Taylor Clarke

COM 422: Advanced Argumentation

Annotated Editorial
August 8, 2016
The End of An Era: Putting an End to Taxpayers Funding NFL Stadiums
Over the past 15 years, over $5 billion dollars of taxpayer money has been injected into
NFL stadiums. When thinking about the luxury that goes into these stadiums, the Dallas Cowboys
are a prime example of how this money is being spent. In 2009, Jerry Jones and the Dallas
Cowboys spent roughly $1.2 billion on their new stadium. This number includes the $325 million
that came from the taxpayers. In Minnesota, $498 million was taken from the taxpayers to fund a
new $1.06 billion stadium, and in Atlanta $600 million will be used to fund an estimated $1.5
billion project budget.

[Argument from example: These stadiums are being publicly funded, and they are all in the NFL.
Therefore, all NFL stadiums are using taxpayer money]

This sounds all good until you realize that this isnt even a loan. The owners of these
teams have zero obligation to pay back any of this money that is coming from the government.
Instead, NFL teams receive subsidies that are paid for by the individuals in the form of higher
sales tax on certain goods. The owners of the stadiums get richer while the taxpayers, much of
whom arent even sports fans, end up paying increased prices on the goods they purchase every
day.

[Argument from Sign: NFL owners are subsidizing their stadiums out of greed]

Lets make a comparison here. When the typical consumer wants to buy property, they
take out a loan. This means that the individual is not only expected to pay back the amount

loaned, but also pay interest on this money. Individuals do that because they do not have enough
cash on hand to purchase a house up front. These loans can take up to 30 years to repay, and the
bank uses the house as collateral: if the consumer does not pay back the loan the bank takes
possession of the house. The story is different though if you happen to own an NFL franchise.

[Figurative Analogy: These government subsidies are like loans in the fact that they are being
used when stadium owners are short on capital. Yet the difference is owners do not have to pay
back any of the loan or offer anything as collateral.]

These NFL owners get millions of dollars from the public and even though they have
ample money to pay for these stadiums themselves. The Buffalo Bills are the least valuable
franchise in the league at an estimated $1.4 billion. Even though these sports owners dont have
this money in the bank, they should at least be expected to use the franchise itself for collateral.
Furthermore, the owners should be expected to pay back the city that fronts them millions of
dollars. Instead, team owners threaten to leave the city of their demands for a blank check arent
met.

[Argument from example: Even the least valuable NFL team can be used as collateral to the
government in the theoretical example of an NFL owner taking a loan. If the cheapest team can
cover stadium costs, then all NFL teams can do the same as well.

Even if NFL teams were expected to use a loan structure similar to the everyday person, they
would still be able to vastly increase their net worth. Dennis Coates and Brad Humphreys did
extensive research on the economic growth of a sports team. These two decided to study this in
detail because Franchise owners have used the threat of moving to another city to persuade state
and local decision-makers and politicians to provide them with lavish new stadiums and arenas at

little or no cost. Their research also states that NFL franchises on average have grown at a rate of
11.5% per year since 1980. NFL owners are able to greatly profit from these lavish stadiums, but
a more macroscopic look at the economies show that there is not any significant value added by
an NFL team.

[Argument from Causal Correlation: If an NFL teams value A grows at a rate higher than the
interest on the loan B (11.5% for an NFL team compared to anywhere up to 5% on a loan), then
the NFL team is still a profitable business]

The research done by Coates and Humphreys works to debunk this myth of the value of a sports
team. Their research concludes that The professional sports environment in the 37 metropolitan
areas in our sample had no measureable impact on the growth rate of real per capita income in
those areas. This means that there could be a slight increase in economic growth, but nothing as
major as threatened by these NFL owners. Furthermore, the research was able to find a
statistically significant impact on the overall level of economic output. The research states, The
professional sports environment has an impact on the level of real per capita income in our
sample of metropolitan areas, and the overall impact is negative. Not only are sports owners
taking millions of dollars from the public, but they are also leaving an overall negative economic
impact on the city in the name of their own profit.

[Argument from Causal Correlation: Adding an NFL team A not only doesnt increase
economic growth, it also is shown to create an overall economic decrease B]

Its time for us to hold these owners accountable to the same rules that the everyday person has to
follow. If you dont have enough money to pay for something, take out a loan. Pay the
government back, and pay interest on that loan. Sports owners also should put their team up for

collateral in case they are unable to pay for the loan. For too long the select few have been getting
rich of our obsession for football, and its about time we stop giving handouts to wealthy team
owners.

Word Count (Without Annotations): 822

1

Footnotes Below:

1 http://news.stanford.edu/2015/07/30/stadium-economics-noll-073015/2
http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/regulation/2000/7/coates.pdf
3http://www.therichest.com/sports/football-sports/ranking-all-32-nfl-teams-from-least-tomost-valuable/
4http://www.citylab.com/politics/2015/09/the-never-ending-stadium-boondoggle/403666/
5http://www.ocregister.com/articles/sports-724557-team-stadium.html

Works Cited
Coates, Dennis. you Want Us to Pay Taxes Too? Bill Veeck The Stadium Gambit and
Local Economic Development (n.d.): n. pag. University of Maryland, 23 May 2015. Web.
7 Aug. 2016.
Florida, Richard. "The Never Ending Stadium Bondoggle." City Lab. N.p., 10 Sept. 2015. Web.
8 Aug. 2016.
Haskins, Justin. "Millionaire Sports Team Owners Should Pay for Their Own Stadiums." The
Orange County Register. N.p., 03 Aug. 2016. Web. 09 Aug. 2016.
"Sports Stadiums Don't Spur Economic Growth, Stanford Expert Says." Stanford News. N.p.,
30 July 2015. Web. 08 Aug. 2016.
Wissnick, Zac. "Ranking All 32 NFL Teams From Least To Most Valuable." TheRichest. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 09 Aug. 2016.