Essay:Overpriced Sports Teams
Overpriced Sports Teams are those that have inflated values due to bilking the government and corporations for the costs of their stadiums, while promoting or benefiting from sports gambling to increase brand recognition. Given that the majority of professional sports teams in the four major North American sports leagues play in stadiums which were constructed primarily with taxpayer dollars, one could credibly argue that ALL sports teams are overpriced in terms of value.
The NFL loots the public the most, and the list of 32 most valuable sports team in the world included 15 teams from the NFL - nearly half the list.[1]
Four of the top 15 most valuable teams are New York City area teams, including the two NFL teams that play in New Jersey but carry the "New York" brand.[1]
Subsidies of New York teams
Although much of the data is hidden, an investigation into subsidies of New York teams found that the public paid $1.2 billion out of $2.3 billion of the New York Yankees's last renovation of their stadium in the Bronx.[1]
In 2022, the Democrat-arranged government subsidy of the Buffalo Bills planned new stadium, which is owned by a billionaire family, was the second largest in history and exceeded more than $1 billion government handouts to the wealthy owners:
| “ | The deal, struck between [New York Democrat Governor] Hochul and the billionaire Pegula family that owns the team, will be the second-largest taxpayer contribution to a sports stadium in history. Of the project’s $1.4 billion in projected construction costs, New York’s government is putting up $850 million, or 60 percent of the total. Hundreds of millions of dollars more were inked for upkeep of the stadium throughout its 30-year lease, bringing the public’s total projected expense to be more than $1.1 billion.[2] | ” |
