The Daily Iowan’s editorial board recently published a column arguing that the Iowa Senate should reject a $9 million tax break for a motor racing track in Newton, Iowa purchased by NASCAR. The authors contend that accepting tax breaks and appropriating public funds to build and maintain complexes for organizations such as NASCAR can harm the local economy.
A study by economics professor Dennis Coates was referenced in the article in which he argued sports welfare negatively impacts local residents because most money generated by sports stadiums ends up going to the owners.
“The professional sports environment in the 37 metropolitan areas in our sample had no measurable impact on the growth rate of real per capita income in those areas. The professional sports environment has a statistically significant impact on the level of real per income in our sample of metropolitan areas, and the overall impact is negative,” the Coates study noted.
You can read the full column published February 17 here.