It's the economy, stupid! : Super Bowl impact on local economy of publicly subsidized NFL Stadiums

This paper examines the economic impact on a local community based on the city hosting the grandest game in the NFL, the Super Bowl. The impact that the city generates from the Super Bowl becomes clear evidence if whether or not taxpayers should subsidize league stadiums. The way that this paper arrives to a conclusion about publicly subsidized stadiums is by first looking at the history of NFL stadiums built and the total cost of the projects. Secondly, the amount of public funds is viewed for the stadiums that have been built and how the NFL had an impact on more stadiums being built. Lastly, the Super Bowl impact on the host city is observed. The NFL is the first to claim that having a franchise in a city generates jobs, income, revenue, taxable sales, etc. However, others have found that the statements that the NFL makes are over inflated. In fact, more jobs and revenue are indeed generated by the construction of the stadiums and merchandise sales on game days, but the amount produced does not justify for subsidizing millions of dollars to wealthy NFL owners. Thus, the conclusion that this paper reaches is that of the latter; that there is no real benefit for a city to subsidize league stadiums. At the end of this paper, the question about Los Angeles is briefly brought up. This paper can serve as a perfect example for the city to examine the costs and benefits of getting a professional football franchise back to the City of Angles in more than 20 years.