John Oliver a self declared sports fan went after major league sports teams on Last Week Tonight Sunday evening. His concerns come as several teams are currently asking for new stadiums and are threatening to move to other cities that will build new stadiums.
His concern is imply that:“The vast majority of stadiums are made using public money,” said Oliver, citing a report from 2012 that revealed the staggering statistic that “$12 billion [was] spent on the 51 new facilities opened between 2000 and 2010.” In the last 30 years half of the stadiums in the U.S. have been built or rebuilt for major sports teams
He then noted that many of them “look like they were designed by a coked-up Willy Wonka.”
He then noted that many of them “look like they were designed by a coked-up Willy Wonka.”
Oliver had one question for these exorbitant expenses: Why are tax dollars being used to fund stadiums? “Sports teams are wealthy businesses with wealthy owners and they still get our help,” Oliver said. “Pretending you’re poor is wrong. It wasn’t okay when Mary-Kate Olsen went through her hobo phase, and it’s not okay now!” He continued by saying: "A major review of almost 20 years of studies have shown that stadiums increase jobs, wages or tax revenues"
To prove his point about how cities have bent over backwards to keep sports teams happy, he noted that barely six days after Detroit declared bankruptcy, they got approval to spend more than $280 million in taxpayer money for a new arena for the local NHL team — even though the Red Wings owner, Mike Ilitch, is the founder of the Little Caesar’s pizza chain and worth an estimated $5.1 billion. As Oliver noted, “That’s a little hard to swallow.”
One economist was quoted saying that "rather than build a stadium you'd be better off flying a plane above a city and dumping a billion dollars on the populace and letting them spend it."
Due to the costs of these stadiums often these cities don't have the money to pay for schools and hospitals that they have desperate need of.
One economist was quoted saying that "rather than build a stadium you'd be better off flying a plane above a city and dumping a billion dollars on the populace and letting them spend it."
Due to the costs of these stadiums often these cities don't have the money to pay for schools and hospitals that they have desperate need of.
