Even though attendance for pro sporting events is not exactly growing, politicians grasping for new tax revenue from gambling and pro sports teams looking for taxpayer-supported new stadiums are looking to expand wildly in the coming years.
A recent report by Axios notes that new sports stadiums are set to become “new entertainment, commerce, and gambling meccas” for pro sports teams and states hoping to capitalize on America’s growing addiction to sports betting.
The site points out that at least four pro sports teams and possibly a fifth are considering moving to areas where they can expand their stadium complexes into far more than just a place to watch a ball game.
In one case, the Washington Capitals and the Wizards are looking to flee from Washington, D.C., and cross the river into Virginia, where they have big plans.
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“There, they’ll have room for a $2 billion development that’ll include not just an arena but also restaurants, a performing arts center, shopping, and more,” Axios notes.
Similar plans are being floated in New York, where Mets owner Steve Cohen hopes to completely reshape the area around Citi Field to add hotels, a massive sportsbook, park space, shopping, and more.
The Oakland A’s are also fleeing California for Las Vegas, where they can expand their footprint and take more advantage of gambling, Axios says.
Finally, these moves have a blueprint in Atlanta, where the Braves left downtown for a sprawling $400 million complex 14 miles outside of the city, where they have restaurants, shopping, and more.
Naturally, all these giant facilities are being built on the backs of the taxpayers who are already groaning under tax burdens that would have been unimaginable 40 years ago.
Even with growing gambling problems set aside, many cities and states claim that building giant new sports complexes on the taxpayer’s dime helps bring economic growth to any city fortunate enough to win the construction.
American football arena with a yellow goalpost, grass field, and blurred fans at playground view. 3D render. Flashlights. Concept of outdoor sport, football, championship, match, game space. (Getty Images)
Few studies, though, support that dubious claim. Even the left-wing Brookings Institute recently wrote, “A new sports facility has an extremely small (perhaps even negative) effect on overall economic activity and employment. No recent facility appears to have earned anything approaching a reasonable return on investment. No recent facility has been self-financing in terms of its impact on net tax revenues. Regardless of whether the unit of analysis is a local neighborhood, a city, or an entire metropolitan area, the economic benefits of sports facilities are de minimus.”
But do these massive “meccas” make sense? Sports attendance should also give pause to anyone thinking these new projects are a good idea.
According to Sports Business Journal, several pro sports leagues have seen steadily declining attendance.
Certainly, attendance has soared in the last two years, but that is mostly because attendance fell to new lows during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. In 2020, it ended entirely when many leagues stopped allowing fans to attend altogether.
Major League Baseball has been in serious decline, for instance, SBJ notes. Over the last 20 years, after reaching a high in 2007, attendance fell to less than the level seen in 2003.
Pro hockey has a similar story. The NHL reached a high around 2012 but is now back down to the same attendance level it had in 2005.
Pandemic aside, the NBA’s attendance has been somewhat flat since 2017, though it also had a brief high back in 2005.
The NFL, though, has seen an actual surge. But that surge comes after 20 years of relative decline. Between 2003 and 2019, the NFL saw a steep decline in attendance. That decline took an abrupt turn upward, though, once the pandemic waned, and today, attendance is at a 20-year high.
Regardless, these numbers do not suggest that people are salivating to flock to grand new sports complexes.
But the numbers and statistics of mere sports attendance are Americans’ most minor problem in this area. Sports betting addiction has risen tenfold in just the last three years alone, and that has led to an explosion in gambling addiction.
Sports betting zoomed past $90 billion worth of bets in 34 markets in 2023, with 39.2 million Americans participating in the activity, according to USA Today.
But with all that activity comes an increase in gambling addiction, too. And the paper adds that young people are hardest hit.
“The [National Council on Problem Gambling] also conducted a national survey of 3,000 respondents in 2021 and found a concentrated risk among young (18-24 years old) online sports bettors. The 18-24 age group lacks gambling literacy, and roughly 75% of respondents in that cohort agree gambling is either a great way to make money or they’re unsure,” USA Today reported.
Close-up on man holding a cell phone while winning an online bet on a football game at stadium. (Getty Images)
Numbers are still hard to come by because widespread sports betting is still so new, and there hasn’t been enough time to amass data. But just this month, the operators of Ohio’s gambling helpline have reported that calls to its service have tripled in the last year, and they are especially hearing from younger gamblers.
However, the hunger for state legislatures for new tax revenue is far stronger than their interests in safeguarding their citizens.
In 2023, NBC News reported that the states have reaped more than one billion dollars in new tax revenue.
“In the five years since the Supreme Court ruling, overall state tax revenues tied to sports gambling have grown from $38 million in 2018 to $126 million in 2019 to over $1 billion in 2022,” NBC News reported last March.
Ultimately, these grand plans to make “adult playgrounds” out of sports franchises seem based more on wishful thinking and greed for more tax dollars than in reality. And the deficits to the public in wasted tax dollars and the wrecked lives of too many gamblers might far outweigh the supposed benefits.
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