Quote fixed. Just a reminder that when the Cowboys moved to Arlington, Irving's sales tax revenue increased (holding rates constant). fox4kc.com/sports/chief...

No reason for the author to exaggerate here. I collect the data on this. It’s more like a coin toss with direct democracy, but yeah, it’s all but certain the representative democracy route. www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootb...

My univ is on the verge of a 3yr contract with OpenAI, which will now give the feds access to anything emps/students use ChatGPT for w/o subpoena/CORA. Contract was in the works before the anthropic news, but I don't trust my leaders to care about such trivial things as academic freedom and privacy.

If you live in Illinois, you have my sympathy for what your state lawmakers are about to do to you. If HB0910 passes as is, any megaproject's EAV will be allowed to enter a taxing district's debt capacity limit even though those projects won't be paying ptaxes on post-con EAV b/c of the freeze.

Given all the attention on the Bears, it’s easy to miss voters in my neighbor to the north, Greeley, overturning a local law giving taxpayer resources for a sports and theme park anchored mixed use development. www.9news.com/article/news...

Based Bears proposed uses at AH, I estimate the value of the property assessment freeze to the Bears in HB2789 is worth about $2b over 30 years, or $67 million a year before PILOT. I low ball multiple things to create lower limit. I wouldn't be surprised to see the est closer to $3b at build out.

On IN Bears fiscal note: worth pointing out my local tax $ ests from last week are close to this week's LSA numbers. I think they low ball (not unreasonably) ticket tax. Biggest unknown is district size. Taxpayer resources easily past $4b with current knowns. DC still holds on to the crown for now.

IN offering Bears mega TIF through its PSDA program. PSDA’s are 1mi straight line from the PSDA border, so lots of cannibalization will occur. Lawmakers say it’ll cost $1b, but that’s only if you count like a politician. Debt service, mid-lease reno , tax exp, debt capacity opp cost alone are ~$4b.

Hahaha! I’ve had a night to sleep on this news, and still my only thought is laughter. www.wqad.com/article/news...

Here we go again. STAR bonds (but in IL), "transformational", politicians changing their minds...taxpayer dollars for sports facilities and data centers (and others ofc), so f'ing stupid. www.ksdk.com/article/news...

My favorite part of this article is where the author opines Portland has been mismanaged and then argues that a partial solution would be to give the Blazers' billionaire owner hundreds of millions more in city and county taxpayer resources. www.oregonlive.com/blazers/2026...

“Just local sales tax” is false. Olathe levies a ptax millage, and rezoning the parcel away from ag and making it exempt creates a ~$1.7m/yr cost for city residents; $37m in pv over 30 yrs. The county, schools, and state also will face ptax costs. www.kansascity.com/news/local/c...

Indiana's SB27 for the Bears has a $1 purchase option for the facility+land in 40yrs, or $0.34 in today dollars. A 15-acre stadium site's market value around Gary in 40yrs worth about $145m at 5% mean annual appreciation in future dollars. And the team wouldn't even have to buy the land.

With a proposed Rays stadium cost figure finally being made public, a ballpark ptax expenditure estimate is possible, albeit with a huge error margin for lack of details. $2.3b (nom)/$742m (real). Team may also not have to pay parcel fees worth $294m/$97m, resp. www.tampabay.com/news/tampa/2...

Yeah, yeah, I remember that deal. That’s the one where it was a super duper mega TIF worth billions to leonsis and where your consultants so blatantly double counted state and local impacts and assumed $750 a night hotel rooms in the project potter forecasts. www.alxnow.com/2026/01/16/o...

NJ state Rs still had 30% of their lawmakers support the $300m for the arena, so the whole oligarchy argument falls flat. Maybe get your lawmakers in line first? Then again, KS and MO are full of Rs and they are jonesing to give billionaires loads of taxpayer $s. newjerseymonitor.com/2026/01/13/p...

Franklin Co vote will bring total city+county casino tax $ allocation to $12m annually, a $4m annual increase. But don't worry: it's money well spent bc none of the planned upgrades have anything to do with attracting concerts (ie bigger team store, new bathrooms). www.10tv.com/article/news...

Kansas lawmakers did every NFL and pro-subsidy lawmaker a huge favor. KS has agreed to commit so much in taxpayer resources that every other team can argue their demands are cheap in comparison. And that's how subsidies continue their upward march. www.9news.com/article/spor...

The state is using Chiefs HQ as a carrot for munis to give their tax $s too. States should always discourage, not encourage, horizontal local gov competition as it’s wasteful. Since KS gov has committed state $s to go the cost alone, munis would be foolish to help. www.kansascity.com/news/local/a...

MO lawmakers, the best way to get back at KS isn't to woo their exes (ie lure KS biz to MO with $) but to doll yourself up. Take the money you don't have to spend on sports and invest in schools, infrastructure, etc, things that make regular people better off. missouriindependent.com/2025/12/22/p...

Ouch. Current est of public resources to the Chiefs is $6.3b (nom) and $4.1b (real). I assume the $2.775b "cap" is all debt financed. Cost comes down if state uses cash. Cap is not what is owed to bond holders but what the state commits to project. $6.3b is rivaled by DC deal for the Commanders.

Want a nutshell summary of how bad this Kansas deal is for taxpayers? So bad that the state couldn't even get the team to comp food for its suite. Even after agreeing to give the team $2.775b.

If the Chiefs don't have the site, wherever it is, under contract by 5/15/2026, they can terminate the agreement. Seems like a low bar. There are other stipulations that can lead to a terminated agreement; this one just caught my attention.

Many red states are having meltdowns over ptax growth. Ideas relying on subsidies will fail. FL CFO argument to create state fiscal oversight is dumb. Nothing says shrink govt by growing state govt. At least he correctly IDs local govt spending as one of the ptax causes. www.wesh.com/article/flor...

Planet Park 2.0. The only way this happens today: Bears pay $0, get Harris-like land use terms, and receive rebates for sut & inc tax rev generated in stadium. I bet Indy lawmakers are foolish enough to offer this, but the Bears will stay near their fan base. www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/...

"strong and thoughtful" subsidies = "expensive to taxpayers, hidden from plain view, and team-centered" signalcleveland.org/cleveland-pr...

It’s transformational when a new stadium is built. Apparently it’s also transformational when a team leaves and a stadium will be demolished. Please make up your mind——better yet, stop with this transformational garbage. www.clevelandohio.gov/news/overwhe...

If Hamilton Co board approves the rec $5m rebate, it will drop the nom cumulative rebate (1997 through 2026) to 72% of what was promised in 1996. County voters were (verbally) promised $650m but will get $473m. The best way to get a ptax break? Own a sports team. www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/n...

So taxing hotels and other businesses in your city is fine but taxing the spurs via revenue sharing is not fine? The rationalizations lawmakers come up with to justify growing team owner wealth at everyone else’s expense never ceases to amaze.

Arena doesn't make enough money to cover it's operating, maintenance, and capital costs----where have I heard that one before? Oh yeah, everywhere. www.audacy.com/knss/news/lo...

Big day in Pelicans land. I'll be attending practice later to see if we get Dumars or just Borrego. We'll do a live podcast around 3p in the afternoon. Meanwhile check out these two pieces I wrote. 1) on Gayle Benson intheno.substack.com/p/most-power...

Texas ISDs must itemize ballot measures for sports facility debt. TX ptax debt burden for ISD sports has increased ~x3 since 2006. Do voters behave the same towards pro facilities as high school facilities even tho debt tax security is diff? Here's Spurs vote vs NEISD facility votes. Generally, yes.

Since 1980 among passing sports referenda: -9th smallest margin of victory (4.2%, mean = 19.5%) -4th smallest turnout (19%, mean = 41%) -no stat diff btwn strong and weak R precincts -wealth diffs drove the margin. Precincts above med home value supported on avg 52% compared to those below at 47%.

Every time I read something about the Bears' continued effort to get more taxpayer money (and frankly of every NFL team threatening to go somewhere), it reminds me of this 1995 gem from long-time Chicago writer Bernie Lincicome. www.thestadiumbusiness.com/2025/11/03/c...

Worth pointing out that the Texas legislature killed HB19 in the spring which would have made it very hard to issue non-voter approved debt for sports facilities. Seems relevant considering city and county taxpayers' increasing debt burdens in SA/Bexar. sanantonioreport.org/decoding-spu...

Sharon Kioko (U of Wash) presented a study of yield diffs btwn GO and rev bonds by sector. Lawmakers use rev bonds for stadiums even though they are more expensive than GO. Why are they more expensive? They don’t generate enough revenue consistently. Why do lawmakers use them? To avoid voters.

I cannot recall the last time a major local paper pushed this hard to convince readers to support subsidies. We’re at like, what, one op ed a week rate to convince folks to make tax decisions with their heart rather head from the Express editorial board? www.expressnews.com/opinion/edit...

What counts as ‘“often” is a judgment call, but the author’s point is correct: a failed referendum rarely means a team leaves. A great unanswered question is whether deals after a failed vote are more lucrative to the team than had the referendum passed. www.sacurrent.com/news/san-ant...

Stop using Oakland to justify subsidies. Apparently if the Spurs don't get an arena, San Antonio will turn into Oakland?? So stupid. If San Antonio or any city can't manage their pensions, then yeah, it might turn into Oakland. But not bc of lack of pro sports. www.expressnews.com/opinion/comm...

Fielded a few Qs about sports subsidy referenda and turnout. More turnout correlates with lower probability of success. Holding vote in Nov of pres election yrs has higher prob of success. Both not stat diff from zero though. Predicted approval rating in the graph based on n=85 since 1980.

We are pleased to announce that Aiden Powell from West Virginia University is this year’s recipient of NAASE’s Graduate Student Paper Award for his paper “Professional Sporting Events and Emergency Medical Service Response Times: Evidence from New York City.” (1/3)

Just a friendly reminder that any researchers with working papers in the public finance and sports space should reach out to me. I've got a standing offer for a special issue and would love to take the editor up on it. Papers don't have to be US-centric but lessons for policy in US is needed.

Yes, Spurs ticket prices will increase. Historical arena mean yoy chg is 14% in real terms. If pricing this year is near resale, and if arena opened this year, it'd be ~$35 mean price increase. Ticket taxes don't explain the increase, as its historically about 3%. news4sanantonio.com/news/local/f...

Figured I'd poke at the Arlington Heights consultant report. 5400+ FTE at full build out. They propose 613k sqft of hotel+retail+office, or a min 8.8 workers/1k sqft. CBECS survey, tho, reports aggregate mean for these uses is 3 workers/1k sqft. So, yeah, 8.8 seems a pretty aggressive assumption.

Deceptive headline from a Post editor suggesting Denver's proposed NWSL stadium is causing new housing development. The author points out (and city permits corroborate) this building has been in development for 9 years. The stadium was only approved this year. www.denverpost.com/2025/09/25/d...

A San Antonio journalist told me today that the mayor has started receiving police protection because of threats against her and her family for her attempts to slow the project and allow for more policy evaluation. Anyone know if the Spurs or NBA have issued a statement on this?

Dennis (@dcoatesecon.bsky.social) and Brad (@bradhumphreys.bsky.social) deserve tremendous credit for elevating the rigor of research into sports economics questions and fostering a vibrant research community.

I don't know which I laughed at harder: DC council giving more thoughtfulness to an amendment to give a CBA citizen group spending authority than it did to giving $6b+ to Harris, or Frumin saying "I said I'd vote 'no' if I didn't get what I wanted. Well, I didn't, but f it, I'll vote 'yes' anyway."

This is a false but common interpretation of most states' post-Kelo ED laws. In CO, the Broncos can use ED through a metro district which it controls fully. Courts only need to see that lawmakers believed a project has some public benefit. www.denverpost.com/2025/09/17/d...

This statement is false, and it repeats the falsehood in the cited article. It also trades on ambiguity of the meaning of private. If you limit to strictly private debt for brick and mortar at time of construction, hard rock stad, fedex field, BoA stad also count. www.independent.org/article/2025...