The Economic Impact of Professional Sports in the United States

Abstract

Abstract Since 1990, stadium construction for professional sport franchises has boomed significantly (Harger et al., 2016). Often times these stadiums are publicly subsidized by tax payers to lure franchises to either stay in the city they are present in, or replace the organization in a new city. Public officials often promise economic benefits to come with the presence of a new stadium or professional franchise when subsidies are campaigned for (Feng & Humphreys, 2018). Literature on this topic of economic impacts, relating to professional sport franchises and sports facilities, show mixed evaluations (Jasina & Rotthoff, 2016). The purpose of this synthesis was to review the literature on the economic impact of American professional sports franchises.