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I'm getting messages from folks that copies of my book are arriving already. If you get yours, or if you see a review, let me know. jcbradbury.com/towbd/

jcbradbury.com

This One Will Be Different

False Promises and Fiscal Realities of Publicly Funded Stadiums, by economist J.C. Bradbury.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 7h

Stadium boosters sharing the commissioned economic impact "study"

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 29/09/2026

This morning, I had a producer request an interview to discuss an event/stadium issue. Don't really have time, but said I would because it's policy relevant. Just got a follow-up telling me I was being bumped for the local chamber of commerce rep. I give up.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 29/09/2026

How stadiums get taxpayer subsidies

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 29/09/2026

New York and Erie County representatives devoted $850 million of taxpayer money to build a state-of-the-art football stadium for a man whose fortune has doubled in the past six years to nearly $12 BILLION. Simply indefensible public policy.

democratandchronicle.com

Buffalo Bills owner makes Forbes richest list as fortune soars

Terry Pegula is now worth $11.8 billion, up from $5.1 billion six years ago.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 29/09/2026

What is an "unspoken threat"? The Blazers have nowhere better to go and zero offers on the table. Either the team is threatening to leave or it isn't.

New owner Tom Dundon has an unspoken threat that he may try to move the Trail Blazers out of Portland in 2030. That’s the backdrop for negotiations between the Dundon-led ownership group and the city of Portland over a new lease and renovations for the Moda Center, the city-owned arena that’s home to the Trail Blazers and the WNBA’s Portland Fire.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 28/09/2026

Stadium tax districts don't raise new revenue to pay off the stadium, they cannibalize existing tax collections. You would think that the city which funded the Power & Light District boondoggle would remember this financing strategy doesn't work.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 28/09/2026

"Restaurants like Brick House and Martin City Pizza’s Crossroads location fall within the draft boundaries, and both said *they are ready for the boost*."

2 panel Simpsons meme:
Panel 1: An obese Homer smiles at the counter while purchasing "Massive Weight Gain Power"
Panel 2: Store clerk says: "Lucky for you, this stuff doesn't work."

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 26/09/2026

Sure is nice to finally hold this in my hand.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 26/09/2026

When an actual economist sees the commissioned economic impact "study."

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 24/09/2026

You'd think that if stadiums were such valuable tourism magnets, then a nearby prospective hotel wouldn't have trouble getting financing. Especially in an area touted as an entertainment district.

newschannel5.com

East Bank hotel delay could disrupt Nashville's 2030 Super Bowl plans near Nissan Stadium

The East Bank hotel is now a year behind schedule, raising concerns about a construction zone near Nissan Stadium during the 2030 Super Bowl.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 23/09/2026

I've got a work trip to Philly this weekend, but I'll have some free time to roam the city. It's been probably 20 years since my last visit. Any suggestions for cool things to see/do?

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 22/09/2026

Our novelty economic impact reports are for entertainment use only.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 18/09/2026

So far, $700 million in public money has been set aside for redeveloping the East Bank, which Mayor Cooper insisted would provide a "hope chest" of money to pay for the Titans stadium.

The bridge project is the first major amendment to construction plans related to the Titans' new $2.1 billion stadium. As such, it required an official "change order" agreed to by the team and the Metro Sports Authority, which has overseen the stadium project since its inception. The body also kicked in $760 million to pay for the stadium. In the five years since then-Mayor John Cooper oriented the city toward redeveloping the East Bank, Metro coffers have also supported new utilities, a redesigned street grid and various infrastructure projects with more than $700 million in forecasted spending in last year’s Capital Improvements Budget.

In April, state lawmakers furnished the East Bank Development Authority with $300 million in surplus tax revenue accumulated in the downtown Tourism Development Zone, a mechanism designed decades ago to pay for the Music City Center. The money and authority have put state House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who sits on the EBDA, in a central decision-making role guiding the East Bank’s future. At next week’s EBDA meeting, the Titans and Metro will make a similar presentation in pursuit of a $75 million slice of that $300 million.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 18/09/2026

Speaking of the Bills new stadium, I'll re-up this.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 18/09/2026

I'm not sure. I don't really care, because that guy was a dumbass.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 17/09/2026

The main reason pro sports teams get subsidies isn't through relocation threats (Bills never threatened to go anywhere) it's because they can give access to something that elected officials value. Taxpayers bear the costs, local leaders reap the personal benefits.

Twitter post from Chrissy Casilio
@ChrissyCasilio

In honor of today’s home opener,
@GovKathyHochul
is taking a break from telling us that we’re all struggling and that she’s going to save the day by tossing us $200 bucks…

…so she can roll around on the new stadium field with a billionaire who received hundreds of millions of our tax dollars...

She gets us!

Go Bills!

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 17/09/2026

It's silly to suggest that teams should sell a few low-priced tickets so less affluent fans can attend a sports ball game. Prices are determined by scarcity, and how do you ration those tickets? The solution is to not subsidize a private business.

buffalonews.com

My View: Here's how the Bills can help fans who can't afford to attend a game

The median annual household income in Buffalo is roughly $60,000. However much they love the Bills, a family with that income cannot afford more than $2,000 for a few hours’

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 16/09/2026

"Economists" hired to do economic impact "studies."

2 panel meme of Mister Rogers drawing a picture
Panel 1: I'm not very good at it.
Panel 2: But it doesn't matter

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 16/09/2026

So, they're still trotting out the canard that the Bills had offers to move elsewhere.

Steamed hams Simpson meme.
Supernitendo Chalmers: May I see it?
Principal Skinner: No.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 15/09/2026

Why are people letting the NBA push this false narrative? The Blazers don't have anywhere else better to go. If the team left, it would be worse for the NBA than it would be for Portland.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 15/09/2026

FFS... "a new analysis says." It's NEVER happened before, and there's no reason to think it will happen this time. But STOP THE PRESSES! This concocted pile of nonsense deserves a headline.

latimes.com

A Summer Olympics economic windfall is headed for SoCal, a new analysis says

L.A.-based analysts say the 2028 Olympics will supercharge revenue, jobs and taxes. Projections for the Paris Olympics didn't pan out.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 15/09/2026

1) $650 million of public money → gov *should* have a say on the price. 2) The Bills did NOT threaten to move anywhere & there were no markets seeking the Bills. 3) If voters wanted this, then why not let them vote on it? A poll at the time showed voters overwhelmingly opposed.

Lewke asked Hochul if she had conversations with Bills leadership about affordability.

“Well, we don’t set the price. My job was to make sure that they remain the Buffalo Bills, that they did not leave the state and that required me to step up with state resources,” Hochul said. “When I first became governor at a time there was a great vulnerability for this region and if you listen to Terry Pegula during the ribbon-cutting back in July, he says I don’t know that we’d be here if it wasn’t for Kathy Hochul because I knew that there was a lot of pressure to build a new stadium.”

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 15/09/2026

"If you build it, they will come" ...Well, they built it, but no one came. Your reminder: sports venues do not spur surrounding development.

Seregh referred a request for comment to the Orioles. Team spokesperson Jennifer Grondahl said the ownership group engaged Seregh in 2025 “to have preliminary conversations and identify opportunities as part of an ongoing effort to help drive economic development in Baltimore City.”

Rubenstein notes in his book that Camden Yards, which opened in 1992, was built with the idea of reviving downtown Baltimore, but that hope “did not really come to fruition.”

Stadium districts, which can create new and consistent revenue streams for pro teams, have become increasingly popular across the country. Rubenstein cited other ballparks — including Boston’s Fenway Park and Chicago’s Wrigley Field — as examples of “must-visit” ballpark-adjacent neighborhoods.

“As I have said, part of my desire to buy the Orioles was to help Baltimore, and Baltimore really needed help revitalizing its downtown area — most especially the area around Camden Yards,” he writes.

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Reposted by J.C. Bradbury

J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 11/09/2026

As the NFL season kicks off, I've posted a short video on the NFL's current stadium-building boom, in which I explain why it's happening and will be costly for taxpayers. buff.ly/OgIBd6T

youtube.com

The NFL's Stadium Boom: The Next Generation of Boondoggles #NFL #stadiums #subsidies #TOWBD

Economist J.C. Bradbury explains why the NFL's current stadium-building boom is happening and what it's going to cost taxpayers.

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 12/09/2026

New study in Regional Science & Urban Economics: Who scores from hosting sports events? Local spending evidence from the EURO 2024. Surprise! Major sports events are a net fiscal loss to host cities. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

$Host cities for the EURO 2024 championship in Germany used existing stadiums and infrastructure, with targeted investments to modernize them. Associated infrastructure and sports facilities are expected to remain in intensive use beyond the event, increasing the likelihood of positive long-term returns on investment. In total, public expenditures associated with hosting amounted to approximately 333 million Euros, of which around 292 million were borne by the host cities themselves. Against this benchmark, our estimates suggest that the short-term consumer spending gains in selected tourist-related retail and service sectors are of a similar order of magnitude to the public expenditures for hosting the event. This comparison, however, conflates gross consumer spending with public revenue. From a fiscal perspective, the latter constitutes the relevant benchmark for whether hosting is self-financing for host city budgets. As we show in Appendix G, only a small fraction of the additional spending translates into tax revenue: Our estimates suggest additional VAT and business tax receipts of at most a few tens of millions of Euros, well short of the roughly 292 million Euros in costs borne by host cities. From a public budget perspective, the EURO 2024 is best understood not as a self-financing investment but as a targeted subsidy to tourist-facing sectors, funded by host-city and federal taxpayers.$

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 11/09/2026

No public stadium project has ever generated sufficient "excess revenue" that "will more than offset" the public contribution. It's literally NEVER happened before, but that's the funding model *the team" proposes, and they're just going to go with it, I guess. lims.dccouncil.gov/Hearings/hea...

CHAIRMAN PHIL MENDELSON
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
ANNOUNCES A PUBLIC HEARING
on
Bill 26-769, the “Soccer Stadium Redevelopment and Maintenance Act of 2026”
on
Friday, October 23, 2026 at 10:00am
Council Hearing Room 412 (Track B)
John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
DC Council Website (www.dccouncil.gov)
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson announces a public hearing before the Committee of the Whole
on Bill 26-769, the “Soccer Stadium Redevelopment and Maintenance Act of 2026.” The hearing will be
held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, October 23, 2026.
The stated purpose of Bill 26-769 is to authorize the Mayor to enter into a public-private financing
agreement with DC United or its affiliates to redevelop the soccer stadium known as Audi Field through
the installation of a climate-controlling roof and the addition of more stadium seating. The envisioned
public-private financing model will include contributions from DC United and the District. DC United
predicts that the roof and additional seats will generate excess revenue to the District which will more than
offset the District’s contribution to the project. The bill also establishes the Soccer Stadium Preservation
and Improvement Fund to provide for the maintenance, repair, and capital improvement of the stadium site,
and provides tax exemptions on excess site revenue. The legislation also commits DC United and its
affliates to creating an ancillary housing development that would include affordable housing units

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J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 11/09/2026

This deal is so good for taxpayers that elected leaders wouldn't let their constituents vote on it. I guess only enlightened elected officials — not citizens, not economists — truly understand the economics of stadiums.

The city’s deal with the Royals is a financing and incentive agreement for a development project, not a new tax, so it would not ordinarily require voter approval. That separates the current Crown Center plan from the proposal voters rejected in 2024, which involved replacing and extending a sales tax to help cover the costs of a new Royals stadium in the Crossroads.

Organizers filed a citizen initiative petition with more than 4,500 signatures seeking to change that and require voter approval for carrying out large stadium projects with city support. The City Council did not pass their proposed ordinance themselves by the end of August, so organizers asked that it be placed on the ballot, and the council could soon formally submit the question to voters at the next available election.

The council referred the item to a special committee for legal review on Sept. 22 ahead of final council approval.

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