Posted on January 31, 2014

Reason TV: Why No Smart City Would Want The NFL

Reason TV: "The NFL is good at fleecing taxpayers," says ESPN columnist Gregg Easterbrook, author of The King of Sports: Football's Impact on America. "It's about a billion dollars a year I've calculated in public subsidies to NFL owners and this is a group that consists almost entirely of billionaires and yet receiving significant public subsidies every year."



The NFL raked in over $9 billion in revenues last season and the league is pushing team owners to triple that mark over the next decade.



With the league's overwhelming success, many cities are eager to get a piece of the action, often offering billions in public subsidies to attract (or keep) football in their localities.



But with the NFL making record profits, is it right for cities to spend public money on these type of projects? Especially when over half of NFL team owners are ranked on the Forbes billionaire list?