Quote:
Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist
If I'm not mistaken, the economic benefit has been proven to be a negative for new sports arenas
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Actually, the economic benefit for an arena
by itself has been observed to be near zero (not negative). This however does not take into account many if the things he just mentioned, including development around the arena, tax dollars paid by occupants, etc.
It's simply that a new arena and the jobs it directly provides shows no economic benefit. It's not a negative, but when building an arena there has to be more to it than just "New arena, now there's a team in it."
Here's a good quote from someone smarter than myself, and an interesting article on the subject:
Quote:
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"All of the independent, scholarly research on the issue of whether sports teams and facilities have a positive economic impact has come to the same conclusion: One should not anticipate that a team or a facility by itself will either increase employment or raise per capita income in a metropolitan area."
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http://www.mintpressnews.com/stadium...nomics/190351/
That said, regarding new plans for the arena and the debate over taxpayer dollars: