue for local subsidies, there is no way the state makes anything simply moving a stadium from one location in the state to another. frontofficesports.com/bears-withou...

I wonder if any economists have studied the economic benefits of new stadiums…

So, the US military is now engaging in extrajudicial assassinations of citizens of countries we are not at war with? That somehow sounds bad when I say it like that... www.cnn.com/2025/09/02/p...

It is wildly depressing that our primary economic data collection agency is now slated to be run by a guy with such poor qualifications that he wouldn't be competitive for an assistant professor job at my college. www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-bls-nominee-e-j-antoni-suspending-monthly-jobs-report/

Can’t we think of a more efficient use of taxpayer money like maybe sports stadiums? www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

Met this guy walking with my dog today. Fortunately coyotes are typically only dangerous if you have small animals, your pet is unleashed, or the coyote is carrying any packages labeled “ACME”.

Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements This is a big deal

This is what totalitarian regimes do, cook the numbers to please Dear Leader

Trump in a social media post said Erika McEntarfer, the BLS commissioner, would be “replaced with someone much more competent and qualified,” asserting without evidence that the government’s jobs numbers have been manipulated for political purposes. This is bad. Like East Germany or Zimbabwe bad.

Just so’s we’re all clear, almost 3/4 of everything we buy from Europe is now 15% more expensive.

Just to be clear, the new EU trade deal should be reported as massive tariff increase. Just because the 15% tariff is smaller than Trump had threatened, it is still a massive increase over rates that prevailed under Biden, Obama, or Bush. Not a win for economy, just a smaller loss.

Well, if Trump's racism prevents some stadium subsidies, I guess we should call that a win? www.cnn.com/2025/07/20/p...

Unbelievable. Trump basically just stole the FIFA Club World Cup trophy. Imagine FIFA being in the room with anyone and being the less corrupt party.

Great weekend listening with this week's guest, @victor-matheson.bsky.social Check it out if you missed it earlier this week!

Unpopular take, but if tips are now untaxed thanks to the Republican's disaster of a bill, the expected tip amount should be readjusted down to 15% (or maybe 17-18%), right? That's basically the same after-tax income to the server.

Blaming Biden for Trump's corruption is some world-class shithousery. www.cnn.com/2025/06/17/p...

Priorities.

One noticeable difference between India now and when I was here 6 years ago is somewhat fewer stray dogs and way more dogs kept as pets. And, yes, Indian Labs are just like American ones.

One last breakfast mango in India after 4 weeks of a summer program with students. India is underappreciated by Americans as an economic powerhouse, source of world culture and history, and tourist destination.

Good write-up here. Always be wary of economic impact claims from sporting events. Listen to @victor-matheson.bsky.social when he says “Rule of thumb: Never believe a sports sponsor.”

"[This] marks a huge step forward for college sports. [Directly paying players] is a tremendously positive change and one that was long overdue." - NCAA President Charlie Baker. Spare us this insulting b.s., Chuck. You were dragged kicking and screaming into this. www.ncaa.org/news/2025/6/...

Currently listening to death metal karaoke in Bangalore, India. No matter your opinion on death metal, globalization is great!

Should making a decision to stop punching yourself in the face count as a "win"? Apparently CNN thinks so. www.cnn.com/2025/05/12/b...

My daughter, a college economics major, at least pretended to call me today to wish me a happy Easter… …before moving on to ask me a question about how to solve for marginal revenue for her HW assignment due tomorrow .

Angel of the Lord: He is not here, He is risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. Alito: Okay, first of all, this violates ALL sorts of rules Thomas: This was a LAWFUL execution, who is God to interfere

Referendums are often the most best way to defeat stadium giveaways since we can’t trust politicians to not hand out taxpayer funds to billionaire owners.

Let's just say, I 100% agree with the economists quoted here. Like the Holy Cross guy who said, “The only thing really stopping this deal from being done is not anything that (St. Pete) did, it’s that these owners feel entitled to taxpayer money,” he said.

Tim Walz in Wisconsin: “I’m having the most unsatisfying I Told You So tour in the history of politics.” It's like Walz is channeling my entire 25-year career as a researcher in stadium economics.

College athletics may be worth it for the schools involved, but even for many big-time programs, athletics is a money hole rather than a cash cow. www.azcentral.com/story/sports...

At airport in FL and “O Come, O Come Immanuel” is playing on the speakers. I will officially go on record that anytime before the Ides of March is definitely too early for Christmas carols.

To be very clear, the A's and the Rays could have any stadium they want, in any city they want, if they just pay for it themselves. What their minor-league parks say about them and their sport is that they think their businesses are entitled to other people's money. www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/...

Beginning to tire? www.cnn.com/2025/03/06/p...