Of the 20 stadiums built since the Georgia Dome opened, four have been privately financed. Of the rest, the average public share is 73% of the total cost.
That’s the Economist on football stadiums. The impetus is the recent plan for the new home of the Falcons: $1bn split more or less evenly between taxpayers and the team. Why do taxpayers want to spend this kind of money on white elephants?
Well, mainly because there are only 32 football teams and economic capacity for a lot more than that. Forgetting ridiculous Green Bay and Canada-sapping Buffalo, the two low-end economic outliers, you get an effective minimum GDP for a mero area of about 60bn. Here’s my data and here’s my source.
Even ignoring LA (and San Bernardino and San Jose) there are no fewer than 15 metro areas with over 60bn GDP and no gridiron. Think any of these cities would chastely hold back if LA starts screwing up its next shot at an NFL team?
Remember, this ain’t the slums of Bangalore: the #1 job of a politician in the USA is to make his/her constituents feel like they’re high status. NFL owners, scarce asset firmly in their grips, are happy to play bidders off each other.
Addendum: here are the cities (note I added San Jose and San Francisco together in the San Fran row):
| City | 2010* | Teams | GDP/Team |
| New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA | 1,280,517 | 2 | $640,259 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA | 735,743 | 0 | |
| Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI | 532,331 | 1 | $532,331 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 425,167 | 1 | $425,167 |
| Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX | 384,603 | 1 | $384,603 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 374,081 | 1 | $374,081 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 346,932 | 1 | $346,932 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 494,444 | 2 | $247,222 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH | 313,690 | 1 | $313,690 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA | 272,362 | 1 | $272,362 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | 257,560 | 1 | $257,560 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 231,221 | 1 | $231,221 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 199,596 | 1 | $199,596 |
| Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI | 197,773 | 1 | $197,773 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ | 190,601 | 1 | $190,601 |
| San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA | 171,568 | 1 | $171,568 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 168,517 | 0 | |
| Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO | 157,567 | 1 | $157,567 |
| Baltimore-Towson, MD | 144,789 | 1 | $144,789 |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | 129,734 | 1 | $129,734 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 124,683 | 0 | |
| Pittsburgh, PA | 115,752 | 1 | $115,752 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 113,702 | 1 | $113,702 |
| Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC | 113,568 | 1 | $113,568 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 109,818 | 0 | |
| Kansas City, MO-KS | 105,968 | 1 | $105,968 |
| Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH | 105,625 | 1 | $105,625 |
| Indianapolis-Carmel, IN | 105,163 | 1 | $105,163 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | 104,107 | 0 | |
| Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN | 100,594 | 1 | $100,594 |
| Columbus, OH | 93,353 | 0 | |
| Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, CA | 92,873 | 0 | |
| Las Vegas-Paradise, NV | 89,799 | 0 | |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | 87,963 | 0 | |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | 86,029 | 0 | |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT | 84,882 | 0 | |
| Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI | 84,574 | 0 | |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | 82,036 | 0 | |
| Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN | 80,898 | 0 | |
| Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC | 80,518 | 0 | |
| New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA | 71,476 | 1 | $71,476 |
| Salt Lake City, UT | 66,456 | 0 | |
| Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA | 66,334 | 0 | |
| Memphis, TN-MS-AR | 65,025 | 1 | $65,025 |
| Richmond, VA | 64,321 | 0 | |
| Jacksonville, FL | 60,303 | 1 | $60,303 |
| Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN | 58,572 | 0 | |
| Oklahoma City, OK | 58,339 | 0 | |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC | 57,278 | 0 | |
| Birmingham-Hoover, AL | 53,834 | 0 | |
| Honolulu, HI | 51,327 | 0 | |
| Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA | 47,556 | 0 | |
| Rochester, NY | 45,742 | 0 | |
| Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY | 45,150 | 1 | $45,150 |
| . . . |
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| Green Bay, WI | 15,270 | 1 | 15,270 |
Not Unreasonable 