Stadiums and Circuses

The NFL is telling the owner of Sunlife Stadium that improvements need to be made if the area hopes to host the 50th Super Bowl.  It is estimated that the cost of the improvements will be about $400 million dollars.  The owner of the Miami Dolphins, Stephen Ross "generously" offers to pay for 51% of the cost of the improvements, while the rest of the money will come from rebates on sales taxes at the stadium and a 1% increase in the bed tax for hotels in Miami.  The proposal exempts hotels in Miami Beach.

Some people say this should be approved because it will be paid for by people that visit the area and not by local residents.  The Super Bowl is a big event and it will draw a lot of people to the area... 

There are other studies that indicate that money spent for stadiums for sporting events makes little impact on tax receipts.  Maybe the hotels are a little more crowded and the wait at restaurants is longer but the overall tax receipts really don't change that much.

I wonder how much the people of New Orleans will be asked for to cover improvements to the Superdome so that the league will have another Super Bowl in New Orleans.

Local governments have supported money for venues for NASCAR, spring training baseball, the MLB, the NBA and other sports. 

Overall, I'm sure there are advertising benefits for the area as a whole but I doubt that it creates high paying jobs in high paying industries.

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