Team Owners Play Hardball With Cities and Fans to Reap Rich Stadium Deals

A sports stadium doesn’t feel like just another piece of city real estate. It means having a home team to root for, and it’s one of the few venues able to host big events such as a Super Bowl or a Taylor Swift concert. But these steel-and-concrete giants are also bargaining chips in a fight over limited public financing—a conflict that wealthy team owners have been winning.

So far in 2023, American states and cities have sold about $1.8 billion of bonds to finance the construction of professional sports stadiums, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Municipalities are on pace to issue more debt for these arenas than in any year since 2006. Governments back the projects in hopes of drawing in spending and tax revenue, even though many economists argue the money could be better invested elsewhere. Helping to build a stadium may be the only way to lure a team or keep a beloved franchise in town.