Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman looks at the research and concludes that the case for taxpayer-funding of sports arenas to boost economic growth is weak:

Look down in Dallas. The Cowboys have been in Irving for 33 years, but is the Texas Stadium area a money magnet except on certain autumn Sundays? No. Texas Stadium sits among a freeway convergence that offers only one idea: get the heck away from the traffic mess as quick as possible.

Go downtown to American Airlines Center, which opened in 2001 with the promise of an adjacent commercial district. So far, AAC's neighbors are massive vacant lots.

Ron Utt wrote on this back in 1998, and his conclusion is worth repeating:

[A]dvocates of subsidized sports, convention centers, and other forms of public entertainment should be honest about what is at stake and should not entice the public to believe they are supporting broad-based economic development that will contribute heavily to a city's economy. At the same time, elected officials in declining cities, however desperate they may be for new investment in their communities, must realize that the revitalization boost from such projects is negligible and that community resources and civic energy would be better directed to more productive activities.

As the record from around the country indicates, the economic boost from public investment in entertainment complexes is exceptionally modest at best, and counterproductive at worst. It diverts scarce resources and public attention from the less glamorous activities that make more meaningful contributions to the public's well-being.